Forget The Power Wars: Let's All Buy Silly, Modified Kei Cars

Liberty Walk's fantastically silly modified Daihatsu Copen has reminded us how much we wish we had more of the best Kei cars in this country...
Forget The Power Wars: Let's All Buy Silly, Modified Kei Cars

Small, slightly mad cars have always been brilliant. Whether it was something with a little performance, like an early Renault Sport Clio, or just something with a big smile on its face like a Fiat 500 TwinAir, stirring charisma into a small package always brews a winner.

Kei cars, those dinky little ankle-biters from Japan, are prime examples. Most are a bit weird in some way, and most are very likeable, but some verge on special. The Daihatsu Copen is one of them. Power, performance, ride quality and refinement were just some of the things it had almost none of, and yet it was brilliant.

We'd only ditch the GT-R badges (because it isn't one)
We'd only ditch the GT-R badges (because it isn't one)

Earlier this week we reported on the meanest, most outrageous Copen we can remember seeing. A bonkers Nissan GT-R-themed Liberty Walk project has turned the little trier into a laugh-out-loud desirable driveway ornament and everyday partner in crime. We love it, and it gets even better when you realise that the whole ‘GT-K’ conversion kit is yours for about £2800.

Admittedly we’d prefer to have GT-K badges rather than the silly official GT-R ones it wears, but it’s still a bargain. In the UK used Copens go for as little as £1000, so that’s 800kg (plus body kit) of ridiculousness – and drop-top driving happiness – for not much cash at all.

Suzuki Alto Turbo RS? Liberty Walk, you know what to do
Suzuki Alto Turbo RS? Liberty Walk, you know what to do

It makes a lot more sense than the power war among hot hatchbacks and super-saloons. It makes high-powered SUVs look like the love-children of total insanity and Marmite. Why bother with all that, and all the expense, if you can get more thrills and a fundamentally truer, more wholesome sense of fun in something diddy?

In a country where the roads are becoming ever-more congested and you have to get up ever-earlier in the morning to find the roads quiet enough to enjoy any sense of freedom, cheeky kei cars like the Copen, especially with the LB kit, would make a lot of sense.

Forget The Power Wars: Let's All Buy Silly, Modified Kei Cars

If you’ve never driven one, picture this: you’re behind the wheel, feeling the proximity of the windscreen and door trim, the seat sending every jolt in the road through you as you hurtle down a winding road, the front wheels nimbly finding every apex, you’re grinning like the village idiot and looking down to see that you’re doing… err, 40mph.

These are not normal cars. They’re amplifiers wired to your silliest habits only with police ‘interest’ nullified. You’re not going to be caught speeding: going much beyond 60mph on a winding road isn’t something you want to do often if you don’t want grey hair before you’re 30.

They’re easy to park, chips-cheap to run and you can go crazy with sporty body mods without looking stupid. Few cars will turn heads quite like a Liberty Walk Copen GT-R/K, after all.

Forget The Power Wars: Let's All Buy Silly, Modified Kei Cars

Sounds great, doesn’t it? The idea of genuinely fun driving at low speeds without making your credit card cry little plastic tears should appeal to us all. But while Copens were officially imported to the UK, most other kei cars weren’t. After export costs there just wasn’t - and isn’t - enough profit in them. Squiffy exchange rates were the main reason Daihatsu packed up and left Europe in 2011.

We wish there were more fun kei cars around like the Copen, the Suzuki Alto Turbo RS and the Honda S660. Liberty Walk also poured some of its unique style into that, although it was a bit… full-on. Dial that intensity back 20 per cent and you have a stunning, small and slightly mad car that will make every journey feel like the Le Mans 24 Hours. Maybe that’s a bad thing, maybe it’s not. But some might say it’s better than power you can’t use and payments you can’t meet…

Comments

Anonymous

Does nissan aprove of this

07/22/2018 - 07:45 |
10 | 0
Ali Mahfooz

In reply to by Anonymous (not verified)

I mean the record holding fastest drift car is a Rocket Bunny body kitted R35 GTR, so I guess it’s a yes.

07/22/2018 - 07:50 |
12 | 2
TheBagel

Not in the US lmao

07/22/2018 - 07:47 |
6 | 0

Ive seen people importing Beats and Cappucinos to the us, so I dont see why not

EDIT: Forgot how expensive it was to import kei cars to the US

07/22/2018 - 08:45 |
12 | 0
☆★THEBOOSTEDBRIT★☆

cough cough cough. “Why not both?” cough cough cough

07/22/2018 - 08:12 |
186 | 0

I thought about a reson why not for a while but i i didn’t come up with anything

07/22/2018 - 08:22 |
18 | 0

I may sound like a kj but the iQ isn’t certified as a kei car :/

07/24/2018 - 14:33 |
2 | 0
=ash=

AFR0N1

07/22/2018 - 08:27 |
2 | 0
ATOGI_28

If anyone asks me why I love the Copen (and other kei cars) I’ll just send them this post. It sums it up pretty much perfectly.

07/22/2018 - 08:32 |
0 | 0

Also, how come it took ya’ll so long to notice how awesome the Copen is!?

07/22/2018 - 08:33 |
2 | 0
=ash=

What about a mini 2009 R35 GT-R?

07/22/2018 - 08:33 |
24 | 0
ATOGI_28

In reply to by =ash=

Thats actually based on a cappuchino

07/22/2018 - 08:34 |
8 | 0
Jordan Strathon

Still one of the best mini replica kei conversions

07/22/2018 - 10:58 |
120 | 0

Omg baby viper!
So cute

07/22/2018 - 11:19 |
40 | 0

Team Oreca? Is tha-is that you???

07/22/2018 - 19:22 |
2 | 0

Suzodge Vipercino

07/23/2018 - 11:25 |
10 | 0
Anonymous

the Daihatsu still reminds me of Noddy’s car, at least it looks more O-Kei than it’s previous gen

07/22/2018 - 12:10 |
4 | 0
Gear

Power Wheels is my favorite kei car manufacturer

07/22/2018 - 13:58 |
0 | 0
Can Elmen

I don’t know about UK’s import rules but you can import one of these to UK, right? I know we can’t in my country since RHD cars aren’t allowed to drive in my country (there is a R32 GT-R but it came before that rule)

07/22/2018 - 14:02 |
0 | 0

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