Renting a car on holiday in Japan: The good, the bad, the ugly
We are always on a lookout for the best driving / riding roads, even when we are on vacation. The most recent chance yours truly had was in Japan, specifically on the south island of Kyushu. Here’s us sharing our experience on renting an MX5 sports car over 2 days, the good, bad and the almost ugly experience we had.
Where is Kyushu?
Japan is made of a few islands, with Honshu where cities like Tokyo, Osaka and Yokohama are located being the biggest island. Every Japanese anime surrounding vehicle racing mostly takes place on Honshu. Kyushu however is the lesser known south island after Honshu and Hokkaido. it is however full of natural beauty and steeped with tradition. With mountains and volcanoes making up the rural landscape, we felt we would find some really cool driving roads if we were to travel to the internal part of the island.
What we rented?
Speciality rental sites in Japan are like the car menu from a racing game. You get some pretty spectacular choices especially in regions closer to Tokyo. However in Kyushu, specifically in the city of Fukuoka, the biggest city in the island, the choices were slightly limited. Considering the cost to fun ratio, we opted for the Mazda MX-5 for our trip.
The car’s probably the lightest car you can get this side of a Lotus Elise, at approx 990kg. 1.5 litre non-turbo engine may sound weak, but it still puts out a heathy 131bhp / 150Nm, which is sent to the rear wheels via a 6 speed, close ratio manual gearbox. On twisty mountain roads, its fast enough to be scary. Its also sufficiently practical with a reasonable boot space, and ridiculously light on fuel consumption, which we will share at the end of the trip.
Rental and pickup process
Most of the car rental sites are pretty straightforward. If you are above the age of 25 you can rent most cars. Prices are worked out by the hour / day and ultimately come’s down to how long you rent, with pick up and drop off times. We rented our Mazda from 8am on a Wednesday till 6.30pm on Thursday. That set us back about RM1200 including insurance.
Having said that, if your promised pick up time is 8am, you best be there a few minutes before 8am. The Japanese are ridiculously sharp with their timing, even by 2 minutes. Not so much an issue during pickup, but its non negotiable during returns.
The Good part
It’s a roadster on Japanese roads. What else is there to say? Our first drive road was considered to be a ‘mainstream’ choice with a fair bit of locals frequenting it. The ‘Milk Road’, between the foothills of Mount Aso, an active volcano, to the farmland town of Minamioguni. The road covers 35km of grasslands, with elevations changing from 165m to 962m. That’s 30 meters higher than Gohtong, overlooking a valley and a volcano.
What sets it apart from our driving roads is the landscape. We have just as twisty roads with better surface conditions actually, but the low density vegetation and the road set on a plateau provides an exotic view. Especially when seen from a convertible, on a sunny day.
We stopped at the Pig Fluke Cafe, at one of the highest point in the drive, opposite the Kabutoiwa Scenic Overlook. There we saw a handful of enthusiast all out on their drive and ride.
The second drive route on Thursday morning was even crazier, going from 600m to 1330m from the Onsen town of Kurokawa to the Tadewara Wetlands. The pass is short, but provided an intense driving experience. It was exactly like how you pictured a Japanese mountain pass to be. The tarmac here was in much better shape, but it was the layout of the curves and how they were placed that was insanely entertaining.
All in all, it was mission accomplished for us in renting the MX-5. The car was fun enough within reasonable speed limits, especially with the top down. But when you push the speeds to triple digits, even on twisty roads, the car is very accomplished with loads of handling reserve left.
The Bad
Toll prices are bloody expensive, especially when it’s not a Kei Car. It set us back RM200 plus driving from Fukuoka to Kumamoto. Maybe another RM50 for missing the first exit. We had no choice but to use the expressway on the way down to save time on day 1. Which is why we resorted to using toll free roads on the way back to Fukuoka.
But unlike our back roads, the narrow Japanese roads dont have too many overtaking opportunities, and the speed limits can be really, REALLY low. Which means you spend a bulk amount of time with a string of cars sitting at 50kph. Occasionally you have locals that are more liberal with the driving speed. But for bulk of the way, it’s strict adhering to the speed limit.
The Ugly
This took place when we returned the car. Of course we opted for a comprehensive damage coverage for the car. But some companies have ‘downtime’ charges for the repairs, in the form of excess fees. It’s understandable when this is charged on a proper physical damage like a broken part, bumper or tail light. But the company we rented from wanted to charge for a single scratch.
The best part is the car already came with several scratches and dents like that. Even more worrying is that the return inspection was carried out with yours truly locked in the staff’s MPV and not together as it was done during the first day. While we are open to some sort of penalty for the scratch, the 140,000 YEN the rental company wanted to charge seemed ridiculous. When we wanted to take this matter to the police, the rental staff refused to budge or provide any form of ID.
We are still in talks with the rental company to get a better light on the terms. Although some search online reveals that this is used by this particular service provider and some other rentals. Although we can debate about it, its best to be defensive, and not just stop at taking pictures while inspecting the vehicle, its best to take a full video on every section of the car. Also never sign off the car with the staff alone. We will keep you posted on this.
Was it worth it?
Absolutely, despite the seemingly long winded negative points listed in this article. The open roads, the unbelievable scenery, the weather when it was sunny, running top down on the Japanese countryside was an outstanding experience. Especially for the amount we paid for the hours used. The sights we managed to see thanks to the freedom of having our own vehicle across the Kyushu countryside was unbelievable. Plus the eateries we found was the stuff of dreams. This was only possible with the freedom that comes with renting your own vehicle.
Of course a simple Kei car would suffice. Which would still be perfect. But the MX5 took things to another level. Above 4000 rpm theres a strong surge from the 1.5 litre engine, and the whole car rockets up. There’s plenty of grip from the small sized tyres, that we never overwhelmed them despite clocking 3 digit speeds on the mountain pass. The gearbox was such fun to use, the handling and agility is only bested by something like a Lotus Elise. The craziest part, we only used 25 litres of fuel for 380km of driving. That works out to be about 6.5l/100km.
You are always going to have misadventures during travel. But its all part of the experience when you travel to a different country, and do something slightly out of the ordinary.