Honda N-Box & Suzuki Spacia - Kei car battle: Common problems and should you buy one? | ReDriven

hey uh you like unique do you feel like you have to do things in life just a little bit differently but at the same time it is life so you've got to be you know practical and responsible and things like that well these two might be you in car form and I say it might be because crazy cars like these two often have many questions surrounding them so how about we answer those [Music] questions okay so first up this is the Honda inbox in that is the Suzuki space here and these are both key cars now if you don't know what a key car is basically they're a tiny we little car made for the Japanese domestic market now you might be thinking key car aren't they pronounced K car well yeah you're 100% right and weirdly I normally call them K cars I don't know why on this particular day of filming this maybe it was like a senior brain moment I kept calling it a bloody key car it's not it's pronounced K car I'm so sorry I'm just an idiot basically because they're so small in Japan the running and ownership costs are far less and obviously they're amazing when it comes to negotiating cities and builtup areas but what are they like here in Australia like what are they like to live with how are they driving on our roads and also what goes wrong with them we're going to be answering all of these questions and more now these are available here in Australia purely as a gray import but like many wonderful Japanese cars they can come in a wide range of different flavors the second generation space here has been around since 2017 it is still a current model and was initially available in two Styles the space up and this the space here custom with both being available in different trim specs and then from 2018 a crossover variant called the spaer gear appeared while in 2022 the commercial variant spaer base was released the overall range was updated in 2021 as well and loads of these on the Aussie Market began to feature some kind of level of personalization or modification as well and the same can be said for the nbox but with this thing okay the sheer amount of variations and models and submodels honestly it's bewildering firstly the inbox is part of Honda's n lineup of keycards also available are the N wagon the N1 and the N van but even with just the nbox these have received a couple of different updates as well but we're not even sure if Honda themselves know how many variants of this they actually made it is honestly crazy you ready you want to see how many hit pause to check this out but no matter what both the Suzuki and the Honda feature a 660c 3 engine sometimes with a turbo sometimes without most will have power sent to the front wheels although four-wheel drive models are available and transmission wise look again depending on the model you can choose between a manual or an auto now when it comes to key cars like this or really any import sometimes paying for them or more accurately getting finan for them it can be interesting but not so with driver no matter what sort of car you're looking at hit that driver link down there to Source the very best Finance deals sorting your Finance is done so easily online there are no hidden fees you can choose the best Finance package that suits you and you can have the cash in your account in no time and doing all that through that link is going to get you $150 worth of free fuel plus hit the wiper Tech link down there and you're going to get 15% off and free express shipping when it comes to your next wiper blades order them easily online they're delivered to your door they're super easy to fit and they worked perfectly also hitting those two links look it not only helps you guys out it helps us pay our bills which means that we can keep making car content for you okay now back to these two little rascal we're going to talk about the exterior let's start with the Suzuki now we featured a Toyota velfire alard recently on red driven and it feels like or looks like this is what happens when you take a drenching wet velfire and stick it in the dryer for too long and it shrinks that's the basically the space here but look personally okay I'm not really into the whole fact that the whole front of the car is either Chrome or glass it's just not really my vibe personally I like the more retro finish of the space here or even the base models all of this is kind of black and for me it just kind of looks I don't know cooler but look overall I love the dimensions I love the way they look pictures photos they just don't do these things Justice you've actually got to see them in the metal for it to all make sense and they do they do in real life they just make sense and then when we come to the Honda look this is the post facelift inbox it's going to be a matter of opinion if you're like pre or post facelift but again I just love everything going on here I love that it's it's just such a smart use of space with all four wheels at the extreme corners of the car and maybe because there's a lot going on in a small canvas so there's a lot to look at but at the same time it doesn't feel doesn't feel over styled also these sort of modified maybe a little bit lower with some kind of cool JDM Wheels love it and then we come to obviously the tbtl factor which is basically when you walk away from the car and you turn back to look Factor okay Suzuki I'm going to go like an 8.9 Honda 9.2 okay now let's start with the interior of the Suzuki