A bright red compact sports car with rear-wheel drive, open roof and a limiter that only cuts in at 8,500 rpm. Now you are probably thinking of something very exotic, but it is really this Suzuki Cappuccino: a kei-car that you can drive in no fewer than four different shapes. This specimen is looking for a new, loving owner.
The Cappuccino was born from the Japanese kei rules. If a car meets this requirement, it qualifies for tax benefits. Kei cars were traditionally primarily intended as cheap, compact means of transport, but sportier variants soon appeared on the market. Think of the Honda S660, the Autozam AZ-1 with gullwing doors and the Daihatsu Copen. The Suzuki Cappuccino also belongs in that list. In height, the Cappuccino measures just 1.19 meters, so it’s pretty easy to overlook. Fortunately, that will probably not happen very soon with this bright red specimen.
Perhaps the most special thing about the Cappuccino is that it can be driven as four different cars. The fixed roof panels are removable on both sides, giving you a so-called ‘t-top’. Prefer a targa? then you also remove the middle roof panel. The roof panels can be stored separately in the trunk. A roll bar can be seen under the glass rear window. It is there for a reason, because the rear window can be folded away. This gives you a full-fledged convertible. The glass rear window means that the Cappuccino is also equipped with rear window heating. In 1995 this was by no means normal on convertibles, let alone in the segment in which the Cappuccino operated.
Suzuki Cappuccino as ‘t-top’.
Another attraction of the Cappuccino is its 660 cc three-cylinder turbo engine with 64 hp. That doesn’t sound very impressive, but a curb weight of 700 kilos, rear-wheel drive and a 50/50 weight distribution offer a good recipe for unadulterated driving pleasure on paper. In addition, the red line of the tachometer only starts at 8,500 revolutions per minute, so you can keep going for a long time. Despite its modest power, the Cappuccino is still quite smooth: it sprints to 100 km/h in 8 seconds. The top speed is limited to 140 km/h in accordance with the kei rules, but in such a low and small car it probably feels quite fast.
This Cappuccino comes from 1995 and was brought to the Netherlands in 2008. Here it only had a private owner from 2008 to 2009, after which it has always been in the hands of car companies. With a mileage of 112,116 miles (around 180,000 kilometers), this Cappuccino has seen a fair amount of asphalt pass under its wheels, although barely 7,000 kilometers on an annual basis is of course not very much. The road tax is only €43 to €49 per quarter, making the Cappuccino one of the cheapest options for open driving. Who offers this fun package a new home?
– Thanks for information from Autoweek.nl