Not too long ago, Mitsuoka introduced that it might construct 10 examples of the Himiko for 2024. The second-generation Himiko is predicated on the fourth-generation Mazda MX-5 Miata and was first launched again in 2018, so it is not precisely new. However admittedly, since then, we fully forgot that it exists. It is such a low-volume automobile, we would prefer to suppose that is an comprehensible oversight, but when any automobile website needs to be preserving a more in-depth eye on Mitsuoka, it is Jalopnik.
Wanting on the Himiko, it is arduous to overlook an entire lot of Morgan within the design, however on the similar time, the Miata is surprisingly well-integrated. And that is saying quite a bit contemplating the Himiko is a full 26 inches longer than the Miata that it is primarily based on. We’re not saying it is attractive, nevertheless it may have and doubtless ought to have been a lot worse.
The phantasm that you are looking at something aside from a Miata shortly falls away the second you glimpse the near-stock inside, however you are a kind of, “I want trendy vehicles nonetheless regarded like basic vehicles” folks, the Himiko might be proper up your alley. We are able to nit-pick minor points resembling a few of the odd proportions all we wish, however that they had an concept and executed it higher than you’ll anticipate in the event you heard somebody made a Miata two toes longer after which added a Morgan physique.
Which is absolutely the place the issue lies. We do not need “higher than anticipated” or “kind of virtually works.” We wish bizarre. We wish WTF. We wish one thing nobody would ever consider making an attempt. Like the Mitsuoka Buddywhich in the event you’re not acquainted, is a Toyota RAV4 modified to kind of appear to be a K5 Blazer. Or the Galue, an almost-Bentley primarily based on the Nissan Altima’s Japanese-market cousin the Teana. These are correct Mitsuokas.
The Himiko, alternatively, is so near trying like an actual automobile, it simply does not really feel like an actual Mitsuoka. The place’s the Orochi spirit? A Mazda-based Himiko could be extra dependable in the long term, however we would take an actual Morgan as an alternative, thanks very a lot.
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