first of all I feel like well I was assuming that I would feel super claustrophobic in cars this small but you don't it feels so spacious the wind screen is so far away and the roof height it feels like the roof's about a meter above my head so it honestly it feels so much larger than what you're expecting inside design wise in here excellent it's got this kind of almost 1950s retro thing going on with this silver treatment and the gloss black plastic everywhere I normally can't stand gloss black plastic in cars but only when it's in high traffic areas like if there's a center console and you scratch it up here like you're hardly ever going to touch this stuff and like in this car there are no scratches it's in perfect condition and like they've done such a great job at making cheap materials feel more premium like this is all hard scratchy plastic and basically everything's hard scratchy plastic but the textures it just it makes it feel more premium than what it is seat Comfort wise ergonomics absolutely spot on it's so comfortable again I thought I'd feel like I'm in like a little bus but you don't like it feels I don't know what it feels like it's not like a car or an SUV it just has this unique kind of feeling it's such an enjoyable place to be I could spend days in this interior and still not get bored with it guys I can't exaggerate to you just how comfortable this thing is it is I can't believe how good it is okay now practicality normally a boring part of any car review but are you ready because this is spectacular here we go obviously in the doors you've got you know door bins here bottle holder there you've got a little door bin here it also has possibly the world's largest sun visors you've got a little cup holder here you've got a spot perfectly sized for your phone just there and then things get exciting so you've got a little spot under here a little shelfing upper glove box you've got hidden cup holder here you've got hidden drawer here another glove box there which is a really good size and then this bit fold the seat up and you've got oh you're thinking oh oh my God there's storage under the seat no no no no gets even better it removes you've got like a little bucket and even more storage I just what is going on with this car it's fantastic oh also forgot forgot this one little storage in the armrest under here genius okay now in the back seat I'm exactly 10 cm taller than disgraced American actor Kevin spacer this is in my driving position and wow like look at the amount of room I've got like enormous it's like it's like business class in a jet also you can adjust you know you can slide these forward and back to give you more boot room we'll show you that in a second but in its rear most position this is incredible also the seats are pretty bloody comfy and it even feels like spaer and Airy in here as well because the windows and the glass house is so huge and also you've got your your pull-up lines which is cool but even as far as the materials go like the front like yeah they are cheaper materials but for some reason it feels more premium than it is back here now as far as practicality in the second row goes look not quite as impressive as up front but still pretty good you've got these pull out almost like Airline style tables with a couple of cup holders there they've also got little hooks here for either your phone or to hang something from there's no transmission tunnel so again heaps of space more cup holders here your own air vents little storage bins here the blinds which is cool brilliant now even when it comes to getting in and out it's a breeze Because the actual door apertures are huge also powered rear doors even getting in the front look at the size of the opening aperture they're massive then in the boot okay so with the seats you know kind of in their back most position yeah not a whole lot of storage there but the good news is slow bit further forward and that's pretty good also when you fold the seats down you basically have a little van like that's heaps of space okay now in the Honda the overall look and feel and the materials used are going to vary depending on which of the 3,000 different variants you're looking at but in this particular one holy okay so the leather is actually like really nice quality leather and it's got this kind of cool bronzy kind of effect as well this is an Alcantara this feels like almost like really nice pajamas it's like that kind of Terry tailing feel I'm just want to keep touching it for the rest of the video but I won't I'm not going to put you through that all the trim up here is fantastic okay again everything's like hard scratchy Plastics but again it's like the Suzuki they've used a texture that makes it feel feel more premium than it is seating position the the seats are so comfortable again like the Suzuki you could spend hours in here and not get a saw back or a numb bum it feels great driving position is great there's a decent amount of adjustability it does it doesn't telescope it doesn't really need to I can't again I can't get over these Interiors it's so nice again as well now this one the interior is so much darker than in the Suzuki so therefore again it should feel more claustrophobic but yet again it feels spacious it you never ever feel like you're in a tiny little car it feels so much bigger than like even some SUVs also just the quality of the fit and finish I I thought it was going to feel cheap and nasty but it feels very very premium like the way