This Collection Of Fantastic Fun-Sized Cars Is Sick (Spelled Si-Kei): Members’ Rides

Thanks for coming back to check out another Members’ Rides here on this fine day. Last time, we were down in Houston looking at Frank’s collection of long roofs and neighborhood security cars. That was a fun combination of cars to do it all. It also made me laugh because once again, as I was finishing up with that van feature, Mark published Shitbox Showdown featuring what? A pair of vans. I love it when there are accidentally similar posts like that.

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In that environment, imagine my surprise as I was typing this and Matt published TMD regarding folks going back to ICE cars after a brief fling with EVs. That’s exactly what we’re talking about today! Today we’re headed back to my neck of the woods and meeting Derek (NC Miata NA). If you’re smarter than me, you may have picked up on some context clues that tell you that he lives in Better Carolina (aka North Carolina). And just as Matt talked about, he went from an EV back to a fun ICE car!

How did you get into cars?

I assume it all started with a copy of Richard Scarry’s “Cars and Trucks and Things That Go” that I made my Mom read all the time as a little kid. I wish there were some cooler origin story but there isn’t. There has always been a fascination with all things mechanical which naturally brought me to study… accounting? Follow your dreams, right?

Eventually, the desire for something to build and work on led to a pretty significant involvement with RC cars (and later to a side gig as a partner in a small RC company and designing several parts that are still on the market). Eventually, I could afford to buy full size cars. These days, I get to share the joys of automotive maintenance and 30 year old cars with my kids.

What’s currently in the garage?

• 2025 Civic Si
• 1996 Miata
• 1997 Daihatsu Hijet
• 2020 CR-V Hybrid

When did you pick up the Si? 

November 2024.

How is it? 

It has been great so far. The drive is super engaging, but it does the boring day-to-day stuff like you expect from a Civic. It is hard to go from the Miata on weekends to bland commuter box on Monday; the Si makes the transition easier than a lot of other options.

How did you decide this was the best mix of fun and practicality for you? 

I grew up in the Super Street era of JDM tuner cars, so I’ve always had a soft spot for Hondas. When the 11th-gen Civic came out, I loved the style, it had plenty of space for my family, and it had a manual. It also gets a legit 35+MPG in the real world. Did I mention it has a manual?

What’s your favorite thing about this, and why is it the shifter? 

It’s the shifter. Well, the shifter and the limited-slip differential. The shifter is in the exact right spot, and the gears snap into place very crisply. You can aggressively hammer through the gears, and it never feels like it wants to fight you. The LSD is one of those things that I didn’t know I needed in my life because I’ve never owned a car that had one. The first time I hit a curve and felt the LSD do its thing as I powered out of the turn, it was one of those moments you immediately recognize something is way better than you are used to.

Any complaints? 

I, like many 11th-gen Si owners, don’t appreciate the rev hang that makes 1-2 shifts hard to get smooth, and it could use some more power. I ended up putting a tune on it that bumps it about 30hp when I put it in sport mode, and makes the engine rev a little more freely, so I can solve those problems with the press of a switch.

The other thing I didn’t love was the lack of rear air vents on a car this size. I and a buddy who has an Integra Type S split an order for the JDM parts to install rear air vents in both our cars. I don’t know how many Civics in the US have rear air vents, but this is one does.

That’s an awesome mod! What all did that entail?

The install is pretty easy, but requires removing the center console entirely. Luckily, Honda uses clips that don’t fall apart at the thought of removal, so it all goes back together the way it comes apart.

The Civic is made to have rear vents, but Honda just doesn’t seem to think North America is worthy of them. There is a duct connection up near the front of the console that has the connection for the rear vent duct blocked off. You can get the JDM part to connect the rear duct, and from there, it is a matter of installing the duct that runs under the center console. A quirk is that the center console storage box for US spec Civics is deeper and doesn’t have the space to run the duct, but the US spec Civic Type R has the JDM center console box that has space to run the duct. For the most part, everything can be bought as OEM Honda parts, so they all fit together perfectly and look like they came with the car.

What did this replace? 

A Tesla Model Y

The Si replaced a Model Y? How did that happen?

I wanted a Tesla for a while before I got the Model Y. You hear how much people love them and how they are the best car ever. I test drove one, and it dazzles you with blinding 0-60 runs and fancy tech. The more time passed, the less I was impressed by it. Once the novelty of the straight line speed wears off, I realized it doesn’t do anything else particularly well.

The tech that people rave about isn’t nearly as reliable as you would think (still salty about how bad the Spotify app was). The auto wipers are the worst, phantom braking was a real problem, and FSD tried to drive me into oncoming traffic because it thought people on the sidewalk were in the road. All together, it didn’t end up being the car I thought it would be, and I sold it right before the Tesla values cratered.

Anything you miss about it?

I don’t miss much about owning it, but my kids loved the heated rear seats, and I loved the fact that I could set it to quack like a duck when it locked.

Now what’s the Miata story?

I got it in 2019 from my stepdad. He bought the car originally in 1999 or so. At the time, he was looking for a weekend convertible, so he found this one used with 50k miles and proceeded to put on less than 20k more miles over the next 20 years. He would never drive it if he couldn’t put the top down (in New Jersey, so about April – September), and this car literally never saw any moisture outside of a washing in those 20 years. One day, he asked me if I knew anyone interested in buying the Miata. I immediately volunteered.

Is this the first Miata for you? 

