Honda Beat

The Beat was a sporty 2-door kei car built by Honda from 1991 to 1996.

Not only was the Beat a convertible, a rare feature among kei cars, it also had a mid-engine, rear wheel drive drivetrain layout. This little car was just under 130 inches from bumper to bumper, 55 inches wide, and 46 inches tall. Keeping it sporty was the curb weight of 1675 pounds, with 43 percent of the weight on the front wheels and 57 percent on the rear wheels.

Even though the engine was within the kei car displacement limit of 660cc at a close 656cc, this naturally-aspirated inline-3 produced 63 HP. The engine runs on gasoline. Even though it was a super compact car, the engine carried over some of Honda's technology from their Formula 1 program. The engine is called the E07A MTREC.

The handling performance was above and beyond for its class. The suspension was tuned with sporty driving in mind, and it was the first kei car to be fitted with disc brakes on all four wheels. It was equipped with 13 inch wheels at the front and 14 inch wheels at the rear.

The Honda Beat was produced from May of 1991 to February of 1996, and was the last car that Soichiro Honda approaved before he died in 1991. A total of around 33,600 Beats were produced, with a majority of them produced in the first year. All were right-hand drive and equipped with a 5-speed manual transmission.