We took our JDM 1998 Suzuki Jimny Wide on its first real trip! And, we made sure it was to a good place: the 2026 Northwest Overland Rally. Our previous 1995 Suzuki Sidekick was a regular at the regional event, and it was awesome to show up again in a small Suzuki.
We recently attended the AVANTS Portland Weird and Wacky Car Show. This was the third time this show has been held, and the second one we attended. The weather was perfect, the cars were awesome, and the community was outstanding. We even shot a video.
Our 1998 Suzuki Jimny Wide is now fully operational. Our oil and coolant leaks have been fixed, and we're finally getting to modifying and driving it. One thing is for sure: It's reminding us why we love small cars.
This is the 15x7 +0 steel wheel currently on our 1998 Suzuki Jimny Wide. I'm not a huge fan of "wagon wheels" on modern 4x4s. Just get new ones, right? Well, it's not that easy.
In June of 2025, Oregon took steps to legalize kei vehicles for road use. Unfortunately, the bill was tacked onto a House bill that ultimately failed. While that battle was lost, lawmakers said they'd come back and try again in 2026, and that's about to happen.
In June of 2025, Oregon had its biggest push to legalize kei trucks for road use. Unfortunately, it didn't happen. However, there was quite a bit of bipartisan support behind this, and in 2026, they're going to try to make them road legal again.
In a not-so-shocking turn of events, the Nissan Versa, the brand's smallest and most affordable vehicle, will not return for 2026. Most people in the industry saw this coming.
Last week, Trump announced he wants "tiny cars" to be sold and built here in America. Well, Stellantis wasted no time on this. CNBC is reporting the company is going to sell its Fiat Topolino "all-electric quadricycle" to the U.S. market. Ironically, a Stellantis spokesperson said the announcement was unrelated to the President's desire for small cars. Now that's some Italian irony.
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| President Donald Trump's recent post on Truth Social. |
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| Our 1998 Suzuki Jimny Wide |
We have wanted a third-generation Suzuki Jimny for years. In 2023, they would become legal to import into the USA, and I was counting down the years. I literally told myself that when we could import one, we would. That year came and went, but two years later, we finally pulled the trigger and bought ourselves a Suzuki Jimny, specifically a 1998 Suzuki Jimny Wide.
News broke yesterday that Oregon Senator Anthony Broadman has introduced a bill to legalize kei vehicles for road use in the Beaver State. We first saw the news at KTVZ 21 out of Bend, Oregon. However, since then, Central Oregon Daily News has also run the story on Broadman's bill.
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| 2018 Toyota Yaris SE. Photo via Lexus of Seattle |
I've found a hen's tooth. A rarity. This is a 2018 Toyota Yaris SE (located at Lexus of Seattle). It was the only Yaris model to come with this front and rear facia. That's right, it only appeared for one year, as the Yaris hatchback was discontinued for 2019, only to reappear as a rebadged Mazda2 for 2020, and then genuinely made extinct. To make this Yaris rarer, it's got the factory two-tone black-and-blue paint scheme. To make it a genuine hen's tooth? It's a five-speed manual. And just in case that wasn't enough, it's located in the Pacific Northwest—an area that didn't get allocations of these with manual transmissions. It's like finding a rare animal that happened to migrate out of its natural habitat. (Now re-read this in a David Attenborough voice.)
The Mitsubishi Mirage and Nissan Versa are the last two mainstream, affordable subcompact cars—heck, last inexpensive cars of any kind—left on the North American market. And guess what? They're recently selling pretty darn well. How well and for how long?
I've long had a soft spot for the Chevrolet Spark. When I reviewed the 2013 Spark 2LT over 11 years ago I said, "... it’s an impressive inexpensive car with lots of personality. In fact, I’m quite smitten with the Spark." A couple years later, my mother-in-law purchased a 2015 Spark LS, aka Sparky. Things have changed since then and she no longer needs it. So, we recently drove it back from Wisconsin to our home in Oregon, some 2,170 miles, and will sell it. So what's it like to drive an A-segment car halfway across the U.S.?
On August 15, 2023, Automotive News (paywalled site) reported Mitsubishi may be discontinuing its thrifty Mirage model after MY2024. This really isn't that much of a surprise since automakers have been abandoning the subcompact market for years now in North America. (Mitsubishi Japan already killed off the Mirage, FYI.) Then today, I heard word via Carscoops Kia is going to stop selling its Rio in the U.S. This leaves just the MINI brand and its small cars and the Nissan Versa as the sole subcompact car offerings in the U.S. I'm not surprised.
Today was a big day. Today we sold our 2007 Toyota Yaris. This marks a lot of milestones. This marks the end of an era.
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| Suzuki Ignis in Mexico |
New subcompact car sales are nearly nonexistent right now in the USA. There are only a couple new tiny cars even available for purchase anymore. However, if you want to see a ton of new and different small cars, all you have to do is cross our southern border. I just got back from a week in Manzanillo, Colima, and found small cars are alive and well in Mexico.
In what can only be described as "completely unsurprising," the subcompact Chevrolet Spark will be discontinued. There had been reports out of Korea that GM Korea was going to halt production months ago, but Chevrolet's U.S. representatives would not confirm its discontinuation for the North American market at that time. Well, now it's official.
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| Photo via C.Y. Lee |
Over eight years ago, I ran into one of the most badass Suzuki SX4s I'd ever seen. This lifted Suzuki SX4 had big knobby tires, a flat-black paint job, and a custom front bumper among other things. I actually got to know the owner, C.Y. Lee, a bit because of it. Ironically, I had just been talking to C.Y. about this car on October 15, 2021, and then, next thing we knew it, it was totaled by someone who went on a rampage in stolen school bus. Yes, you read that right.
Hey SCC readers. I know it's been a while. We've still been here, still been doing things, but just not as active on the website. For what it's worth, we still have a very active Subcompact Culture Facebook Group. Please join! So what've we been up to lately?
I'd wanted to drive a Nissan Kicks since they first debuted in 2018, but never got around to getting one for a press loan until just last week. So does the Kicks kick out the fun? Does it kick butt? Does it have pumped up kicks? I'll stop. You're welcome.
I've said it before: lifting is the new lowering. In fact, I wrote about this trend back in 2014. Five years later, I keep seeing cars that used to be typically lowered getting lifted. Heck, there are even Facebook groups that celebrate this, such as the Safari All The Cars group. Lifting cars is definitely a thing.
We've lost a host of small hatchback choices over the last few years from the U.S. market. Most of these departures weren't terribly surprising. Then I read today that the Volkswagen Golf—a mainstay of the U.S. compact car landscape for over 46 years—is being axed. Wow.
People criticize the Mitsubishi Mirage for being inexpensive, having three cylinders, and being basic. But guess what? The Mirage is the most fuel-efficient non-hybrid gasoline-powered vehicle in the U.S. Oh, and guess what? It's one heck of a runner.
We at Subcompact Culture are rally fans. We participate in TSD rally, we go to stage rally, and have always had a thing for the WRC. This weekend is the 2020 Olyumps Rally in Washington. While looking at the entry list something caught my eye. Specifically, car #871 driven by racer Jamie Bestwick. The entry? A 2020 Toyota Prius—in the NA4WD class. Could this be an AWD Prius Rally Car?