This is my first and only Miata. This one was always sitting in the garage when I was a teenager. I drove it a bunch of times once I learned how to drive a manual, and I would borrow it whenever I would visit my parents, then I ended up owning it. It has been at least partially in my life for 25 years. It now has just over 80k miles on it.

What makes this so perfect? 

It exists firmly at the center of the Venn diagram of performance, fun, and cost. An average guy with some sockets can perform most work on a NA or NB without feeling too intimidated. You won’t bankrupt yourself with maintenance costs. As they say, Miata is always a really good choice.

Any mods or plans for them? 

I have a set of NB wheels that will be getting a nice set of summer tires soon. The selection of 14-inch tires these days isn’t great and probably won’t improve, so moving to 15-inch wheels has been on my mind for a while. Most of the plans are just boring maintenance things on 30-year-old parts wearing out. Refreshing the brakes and replacing the clutch slave cylinder are next on the list.

Any issues, or is it in pretty good shape? 

It is rust-free, which can’t be said for a lot of NAs. Overall, it is quite good, but there are still things that need to be replaced due to age. The radio doesn’t always work, and the paint could use a good polishing.

How often does this get driven? 

Not nearly enough, unfortunately. I’m usually taking two kids to or from someplace, which creates a logistical hurdle for taking the Miata. My goal is to take it out at least once a week.

Favorite place to take it for a drive? 

I live pretty close to a good-sized lake that has a bunch of nice driving roads running around it, so that is where I usually head. I would love to take it out to the Blue Ridge Parkway one day, but my wife would not enjoy the three-hour ride to get out there.

Think you’ll have this forever? What’s the plan for it? 

I have to, right? If I don’t, I have to get a new username, and that seems like a hassle.

How did this adorable little truck come into the picture? 

I had been looking at getting a truck for house projects and things like that. I learned about the kei community in the area after attending a TriangleRAD event, and seeing the trucks up close sealed the deal.

Where did you find it? 

Luck would have it that a guy moved from Japan and set up an import and kei repair business in a small town outside Raleigh. He had all the inside knowledge, like which parts of the country to avoid buying from, which inspection places provide the best reports, and auctions that you probably couldn’t find if you didn’t know Japanese. It came up at auction, we decided to put in a bid, and won. My guy took care of everything else from there until it was pickup day.

How often do you hit the wipers when trying to activate the turn signal? 

Significantly more than zero, but getting better.

What does this usually get used for? 

Hauling stuff mostly, but my son loves taking it anywhere.

Do you ever worry that NC will go crazy about the registration on these or anything? 

Several years back, NC put the legal classifications for kei trucks into law, with a big kei truck dealer helping shape the legislation. The state legislators would have to work together to enact new legislation, and given the state of most politics, it seems unlikely.

Have you ever needed to find parts for this? Are they hard to get? 

Haven’t needed to get anything significant yet; the air filter is annoyingly difficult to get because it isn’t shared with anything that was ever sold in the US. The kei community has resources that can point you to the most common things that are available at most auto parts stores.

Now what’s the story with the CR-V?

We bought it new about 6 years ago. My wife had been driving a Prius for seven years and our kids were getting old enough to complain about the back seat space. She wanted whatever larger car she got to still be a hybrid.

Did you cross-shop it with anything, or did you know what you wanted? 

We went into shopping basically deciding it was between the CR-V Hybrid and RAV4 Hybrid. During the time we were shopping, the RAV4 Hybrids were impacted by an issue that kept the fuel tanks from filling properly, and Toyota did not have a timeline for a fix, so we looked more toward the Honda.

What does this do better than, say, a Rav4 or Santa Fe? 

The CR-V felt much more spacious than the RAV4, especially the back seat.

Anything you don’t like about it? 

It only comes in boring colors, and you are always one of like 25 CR-Vs in any given parking lot.

How long do you think this one will be in your garage? 

Not sure, it is the leading candidate to be replaced next , and my wife wants to move to an EV.

Now with the RC company, tell me more about that? What sort of things did you help design? 

I had a couple of buddies who started a RC company 10+ years ago that mainly focused on making parts for scale rock crawlers. One was an engineer who worked in the commercial 3D printing industry, who was ahead of the curve in using 3D printing for structural parts in RC.

I had helped out with product testing through the years, so I learned a lot about 3D printing and how the parts were designed. About six years ago, the buddy who did the engineering passed away suddenly. I was helping my other buddy keep the company running temporarily, which turned into me becoming a partner in the company.

Do you still have a lot of RC cars and components?  

I think I got to somewhere north of 75 RCs. That amount has come down some, but it is probably still way too many. My favorite RC is probably the Losi LMT, which is a scale version of the Son of a Digger monster truck that perfectly captures all the brilliant stupidity of full-size monster trucks.

Now for your dream garage. You mentioned you’d have an Ioniq 5N, a 911, Unimog, and Porsche Taycan GT. What do you love about each of these? 

Ioniq 5N: I love the style of the Ioniq 5, and something about the thought of one with everything cranked up to 11 is absurd in the best way.

911: The looks are classic, the flat 6 sounds make every drive feel special, it’s a 911.

Unimog: This might be a case of wanting what I can’t have. I love a good off-road excursion, and the Mog is all about going anywhere.

Taycan: My wife saw a Taycan Cross Turismo in green and declared I have to buy her one if we become rich enough to not worry about pesky things like money.

With two EVs in the dream garage, is anything stopping you from having one now? 

At this point, it is mostly about finding something that matches the driving experience I want for the price I’m willing to pay. I’ve owned an EV in the past and know one fits into my life with no problems.

Thanks Derek!

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