The adorably small, Japan-exclusive kei cars have been making headline news ever since Donald Trump mentioned a couple of months ago that he had “just approved tiny cars to be built in America.” And though you may have seen pictures of these boxy cars, you may be wondering, what is a kei car, really? To give you a deeper insight into what kei cars are, what they offer and what it’s like to drive one, I got behind the wheel of the Honda N-Box, here in Tokyo. The particularity of the Honda N-Box is that it isn’t just any kei car. The N-Box happens to be Japan’s number one best-selling car, all categories combined, for 4 consecutive years, and Japan’s best-selling kei car for 11 consecutive years. The N-Box may not look very intimidating with its cute and tiny features, but it is a mighty kei car with some serious sales numbers on record.With many trims available for the Honda N-Box, I went with the N-Box Joy for this test drive. The Joy was offered in a turbocharged, two-tone, 4-wheel-drive configuration; a highly specced and unique combination for a kei car. The Honda N-Box Joy: What's Hot? Honda N-Box front An Overview Of The Honda N-Box Joy As a kei car, the N-Box ticks all standard kei car boxes: you get a boxy silhouette that complies with kei car size standards, large windows for great visibility, lots of convenient storage space and cupholders integrated in the dashboard and panels. But as its name suggests, there’s a lot to enjoy about the N-Box Joy, and this Joy trim is all about making the most of your time with your car.The N-Box Joy gets a stylish two-tone look with Botanical Green paint paired with black accents, hinting at the car’s outdoorsy personality. As you take a closer look, you’ll notice that the little kei car has everything it needs to conquer the outdoors, with front, side and rear bumper protection, and a set of fog lights.For the pricing to remain affordable, kei car interiors tend to keep things simple. However, depending on the trim you choose, kei cars can offer surprisingly welcoming and comfortable cabins, with the Joy being a prime example of that. As you get inside the N-Box Joy, you are welcomed by a warm, black and beige two-tone interior with plaid seats. Both front and rear seats get a bench-style configuration, creating a spacious and accessible space, and the front seats also get a retractable plaid armrest. Unlike compact cars, kei car rear seats offer plenty of legroom and headspace. The N-Box offers two convenient power sliding doors for rear passengers, which can also be controlled by the driver. The rear bench generously slides in order to adjust legroom and trunk, and just like in your average car, rear seats can be folded down for an even larger cargo space. The trunk’s low and accessible opening makes it as convenient as an SUV or a wagon trunk (if not more) when loading up bulkier items. An Outdoor-Ready Kei Car Ayesh Seneviratne / HotCars The Joy’s outdoorsy features are complemented by an equally outdoor-ready interior, with rear seats that hide a special feature unique to the Joy trim. As you fold the rear seats down, the trunk transforms into a 4.8-feet-long full flat space where you can sit, stretch your legs, or even take a quick nap. With retractable picnic tables mounted onto the back of the front seat, you can secure your drinks in additional cupholders and use the small trays for a quick and comfortable lunch break.Honda calls this space the “flat terrace,” which plays on the double meaning of the word “flat” in Japanese (pronounced furatto), pointing out to the full-flat feature of the space and the ease of transforming the rear seats into this mini-terrace. This plaid terrace is best enjoyed with the trunk door wide opened to enjoy the surrounding scenery.Though the space isn’t long enough to sleep without curling up, I was able to sit, sip on my coffee and read a magazine while enjoying the sunny weather. And if you’re worried that I could accidentally spill my coffee onto the beautiful plaid fabric, Honda thought of everything as the full-flat surface uses water and stain-repellent fabric. A Closer Look At The N-Box Tech Ayesh Seneviratne / HotCars Infotainment systems aren’t always Japanese manufacturers’ forte, as I have experienced with other Japan-exclusive models, but Honda’s crisp, modern and responsive 9-inch touchscreen turned out to be a pleasant surprise. The N-Box also offers a high-quality multiview system that allows you to park your car with ease. Tech doesn’t stop there, as the N-Box offers various driving aids through the Honda Sensing system, and connectivity features through the Honda Connect system. Though both Apple CarPlay and Android Auto were available, these features were only available via USB-A connection. Honda N-Box Best Features Highlight: Practical interior with ingenious storage solutions Power sliding doors for rear passengers Adjustable cargo space Full-flat trunk space for an outdoor experience Modern infotainment screen and tech Is The Honda N-Box A Driver's Car? Ayesh Seneviratne / HotCars The kei car classification comes with a strict engine displacement of 660cc or lower and a maximum power output of 63 horsepower. Though the N-Box Joy is no exception to the rule, it gets a few extra features to improve its performance. Its 3-cylinder 660cc engine is turbocharged, which isn't common to all kei cars. The little Honda kei car produces 63 horsepower as per kei car rules, and a little above average in terms of torque at 76 lb-ft. Like most kei cars, the N-Box features a CVT gearbox, but this Joy trim also gets a 4WD