The Philippines is no stranger to unusual cars being sold locally. Whether it's a grey import luxury car or surplus models from Japan, it's what makes car spotting in the country that bit more interesting.
Recently, we've been seeing a small van from Suzuki making its way around our Facebook Marketplace feeds. Heck, you've probably been seeing a few of these tiny vans on the road. It's called the Suzuki Every, and we've been pretty interested about it. To satisfy our curiousity, let's take a closer look at the little load lugger.
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The Suzuki Every is what's called a kei van over in Japan. There are two versions of it available, namely the, um, Every and Every Wagon. The previous is more of a commercial vehicle (think LiteAce), and the latter is aimed more towards families thanks to extra seats at the back.
Being a kei van, the Every conforms to the rules and regulations set by the Japanese government. That means it's less than 3.4 meters long, 1.48 meters wide, and 2.0 meters tall. To give you an idea how tiny the Every is, the Toyota LiteAce is a bus by comparison at 4.045 meters long, 1.665 meters wide, and 1.930 meters tall.
Another thing about kei vans is the engine restriction. Like most of the vans in its class, the Every uses a turbocharged 660cc, three-cylinder engine. It's good for 64hp and 100Nm of torque, and it shifts with a four-speed automatic or a five-speed automated gear shift like the Dzire.
As for design, the Every is a exercise of function over form. The tall, boxy and narrow body aims to maximize every square meter of its limited size. The engine is under the front seat for compact packaging and space efficiency. That means there's a decent amount of room inside for such a tiny footprint.
Suzuki says the Every's interior is a flexible as it can be. It has loads of cubby spaces, along with several shelves on the side panels and even an overhead storage bin for good measure. You can even get it with a mini bunk bed, an extra cusion, attachable hooks all over the place, and even an indoor roof rack.
The Every has all the ingredients to be a mini campervan with all its customization options. Heck, there's even an all-wheel drive option for those who need to drive on dirt roads.
Over in Japan, a brand-new, top-spec Every Wagon with all-wheel drive will set you back ¥ 1,929,400 or about P768,000 at current conversion costs. As for the base model, that'll be ¥ 1,569,700 or about P625,000. That's a relative bargain for all the utility and practicality you get. Heck, we wouldn't mind having one as a city runabout.
It's worth pointing out that the Every you see here are not official Suzuki Philippines units. And since these vans came from Japan, these are also converted from right hand drive to left hand drive. We won't dive too deep on the debatable topic of converted units, but it would also be nice if, someday, Suzuki Philippines would find a way to offer it here with the steering wheel on our side.
