Cars

Suzuki Cappuccino

The Cappuccino, a lightweight sports car released by Suzuki in November 1991, is the car that truly started the two-seater kei car boom.

One feature of the Cappuccino was that it was a complete two-seater front-engine rear-drive open body vehicle. The Cappuccino had a different kind of individuality from both the mid-ship open body Honda Beat and the Mazda AZ-1, which was also a mid-ship but had gull-wing doors. One surprise was a body that was fully custom-designed at a time when kei cars were moving towards using shared parts. Although great handling was achieved by the selection of a front-engine rear-drive configuration, it is somehow clear that the Cappuccino was created properly.

The design features a rounded shape with a long nose typical of front-engine rear-drive cars. The front mask has a cute design with four round headlights covered by elliptical covers. One groundbreaking feature of the Cappuccino is the design of the roof, which is partitioned into three removable pieces. Although normally a hardtop, the car can also be enjoyed as a T-top, Targa top, or a full convertible by additionally lowering the rear window.

Power is supplied by a 660cc inline-3 DOHC 12-valve turbo. The specifications are basically the same as the light, 64 ps maximum power engine used in the Alto Works. From 1995, the engine was changed to all aluminum, delivering a near ideal front-back weight distribution of 51 to 49.

The suspension employs newly designed double wishbones at the front and back, and the brakes are 4-wheel disks with ventilated disks on the front. Although the gearbox was initially only available as a 5-speed manual, an electronically controlled 3-speed automatic was added later. Power steering was also added to the automatic transmission model at the same time. Sales finished at the end of 1998 with approximately 26,500 units sold. This dreamy light sports car was a child of the Japanese bubble economy.