drivetrain, which is not always common.First, let me give you a rough idea of what it is like to be behind the wheel of a typical kei car. If you were to drive an entry-level kei car on a highway at 60 MPH, you’ll find that it often lacks the power to overtake quickly and keep constant higher speeds. The standard front-wheel drive configuration of kei cars also means that you get a strong sensation of being pulled forward.Things feel very much different behind the wheel of the N-Box Joy. Even with the same engine displacement and power output, the turbocharged, 4WD configuration helps elevate the driving experience, bringing it closer to that of a compact car. The turbocharger helps with quicker acceleration as the extra torque that you get over standard kei cars helps smoothly push all four wheels forward. The N-Box Joy feels relatively quick off the line and overtakes with ease on the highway. The four wheels at work help bring stability, but also help move with ease on slightly rockier terrain. Completing the car’s outdoorsy looks, the N-Box Joy comes with soft and cushy suspension for those willing to take the car off the tarmac.No matter how narrow a street or how tight a parking space was, I could go anywhere I pleased.Gravelly roads in central Tokyo are virtually non-existent, but I compensated by driving the N-Box extensively in the city, which turned out to be the delightful experience I had imagined. Aboard the tiny kei car, no road, no street, no parking space is off-limits. No matter how narrow a street or how tight a parking space was, I could go anywhere I pleased. Behind the wheel of the N-Box, I was seated higher than in a compact car and there were hardly any blind spots.Though the N-Box is far from being a driver’s car, the CVT gearbox does come with a torque converter and consequently paddle shifters for those who wish to have slightly more control over the driving experience. But being a driver’s car was never the N-Box’s objective anyway. Instead, if you’re looking for a driver’s kei car, you’ll want to look into the discontinued S660, which we hope Honda will bring back some day (Honda, if you’re reading this!). Honda N-Box Joy Engine Specs How To Build The Honda N-Box The Right Way Ayesh Seneviratne / HotCars One secret behind the N-Box’s continued success lies in its customizability. According to Honda, the N-Box was developed based on the idea of “wanting to contribute to everyone’s happiness.” In order to fit our varied lifestyles, the N-Box offers 17 different trims, as listed on the Honda website, which are all offered in front-wheel and 4-wheel-drive configurations. When including these drivetrain configurations, it all adds up to a grand total of 34 different N-Box variants.Differences are subtle and mostly revolve around drivetrain, turbocharged engine configuration and aesthetics. Turbocharged, 4WD models provide a better driving experience, especially to more avid drivers, but some drivers may want to save up and stick to a simpler configuration when driving revolves mostly around daily errands.There are also visual differences as well, with design changes that can be found on the car’s fascia. N-Box trims such as the Joy come with round headlights and a covered front grille for a more endearing retro look, but the Custom trim comes with a set of rectangular headlights and a sportier-looking front grille. Other variants, such as the N-Box Slope, offer a deployable slope in the trunk for wheelchair accessibility, proving that the N-Box is indeed a vehicle that can be loved by everyone. HotCars Take: Love It, Leave It, or Mod It? Ayesh Seneviratne / HotCars The N-Box is the kind of car that blends into the traffic, and you never really pay attention to it until you get to drive it and experience it for yourself. As I got to drive the N-Box Joy in Tokyo and in the neighboring prefecture of Saitama, I started noticing the omnipresence of N-Boxes, finding them in every other street and at every other parking lot. Behind the wheel, I’d see young couples, friends, but also families and some elderly people driving, hinting at the car’s ability to accommodate many lifestyles.The N-Box offers a playful design accompanied by a quality interior, and a variety of features that genuinely improve your daily life in small but convenient ways. The N-Box is everything you’d expect from a daily companion as it pays attention to each one’s daily lives: the interior is ingeniously thought of and space is maximized, with an accessible cabin and a wide and flat trunk opening that makes loading up bulkier items easier.You are able to tailor the N-Box into a car that perfectly fits your needs, all at a reasonable starting price of about $11,200. No wonder why the N-Box sells so well.From powertrain configurations to headlight designs and cabin options, you are able to tailor the N-Box into a car that perfectly fits your needs, all at a reasonable starting price of ¥1,739,100 (or about $11,200 at the current exchange rate). No wonder why the N-Box sells so well. And if all of these N-Box options aren’t enough for you, I have seen people go for the even cheaper N-Van (a more stripped-out version of the N-Box with van-like features), and transform it into mini camping vans, with hand-built shelves and all.Though kei cars likely won’t make it to the United States partly due to safety reasons (let’s be real, the N-Box doesn’t stand a fighting chance next to a Ford F-150 on the highway), they do prove one point: cars can be affordable, without having to sacrifice any features for it. 2026 Honda N-Box Dimensions And Specs