Before I continue with my Mongolia adventures I want to talk about the Toyota Prius. But before I talk about the Prius I have to explain the Japanese used car market. But to understand the Japanese used car market you have to know a little about the Shaken inspection. And all this ties into practicality, so maybe I should start there.
My first car isn’t worth talking about, but my second car that I owned from 1992 to 1999 was a 1966 Fastback Mustang. I put fresh paint on her and completely redid the interior. I also installed a nice little sound system. She (eventually) had a 4 barrel 289, Edelbrock intake, MSD ignition, “GT-40” heads, tri y headers, and Dynomax exhaust, all mated to a Borg Warner T-5 out of a late 80s 5.0. She was a decent little performer for her time but at a cost. She was a daily driver averaging about 12 miles per gallon.
The Mustang had no air conditioning. In Florida. No power steering, no power brakes (drums all around), no power windows or door locks. No cup holders or storage compartments (although the folding rear seats gave it a lot of extra space). She was a fun car, but not very practical. Everyone wanted to ride in her once, but when it came time to chose a car to go out on the weekends it was always whoever had a 4 door car. No adult wants to hop in and out of the back seat of a 2 door car, no matter how awesome it is. No one wants to ride in a car without a/c, especially in Florida.
I sold the Mustang when I moved to Japan and ended up buying a $400, 10 year old (1991) Nissan Bluebird (Altima) SSS (unfortunately the NA version). She had 40,000 kilometers on her and other than some paint fade on the trunk looked almost brand new. The Bluebird had air conditioning, 4 doors, abs, power steering, power windows, remote power locks, cup holders, basically all the standard features on any modern car. I knew I could never go back to an old car again, at least not for daily driving.
Practicality became more important to me than performance or looking “cool.” I started surfing when I moved to Tokyo and that is when I was introduced to the minivan (it’s too bad we don’t get the Stepwagon in the U.S.). Minivans are the ultimate practical car. Lots of seating, tons of storage, sliding doors. In the hierarchy of practical vehicles minivans are king. But they have 2 drawbacks: size and fuel economy.
