The colloquial term "JDM" has now been often associated with lifestyles involving Japanese cars and popular Japanese culture, as well as Japanese super sports of the yesteryears, with the 1990s emphasized strongly on this matter. Seldom you'll find a random individual or "car enthusiast" exclaiming the three-letter word in giddy excitement upon the sight of a JZA80 Toyota Supra or a BNR34 Nissan Skyline GT-R, two Japanese sports cars of the 1990s time period that are being popularized and unfortunately excessively overhyped due to media outings and over-exaggerated articles claiming it to be the best thing to have happened to mankind ever since the discovery of fire. However, the world of Japanese Domestic Market cars doesn't focus itself solely on Tier 1 Japanese sports cars and compacts, sometimes, the most interesting and quite frankly the most obscure of Japanese-market cars are also considered to fit in the description very well too. Enter the Mazda Bongo Friendee.
At first glance, one might gasp in horror and ask themselves: "What in the actual living baloney is this?". Quite frankly the "JDM" image of super high-tech 4WD and twin-turbocharged powerplants fade in an instant upon the sight of this ghastly bread-shaped minivan. Although it is true that the Bongo might look just like the kind of car a soccermum could get wet with, but, it's the little details and mechanisms which make the Bongo just as unique if not more intriguing than any of the top-tier super sports cars teenagers are drooling over today. To start with, the Mazda Bongo friendly wasn't exactly a JDM model, given that it was sold in other countries as well under the Ford Econovan name. Starting its life as the Familia's "one-box" minivan counterpart, it shared the same engine as Mazda's then popular sedan, but, unlike it, the original Bongo had the engine mounted at the rear of the vehicle, ultimately making it a "cab-over" design, in which the car's front passenger compartment is located atop or in front of the engine. The Familia-powered Bongo soon proved to be successful, supporting the needs of the working class as well as being the Japanese Samba Bus alternative for lifestyle-chasing beach bomber families.
In 1995, Mazda released the Bongo Friendee, a successor to the Bongo Wagon, and which is also a departure from the traditional Bongo line-up. Made to accommodate the needs of camper fans and outdoor-loving households. 390 millimeters longer, 60 millimeters wider, 90 milimeters higher, and a completely different base chassis than the then still-on-sale 3rd generation from 1983 made the Friendee a completely different kind of Bongo. Despite the width of the Friendee not exceeding the 5-number limit of 1700 millimeters, some models have high roof heights which measure in at 2030 millimeters passing the allowable 2000 millimeter height limit of the 5-number classification, thus ultimately making particular variants of the Bongo Friendee a three-number classification vehicle, unlike the original Bongo which retained being a five-number car to this very day. Another change to the Friendee was that it is now a semi cab-over type minivan due to the front strut axle (rear was a 5-link if you were wondering) being moved forwards in order to meet with front crumple zone standards, but, because the passenger compartment cab still sits atop of the engine, the Friendee was still a cab-over in structural terms.
There were two variants offered with the Bongo Friendee; an RS-V base trim and an RF-V trim which is a slightly more luxurious rendition of the semi-campervan. Both trims have seating capacity of up to seven or eight, enough to carry around a full-sized family for outdoor camping trips. The highest trim model, the "RF-V Camper", omits one or two of the seats in replacement for a dedicated galley (basically a small kitchen) in cases where the owners are in need of some quick cooking. Also offered along with the trim options are three engine choices; the base engine being an FE-E type 2.0 L 12-valve SOHC petrol inline-4 which only comes with the basic RS-V trim, a torque-friendly WL-type 2.5 L 12-valve SOHC turbo diesel inline-4, and the highest spec option being a JS-D type 2.5 L 24-valve SOHC petrol V6. Among those engine options were two transmission offerings, either a 5-speed manual transmission or a 4-speed automatic, and among those transmission offerings were the choice of having a four-wheel-drive or a rear-wheel-drive drivetrain to go along with it. The specs are clearly vast for a medium sized semi-camper van.
But that wasn't the selling point of the Bongo Friendee. As hinted in the above paragraphs, there are some...variants of the Friendee which had to be classified under the three-number classification system due to its high roof height which bursted through the 2000 millimeter upper limit of the five-number class. You see, the Bongo Friendee, as if those engine, drivetrain, and transmission options weren't a handful already, has another three roof selections. The base was an ordinary steel roof which is standard on all vehicles, the second was a wee sunroof at the middle and the third? This is where it gets interesting. Named as the "Auto Free Top" or AFT in short, this diesel model-exclusive "top" would transform into a small tent on the roof of the car by means of an electronic switch which lifts the top up in spectacular fashion. The small second-floor tent, held on to by dedicated gas shock dampers, was enough to fit two grown adults and was equipped with a dedicated sunroof to aid in ventilation. The existence of the integrated "second-floor tent" eliminated the use of external standalone tents and promoted efficient outdoor camping to the Japanese public.
The charm of the Auto Free Top and the extremely effective utility of the Bongo Friendee made it an immense hit for outdoor enthusiasts. In 1997, the van was given a quick refresh with improved safety and airbag features in the driver and passenger compartments, as well as the choice to opt for the Auto Free Top-equipped roofs in gasoline powered Friendees. In 1999, the front fascia was face-lifted, and a sporty "City Runner" variant was added with the addition of a sports-oriented aero dress up kit. The van went on to be sold ten years after its initial inception, with the last model being produced in 2006. Since then, there have been no wagon vans quite like the Bongo Friendee, with manufacturers seemingly hesitant to put or re-invent the genius that this the "Auto Free Top" design. However, In 1998, Honda tried to copy the success of the Friendee's AFT roof by making their own version of a collapsible second-floor tent compartment in their Odyssey and StepWGN models, named as the "Field Deck".
Mazda's Bongo Friendee, proof that you don't need a fast twin-turbocharged Japanese sports car with four wheel steering to enjoy the world of Japanese domestic market offerings. If anything, the Bongo can provide ten times the utility and ten times the functionality than any of the "Tier 1" Japanese super sports for about a thousandth of the price. Different vehicles have different shapes, sizes, and performance figures for different needs. The Bongo certainly isn't going to be the fastest thing around, and certainly isn't going to be as fast as even a base model A80 Supra SZ. But what it lacks in performance, it makes up for it in total functionality and purpose, something that, even if car enthusiasts might not see it as important, is an absolute necessity for our daily livelihoods. There are many other hidden Japanese market gems lying around unnoticed today, and even if some of them might not have good "brochure specs", the features and options that they carry might be more intriguing than an exhaust muffler which could open and close valves with a flick of a switch, and the Bongo is a good representation of that thought. Sometimes, performance isn't everything, so let's enjoy cars for what they are and what they offer.
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