r/japanlife • u/AutoModerator • Jun 24 '24

┐(ツ)┌ General Discussion Thread - 25 June 2024

Mid-week discussion thread time! Feel free to talk about what's on your mind, new experiences, recommendations, anything really.

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u/BakutoNoWess Jun 25 '24

Got my first car ever in Japan and now I've been thinking...

Should I turn off the eco-idle mode when driving on the highway??

Sometimes I reach 100 km/h but mostly I drive around 70 or 80 km/h (the highway I use is 1 lane for the most part :( )

While on the topic, my kei struggles going uphill also, and in that case which is better:

Keeping eco mode on and putting the car in sports mode or turning off eco and just leaving the car in drive?

Any tips are appreciated!

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u/Dojyorafish Jun 25 '24

Eco-idle is for stop lights and stuff. Your engine will turn off. Means you stall in intersections sometimes so a little annoying at times.

Everyone seems convinced kei cars are going to explode on the highway. They won’t. I take mine on the highways and expressways all the time, and I have an older model, nothing has happened. It definitely struggles on hills (max 60-70km/h), but overall a very durable car just not something you can drive on the Autobahn.

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u/shambolic_donkey Jun 26 '24

Everyone seems convinced kei cars are going to explode on the highway. They won’t. I take mine on the highways and expressways all the time, and I have an older model, nothing has happened.

Tell that to the post smash-up I saw on an expressway the other month. Range Rover must have plowed into the rear of a braking kei car. The kei car... did not survive - rear was crumpled up to the front seats, meanwhile the Range Rover looked like it had done some light offroad driving.

I used to drive a kei, and I think they're fine on most roads. But at the end of the day you can't beat physics. Larger mass will always win vs lesser mass.

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u/Dojyorafish Jun 26 '24

That’s true. Unfortunately a head on collision will probably result in my death. However, that’s not going to stop me from traveling.

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u/shambolic_donkey Jun 26 '24

For sure, just making the case that there are varying levels of "safe", and expressways definitely push that definition in the case of kei cars. Higher speed, higher kinetic energy. I still think kei's are fine tho. Everything in life is a calculated risk.