First, check the points you should pay attention to when choosing a Kei truck! Choose the one that is best for you.
1) If you often drive on rough roads, prioritize safety and power!
If you use it for agriculture or drive on mountain roads with a lot of luggage, and mainly drive in harsh conditions, check for high power and safety.
If you drive on footpaths or mountain roads, we recommend a 4WD vehicle that is less slippery and runs stably. If you often drive on rough roads on a daily basis, we recommend a 4WD vehicle. Even on unpaved country roads, footpaths between rice fields, and roads with many slopes, a 4WD vehicle will be less slippery and run stably.
By the way, many 4WD Kei trucks have a mechanism called “part-time 4WD” that can be switched to 2WD. Many of them have slightly worse fuel efficiency than 2WD, and the vehicle price is also higher, so it’s a good idea to compare driving performance, fuel efficiency, and economy and choose the one you need.
MT vehicles are attractive after all!
Another thing: if you drive on rough roads, we definitely recommend MT vehicles. That said, most Kei trucks are manual transmission vehicles. One of the main reasons for this is that they are cheaper than automatic transmission vehicles, but that’s not the only benefit.
With manual transmission vehicles, you can drive efficiently by selecting the gear that suits the situation, so you can enjoy driving on muddy roads and uphill slopes. Unless your license only allows you to drive automatic transmissions, if you plan on driving hard, we recommend choosing a manual transmission vehicle.