everything goes together like it's just incredible the like the the tolerances between different panels and bits of plastic really tight now practicality in the front of the Honda not quite as impressive as in the Suzuki you've got this this amazing shelf unit here which is cool an okay size glove box it's honestly a little bit on the small side good little uh storage bin here' got a little hook here for your grocery shopping or maybe a laptop bag um um cup holder here cup holder here okay siiz door bins another little pocket here another little hidden one here and up here more space under the uh steering column again enormous sunvis as that's to be expected oh there's another little storage cubby hole Mini front glove box thing under the what are they instrument cluster yeah under the instrument cluster there and that's it the seats don't fold up they slide back and forth obviously but yeah not quite as oh my God amazing as the Suzuki then in the back seat of the end boox I'm exactly 22 cm taller than another talented little box Manny Pacquiao this is in my driving position and this is even more spacious than the Suzuki like look at the amount of space I've got this is it's honestly it's like not business class this is first class light kind of levels of space and again the materials like this just it feels so nice to touch it's lovely lovely leather seats and the leather still Supple on great rear blinds again it's just oh my God and not only have you got heaps of space you've got armrests for even more comfort and the seats recline this is I can't get how much space is back here it's is nuts now practicality wise again not quite as impressive as the Suzuki you also have like these flip up tables with some cup holders which is really really nice but there's no door bins here there's no air vents you do have little cup holders back here that's about it and just heaps of space but yeah not quite as impressive on the practicality front now when it comes to these ingenious Honda Magic seats I got to I got to take you through this because it's super impressive first of all these seats lift up like this so you've got all of this space which is amazing plus these are adjustable forward and after like that and then when you pop these headrests down hang startu this up there we go come on work hang on the amount of space back here is crazy I'll show you from the back look at this so look at that I can you believe this look at this it's amazing so much room I can't get over it I'm I'm I'm Blown Away blown away oh we just had a thought as well we should show you what it's like with the seats in place and this is the amount of storage room you have but again like these they yeah they slide forward there we go so like yeah good amount of space finally on the whole practic it thing like why aren't other modern cars being packaged as well as this like it feels like they're wasting a whole lot of space these are tiny and we cannot get over just how practical they are car companies get your together now look obviously what stuff you get is going to vary depending on the year and the trim speec and all of that sort of stuff but specifically on the space here you're going to get powered sliding rear doors a leather interior 360° camera a heads up display blinds for the rear windows heated driver's seat and USB charging ports everywhere plus all the usual stuff like air conditioning power windows all that sort of thing then when it comes to like modern phone connectivity again this is going to vary depending on the example you're looking at some of the infotainment systems they're modern enough that you can go into the menu and you can just change everything over to English from Japanese some of them you can't but the good news is generally speaking you can just swap these out with like an aftermarket system so you can add even more features to the infotainment system if you like again it's going to depend on which one you're looking at then in the end box you get Honda's ingenious magic rear seats LED auto headlights a pretty decent sounding six- speaker stereo keyless entry parking sensors and so much more now look safety wise and this this honestly was one of my concerns with these cars I thought honestly they'd be like a little bit of a death trap because they are about the same size as a box of tissues so you'd assume that hitting anything larger than a pigeon might kill everybody on board but not so because a study that was published in the National Library of Medicine stated in their conclusion that all though we are generally concerned that drivers of small Vehicles suffer more severe injuries our results suggest that for real world accidents key cars provide similar safety for drivers involved in frontal collisions as standard vehicles in fact go and check out the videos of the crash tests of both the space here in the inbox it's fascinating you think that thing is just going to crumble into like a little ball of metal and plastic but they're actually really really good in crash tests but look to take you through all the safety features that you can expect we're going to cut to another voiceover but this time it feels only appropriate that we kind of celebrate Japanese TV game [Music] [Music] shows [Music] [Music] now look guys obviously there is so much more to both the space here in the nbox in terms of features and safety and all that sort of stuff and so much more but if you do need all the specific details go to re.com and check out their