Few questions before buying

Hello everyone, I am new to kei trucks and vans. I have been pondering whether to buy a sambar van for a while now. I did some research and read entire sambar forum here. However I didn't find all the answers. I would like to ask quite a few questions before I commit to the endeavor of owning sambar van. First I would like to explain why do I want sambar and what I'll be using it for.

Why:

1. I love small cars! I drove smart car once and it was a blast.
2. Kei cars are very unique here (Ontario) - I once saw one or two so far.
   
3. Sambar has a nice design (at least in my opinion), especially with VW conversion.
4. Sambar Van is practical - I can take friends and drive to a beach or go camping.
5. Kei cars seems to be simple to work on - I would like to work on Sambar myself as a small project.
6. Sambar has rear engine so it would be the quietest of all the available kei vans.

What am I going to use it for?:

1. Drive it around on a good day.
2. Have trips to beach, camping and perhaps road trips (few times per year, summer time mostly).
3. Not planning to use it as daily drive.

Questions:

1. How expensive is it to own Sambar Van? - Parts, Insurance, Headache?
2. How difficult is it to get parts? Any issues?
3. How reliable Sambar with manual tranny and super changer? (I already figured eCVT is not the best choice)
   
4. How badly does Sambar body rusts?
   
5. If I go camping and need to drive lets say 8-12 hours on Highway (100-120 km/h) is it a problem? Will engine overheat? Is it problematic to run it so long at those speeds? Can I take it for a road trip?
   
6. How hard is it to come across Sambar Van (preferably later years) 660cc with Super Charger, Manual Tranny, Sun-roof and preferably VW conversion? What are good places to look for those?
7. Does anyone has a user manual for Sambar 1990-1998?
8. It seems Sambar has non-interference engine, am I correct?
   
9. Anything you can share from personal experience that I missed?

I would love to hear from you. Please remember I have no experience and not entirely understand what I'm getting into. Thank you!!!

 

well first of all you need to contact your insurance office to see if they hold your insurance. A post from a person a week or two back was having trouble. 2"nd these vehicles do not travel well at speeds your describing. typically they don't mind speeds of 80 km per hour but pushing that for longer may burn out your engine. there great vehicles. From personal experience you should figure that you van will be like a Harley that always needs some tweaking. and will have to be cared for with kid gloves.
Tony 1996 Suki carry

 

one more thing-check out japancardirect.com you will find exactly what you want for a great price with great service
Cheers

 

Appreciate your answer, but can you answer the rest of my questions?

Thank you!

 

1. You live in Ontario, which is the no-fun capital of Canada Insurance may be exceedingly difficult/expensive for you. My advise is tell them the Make and Model of the car, but NEVER tell them it's RHD unless they ask (don't lie, just play a little dumb).
2. Parts are fine, just keep in mind they will all be coming from Japan (or a local dealer, who imports them from Japan)
3. MT Sambar w/ Supercharger is reliable for a 15-20 year old car. Stuff will break, but probably won't be major.
4. I've got a 1990 truck, the only rusty parts are where paint has chipped off from crap in the bed.
5. It will go 8-12 hours at 100-120 km/h (if S/C), YOU won't. The engine will be running around 5600 RPM at those speeds and is loud. The noise and comfort is like being in a speed boat.
6. S/C vans are more common than trucks (slightly less common with MT), sunroofs are common, the VW kit may be hard to find.
7. http://www.lulu.com/shop/james-dank...service-manual/paperback/product-3912561.html
8. It might be non-interference, I'm not 100% sure though.
9. Be prepared to work on it yourself, even Subaru dealers don't know what these are. It's easy to work on, and most of the problems aren't specific to Subaru/Sambars so if you google the problem you'll find hundreds of automotive sites describing the same issues. You will hit the windshield wipers during a lane change. Be careful about replacing tires, bigger (heavier) tires will give a more comfortable ride, but will eat into your top speed (hitting the HP limit of the engine).

 

Questions:

1. How expensive is it to own Sambar Van? - Parts, Insurance, Headache?
   I have a Sambar truck and after initial purchase the cost to own is very low and so far I have only required regular maintenance such as fluids, filters and brakes. Insurance was a pain but I did find it with state farm. Also my regular insurance company was all good to insure it but when i was about to sign the policy I made the mistake of asking if they insure many other right hand drive vehicles and then they backed out. So if i was to do it again i would "forget" to mention the right drive. That may not be smart because i do not know how the company would react if you crashed it, but at least if/when you get pulled over you will have all the proper paperwork. (i was pulled over just because the cop wanted to know what it was and i spent 20 mins talking to him while he asked 100 questions about it and he crawled all around it because he thought it was really cool, even asked to take a picture. I think he would have taken it for a spin if i would have offered)
   
   
2. How difficult is it to get parts? Any issues?
   I have not bought a ton of parts but there seems to be a decent supply of online dealers with everything from valves and head gaskets to fuel and air filters. They are a bit on the pricy side but occasionally you can find a part at NAPA that works (brake pads from a subaru justy are about half the price and fit with about a 5 second tweak on a bench grinder)
   
   
3. How reliable Sambar with manual tranny and super changer? (I already figured eCVT is not the best choice)
   I have the manual and super charger and they never skip a beat. I have become a big fan of Japanese products and half of my toy collection consists of them. Im not saying they dont beak down, but for example every time i go out on the atv's with a group of people it always seems that our Canadian/US can-am's, polaris's, and arctic cats are always getting towed home by a yamaha, suzuki, or honda.
   
