Minneapolis Street Sighting: Mazda B2600i SE-5 4x4

I have always been fascinated with Japanese compact trucks--and I have always been a staunch Mazda advocate; put the two together, and you've got my dream ride. Okay, sort of. From an early age, I've always had a soft spot for these, and I love them in extended cab form best. Sure, the single cab was probably the most-bought (because that's what I saw tons of in Kansas), but these uplevel SE-5s look classy.

While Toyota had a trimline called SR-5, Mazda had it's own SE-5; both trucks came with 5 speed manuals initially, and both trucks offered a more sporting appearance than the base model. I've searched and searched and still do not quite know what qualifies as an SE-5 aside from more youthful colors (like this one pictured here) and more stickers, and special wheels. While it is hailed as something special among its followers, the SE-5 is nothing more than a 1980s marketing exercise to gets sales spurred.

This is where Mazda fell flat; Toyota trucks sold in droves compared to Mazdas. I still see old Toyotas on the road, despite the rust problems, but these Mazdas are seriously hard to come by--even in Kansas. Part of that may be the fact that dealer networking in the 1980s (even with Ford) wasn't quite what it is today--and the fact that Ford was pushing the Ranger instead of trying to help Mazda sell its own pickup. Couple that with low dealer inventory, and you've got a recipe for a slow-seller; and in 1993, the Mazda design was replaced with a badge-engineered Ranger--which ultimately sold so poorly that Mazda discontinued it quietly after a few years of literally no ads (print or otherwise).

I live in the rustbelt--obviously--so finding one of these alive is a miracle in itself; the fact that this one is rust-free is an added bonus. The paint looks amazing, and aside from the replacement (and rusty) rear bumper, this example is true to its original state.  The color is fantastic--only because I love teal and probably all of its shades. All of the stock trim is not only intact, but it's untouched or ruined by the weather; too bad the same can't be said of the black plastic bits (namely the grille).

The wheels on this thing are awesome; I know it's a basic 5 spoke design, but this wheel design has to be fairly rare, as I've only seen one truck in person rolling on these. All the other SE-5s I've seen have had the white painted wheels, which honestly look horrible.

The interior in this thing looks factory-fresh, too, last time I checked; all the trimmings were there, including the seats, which disintegrate prematurely on these trucks; no idea, why, but almost every single running example I've seen has seats worn down to nubs--and this one didn't. I would almost wager that this one was a lower-mileage example that has been very well looked after--and that's no bad thing.