awesome and completely free red driven cheat sheets they're going to answer all your deep dark questions okay so let's start with the Honda the overall Vibe imagine like if an old school Combi and like an old school Mini Cooper S had sex this would be the result it's that kind of fun light just enjoyable feeling all the time but like breaking it down firstly the suspension I honestly thought this would feel like it would have the suspension of an old BMX but it doesn't maybe because it's so light the ride quality even over really bumpy roads is really really good and then handling it's like it's so it's so fun again I think because it's just it's so light so it's just it changes Direction really easily and also because the wheels are you know at the perimeters of the vehicle it just it darts around all over the place engine wise I think we all concerned that these would just be gutless but like floor it no like it gets up in bookies like that's you know pretty slow to the speed limit really quickly and because it's a three cylinder it sounds like half a Porsche and then when it comes to like real world stuff the Turning circle is incredible it feels like it's almost turning on its axis so like forget three-point turns you'll never need to do one of those again unless it's in your driveway and then because the glass house is so large like actually judging the perimeters is super easy and because it's so small like the front of the car is kind of basically where your feet are so like trying to place it into a tight spot like parking an absolute Breeze now I was worried that obviously you know driving in Australia we do a lot of distances on freeways and long roads and whatnot but this on the freeway somehow it doesn't feel out of its depth like it's not you know it's not my first point of call when it comes to like you know driving to Queensland or Victoria or something but it handles freeway speeds just fine it's not revving its head off it goes quite nicely overtaking at freeway speeds that is maybe a little bit of a different story it does kind of lack some balls to do that but like it'll handle the occasional trip from like a Sydney to Newcastle easily although on freway speeds there is a bit of wind noise it is basically a box on Wheels and it's not really designed for 110k an hour so it can get a little bit noisy in here as far as wind goes and I would imagine if there were some like decent cross winds it' kind of move it around all over the place luckily today we haven't had any Crosswinds but besides the wind noise there are no rattles there are no squeaks it feels it feels such high quality in here like it feels so well bolted together almost like it's chiseled from Granite so it doesn't ever feel cheap and nasty one more thing on the engine I'm actually I'm genuinely surprised at how like py and enthusiastic this little power plant is again because the car is so light like it's genuinely like it's fun to drive it's not fast but it doesn't need to be fast it feels fast but yeah it's just it's so enjoyable guys one thing when you do have some fun through corners yeah you are quite aware that it is a tall vehicle for its sheer size so it does kind of yeah lean through the corners and pitch and roll and kind of move around but that's all part of the fun isn't it okay now in the Suzuki think think less Combi and more Cooper S this thing is noticeably quicker than the Honda I think that is far more kind of going for more of a luxury feel they both feel relatively refined but this is this is like just fun pretty sure this is the turbocharged engine it's the hybrid so it's fuel efficient but if it's the turbocharged one that means you could potentially massage the ECU a little bit and get even more power out of it and that I'm quite a fan of but just go through these Corners here oh man this is this is brilliant what an awesome just it's great it's so great it does everything the Honda does just with a bit more enthusiasm and just a bit more a big a bigger dollop of fun it's it's so great so so great now you can also in this one change gears yourself which I don't know really why you'd bother in this it's not exactly a hot hatch you can to make him feel a bit more involved but yeah I which one would you buy I don't know if you want a more refined experience probably the Honda if you want to have some fun and just laugh every single time you go for a drive probably the Suzuki H more corners here we go and this is the thing that was done at 30 K an hour and that was hilarious at 30k an hour that's what you want out of a car and look finally when it comes to driving both of these cars I think these two these two achieve something that so many other cars need to Aspire to and that's making everyone's lives out there more enjoyable when you drive this around town and through builtup areas everybody looks but everybody smiles and you get a few waves it just these bring joy and happiness to everyone that's an important thing okay now first up if you are genuinely thinking about buying one of these it is critical that you know who you're buying it from that seems obvious I know but these are gray Imports and unfortunately there are some very shady gray importers out there so if you are buying one go and see the guys at go garage or someone like that because yeah that way you're not going to buy something dodgy now look when it comes to what these actually cost you're going to be looking anywhere from sort of like the high teens to the high $30,000 