Rare Imported Mitsuoka Ray Is a Rolls-Royce Knockoff Kei Car You Can Buy
All of the import paperwork is done, all this Mitsuoka needs is a new home.
Kei cars and kei trucks for sale in the U.S. are endangered species. They're hard to spot because they were never sold new here, and they're hilariously tiny on American roads. This Mitsuoka Ray for sale in Pennsylvania is rarer—even by kei car standards—and now is your chance to snag it.
The first-generation Mitsuoka Ray was based on the Mazda Carol and was built from 1996-1999. This one for sale is a 1997 model and it currently has just over 75,000 miles on the odometer (121,091 kilometers). The seller is who imported the car from Japan five months ago and is the only one to own it in the U.S.
As per usual with Mitsuoka, the body is different from that of the Mazda Carol it's based on. However, the Ray features a relatively mild makeover for Mitsuoka, whose cars are usually radically different looking than their donor cars. For example, the Mitsuoka Viewt was based on the Nissan Micra but looked like a '60s Jaguar Mark 2. This Mitsuoka Ray looks like a Mazda Carol with a more luxurious-looking grille and some bright trim surrounding the taillights. It's still a Mitsuoka, so it's still cool, but the Ray is one of its weaker efforts.
Under the hood is Mazda's 660cc three-cylinder engine, making between 52-58 horsepower, and paired with an automatic transmission. It powers only its front wheels, has a top speed of 70 mph, and it might get from 0-60 mph by tomorrow. Of course, performance and power aren't what you buy kei cars for. Instead, you buy them for their plucky handling, cheeky good looks, or to be the most adorbs work truck on the road. This one's well-equipped, too, with air conditioning, power windows, and even a CD changer.
The seller is asking $4,500 for the Mitsuoka Ray and it looks to be in pretty good shape without any major signs of damage or wear. Even most of the interior looks to be solid, despite being 26 years old. And since it was already imported, all the next buyer has to do is bring the import paperwork to their local DMV to get it registered. If a unique kei car is what you've always been after, this could be the car to make that dream come true.
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