   
4. How badly does Sambar body rusts?
   I got mine oil guarded when i first got and have zero rust, although i have only put very few km on our salty Ontario winter roads. It sees mud and water often though.
   
   
5. If I go camping and need to drive lets say 8-12 hours on Highway (100-120 km/h) is it a problem? Will engine overheat? Is it problematic to run it so long at those speeds? Can I take it for a road trip?
   I have ran mine at about 105-110km for a couple hours a couple of times and it was fine although I wasn't comfortable doing it. As Tony said they are much happier cruising along at 80km or so although the sambar dose seem to have a little better gearing and seems content to run 90km for extend amounts of time. These things were built for Japan's roads which i believe have mostly a speed limit of about 65 with some highways 100km. I did top mine out once just to see and i got 138km out of it on a dead flat straight road with no wind and she was reving mighty high. I have never had mine overheat. I have had the needle creep up just a bit after an extended muddy trail ride on a very hot muggy day, but not even close to being a worry.
   
   
6. How hard is it to come across Sambar Van (preferably later years) 660cc with Super Charger, Manual Tranny, Sun-roof and preferably VW conversion? What are good places to look for those?
   Being in Ontario kei's seem to be a fair bit more rare than on the west coast but they are here. I hear that the VW's can have over heating problems if proper precautions aren't taken with air flow. I have only seen 2 VW conversions for sale but regular vans are a bit more popular, and the tucks even more so. I spent the better of 8 months deciding if i wanted a mini truck and what one to get. I ended up going through Right Drive. If they dont have what you want in stock they will find it for you. I dont remember the guys name, i think it might have been Mike. He is definitely a salesman and a first seemed a bit pushy, but that aside he put up with me for about 2 months of my emails and calls with questions and when i finally pulled the trigger he came through with absolutely everything he said he would and i walked away from the sale happy with my experience.
   
   
7. Does anyone has a user manual for Sambar 1990-1998?
   Mine came with the owners manual in the clove box but that is a hit and a miss depending on if the Japanese owner left it in there. Its all Japanese so for me the pictures are the only thing i could get from it. I did however buy an english translated shop manual for mine and it has proved handy more than a few times.
   
8. It seems Sambar has non-interference engine, am I correct?
   I know this was talked about a couple years ago but i cant for the life of me remember for sure. I will have to look into that again but I "think" that you are correct.
   
   
9. Anything you can share from personal experience that I missed?
   I would have to say all in all they are great little vehicles and serve their purposes well. Although the independent suspension is a much better ride i do occasionally wish i had solid axles under it only so i could easily do a suspension modification or 2. But i dont think id give that con up for the rest of the pro's, they are surprisingly capable in stock form. I also think that even though the tuck version is incredibly handy i would be tempted to buy a van only for the reason you could drop in a comfortable seat that can recline (vans may already do this) because long trips in my truck require a good number of pit stops to stretch your legs and restraighten your spine.
   I dont know where you are in Ontario but if you are near by id be happy to show you mine.
   
   Hopefully my rambling on helped a bit.
   
   -Cheers

 

Thank you for your answer. It helped a lot!
Im locate in Windsor, Ontario. Are you close by?

 

Im just outside Thamesville, so probably an hour away

 

Buckwheat I see that you have the Subaru Sambar. That truck was actually my first choice when I started looking for a mini. the 1997 have a truly cool front end on some of them. What are feelings about the Sambar versus the Carry
Tony

 

How can I contact you?
I would like to come by one day to see you and your truck in person.

 

Tony I have only spent a very little amount of time in a carry and my thoughts are about the same as everyone else's on here. Still a great little truck, ride is a bit rougher, a bit louder, and cab is a hair bit smaller, has less power but easier to modify/lift and that would make it much better off road. I do a fair bit of trail riding with my stock sambar and it dose what i expect of it. I just wish i could lift it an inch or 2 without running into problems. Sambar only has a single range transmission that may be looked at as a disadvantage but in my experience the extra low gear loses traction long before power/torque. I dont think you could go wrong with any of the Japanese brands, they all are well built and fun to drive.

Melr PM me and we can exchange email or phone numbers or something.

 

Additional Question:

What is a difference between 4wd and rear wheel drive (in context of sambar)?
I'm not planning driving off road and thought that perhaps rear wheel drive makes more sense - less moving parts (more reliable), better on fuel, and such. Can anyone share thoughts?

Thank you.