range and look I know that might seem like a lot of money for you know not a lot of physical car but look at it this way first up the space here is a hybrid and it sips on fueled in the same way that I sip on a classic japanese vintage whiskey you're looking at about 3.5 L per 100ks the fuel in that not my whiskey habit and even when it comes to the Honda which isn't a hybrid it's looking at about just over 4 L per 100ks plus because they're so small and light they barely use their consumables like I'm talking Tires and Brakes and things like that so look they might not be the cheapest car on the market but they're they're hardly going to spend anything when it comes to running costs however if something were to go wrong like for example you need like a new body panel because someone runs into you or maybe even mechanically something were to go wrong because they don't share really many components with locally delivered Hondas and Suzukis you can't just pop down to your local Honda and Suzuki dealership to get the part you're going to have to get it in from Japan and that can take time and time can cost money although in saying that like legit importers they should be able to help you Source those parts but what parts may you need well this next part should answer that okay so what goes wrong with these guys let's start with the exterior honestly not a whole lot there there are a couple of sporadic reports that the rear power doors on the space here can kind of play up but apparently it sorts itself out and also there are even rarer even more sporadic reports of a few little electrical Gremlins here and there not at all common at all yeah basically and also with Honda yeah nothing we we could find no reports of any anything going wrong with the exterior now as far as problems inside go yeah nothing honestly nothing really there were a few complaints from some owners about aftermarket infotainment systems being a bit crap maybe they just should have spent more money on a better quality aftermarket infotainment system but common problems inside both the space here and the nbox none but mechanically what can go wrong with either of these two well I definitely can't tell you because I'm not a mechanic but jimm is just to put things into perspective here these two cars are amongst the highest selling vehicles in Japan it's a bit like in Australia where we have the hux and the ranger except the Hond and Suzuki are actually reliable and because this segment in Japan is so competitive these two manufacturers really do try hard to make them reliable and because these two manufacturers literally built their reputation building small and very reliable motorbike engines well that has carried over into these vehicles too and it shows because after a really really deep dive uh the amount of information out there in terms of what goes wrong well it's virtually zero but of course no car is perfect inevitably something is going to go wrong it might just be something minor like a water pump or ignition coil but sooner or later something is going to go wrong but if it's something more complex like a a minor transmission component or a sensor that's you know bespoke to that vehicle it is going to be more difficult to find it's going to take a deep dive on the internet and possibly even an interpreter look typically all the ones we see in Australia have got extremely low mileage and the fact that they are just a reliable little nugget and always have been you're really unlikely to have any problems at all okay so should you buy one of these and like which one should you buy we just need to talk about the concept of time for a second bear with me this will make sense okay so this is your lifetime with a car and it's about this much of it that you get get to do the really fun stuff I'm talking about going to truck days or going off-roading or going on holiday with the family it's about that much of it but with these two they focus all of their attention on this bit here we're talking about getting groceries picking the kids up from school trying to find a park dealing with terrible traffic they focus on this and they absolutely nail this basically they try to make your entire life the majority of your life really enjoyable all of the time and they nail it and that's why you should buy one doesn't matter which one either they're both brilliant but we need to know would you actually buy one like these key cars they're still kind of relatively new to Australia and we would love to know would you genuinely buy one especially like a kind of people move a van thing like this let us know in the comments below what would it take for you to buy a key car let us know see you next time the link is down there somewhere yeah guys it's got to be a legit it might just be something minor like a coil pack or an ignition coil or something that's the same thing that's two of the same things

Channel: ReDriven

Views: 420,301

Keywords: used cars, used car, motoring, used car review, car review, used car reviews, redriven, car market, used car market, used car prices, used second hand car market, secondhand cars, cheap carmarket, second hand car, uesd car market, second hand car market, 2nd hand cars, pre owned vehicles, auto industry, pre-owned cars, second hand vehicles, used vehicles, car reviews, honda n-box slash, Honda N-Box, Grey Import, gray import, jdm, suzuki spacia review, n box vs spacia

Id: SXQ11egHEmY

Length: 27min 21sec (1641 seconds)

Published: Fri Oct 20 2023