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2015 Mazda Carol is a Retro Kei Car We Can’t Get Enough Of

The 660 cc era of the kei car introduced a few regulations that directly affect the styling cues of these little urban dwellers. To sum things up as short as possible, a kei car manufacturer needs to strictly follow the following seven conditions:
2015 Mazda Carol 6 photos
Photo: Screenshot from mazda.co.jp
2015 Mazda Carol2015 Mazda Carol2015 Mazda Carol2015 Mazda Carol2015 Mazda Carol
3.4 m (11.2 ft) maximum length, 1.48 m (4.9 ft) width, a maximum height of 2 m (6.6 ft), a mill that can’t go over 660 cc and a peppy 63 horsepower, a maximum load capacity of 350 kilograms (771.6 pounds) and a maximum passenger capacity of four occupants.

It’s needless to point out such stringent details hamper an automaker’s endless possibilities to make a small more enticing to look at than the current crop of kei cars from Japan. But after we saw this bugger, we changed our opinion on kei car limitations.

Compared to most other minicars on sale now in the Land of the Rising Sun, the 2015 Mazda Carol scores 11 out of 10 on the retro coolness scale because it doesn’t fall in the pit of regurgitated automotive design. The stiff upper lip face is the visual detail that grabbed our attention the most.

Under the skin, a choice of mills with outputs ranging from 48 to 51 horsepower are mated from the get-go to a seamless CVT gearbox. Heck, the mid-level GL and GS models can be kitted with all-wheel drive if that floats you boat. As for pricing, the entry-level Mazda Carol GF is available for 847,800 yen, a sum that translates to a rather affordable $7,096 or €5,836 at current exchange rates. So how about it?
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About the author: Mircea Panait
Mircea Panait profile photo

After a 1:43 scale model of a Ferrari 250 GTO sparked Mircea's interest for cars when he was a kid, an early internship at Top Gear sealed his career path. He's most interested in muscle cars and American trucks, but he takes a passing interest in quirky kei cars as well.
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