Honda Beat

The Honda Beat is a rear mid-ingined twa-seat roadster kei caur produced frae in Mey 1991 tae Februar 1996. The Beat wis the last caur tae be approved bi Soichiro Honda afore he dee'd in 1991. The tot nummer o caurs produced wis aroond 33,600. Maist o the production (aroond twa-thirds) occurred in the first year, an then production an sales fell drastically. The design o the caur oreeginatit frae Pininfarina, who then sauld the design plan tae Honda. The Beat wis ane o mony caurs designed tae tak advantage o Japan's tax-efficient K class.

Thare wur twa mainstream models o the Beat (the PP1–100 an the PP1–110) an a couple o leemitit edition versions. Variations on the first model wur juist cosmetic updates. Anerlie the seicont model haed ony real mechanical differences. Aw caurs wur affered wi the option o a driver's side airbag.

In teepical Honda fashion, the Beat's ingine did no utilize a turbochairger or superchairger. The 656 cc (40.0 cu in) ingine wis modified wi the MTREC (Multi Throttle Responsive Ingine Control) seestem, wi individual throttle bodies for each o the three ceelinders, tae produce 64 PS (63 bhp) at 8100 rpm wi an electronically leemitit tap speed o 135 km/h (84 mph). Anerlie a manual transmission wis available. The MTREC design wad filter doun tae the 1993 Honda Today kei caur.

The Beat wis pairt o a wave o kei caur-sized sports caurs in the early 1990s; its competitors includit the Suzuki Cappuccino an Mazda's Autozam AZ-1. Thegither thay anticipatit the arrival o the Smart Roadster ower a decade later, while Japan wad no see a new model o the genre till the recent Daihatsu Copen.

At Mey 9, 2010, a parade held in the Twin Ring Motegi circuit as a pairt o an annual Beat awner meetin. 569 Honda Beats participate the parade which is certified bi Guinness Warld Records as the lairgest parade o Honda caurs. The record will be shawn in the beuk in 2011 unless lairger parades will be held bi then.

Successor

Best Car reportit that Honda wis plannin on the successor o the oreeginal Beat. It wad be a front ingine caur uisin the platform an 660cc ingine frae Honda Life an Honda Zest. The FWD Beat can be an ootdatit rumor as MotorTrend reportit that Honda recently lodged a patent suggestin that the successor o Beat coud be a mid-ingine caur.

Media appearances

The caur haes been featurt on the popular Breetish telly program Top Gear thegither wi the Daihatsu Mira an the Mitsubishi Dangan. The caur is an aa featurt in Gran Turismo (PSP version).

Freemit airtins

• Honda Beat Specifications via Kei Cars Archived 2007-09-27 at the Wayback Machine
• Information from Honda (in Japanese)
• Mair Specifications on UK owners club