Note: This review was written a number of years ago but may still be interesting to some.

Recently at the Tokyo's R/C show at the (Big Site) back in October, I saw this "cute little car". I thought to myself "WOW!!! THIS IS GREAT! I want one!" After about 15 minutes of "Bug eyeing" this "Pocket Rocket" Mini R/C, I was really impressed because of the ability to use only AAA batteries, instead of regular size RC battery cells. But the overall looks seemed "cheap", but still for the price of retail (yen 14,800) or ($130.00 US) or a "street cost" (yen 9,000) or ($85.00 US) for a complete system that did not require either a transmitter, speed control, receiver, or mini type servo that I needed to buy and install myself, it seems worth the while. From my years in this hobby 1/10th, 1/8th scale building and racing ( too many years as my wife says) I knew ABC Hobby made their version called the "Pocket Racer DTM SP" and Kawada made their version called the "M24 Trip Mate", but I needed to (at that time) buy all the electronics, transmitter, servo, receiver unit, and speed control, plus a batter pack, and charger (oh!!! too many things to buy and store just for this small thing.... arrrrrrrrr! FORGET IT!) Remember I live in Japan and space is a premium ;') The bottom line was, I was extremely impressed with its compact style that formed this little R/C car. That had many advantages over the others mini type R/C cars. ( I know that Tamiya had a close facsimile of the Mini-Z Racer years ago and BoLINK with their mini type (which is not that popular here) but either of the was too easily broken, or not easy find parts for.


I have taken the car apart to see how easy it is to rebuild, then rebuild it with no problem. To give an idea about how easy it was, I even had my wife take it apart and put it together. (She had no problems). Over the past two months I have installed a few options, they installed without a problem, and they were enjoyable to install.( and WOW!!!!!! They aren't Difficult to find!) since this car is very popular for the indoor race nerds during the busy and cold days here.

Since the car is a "READY TO RUN" type, The car itself is very user friendly and easy to work on. YES there are very small parts, but its just part of Kyosho`s marketing plan to sell this mini RC (and they have sold many) But at this scale do you really care :) about how much time you spend maintaining it? Its almost true to scale to it full scale parent. It's just pure fun!

At this current time, the Mini-Z Racer comes in two body designs, Subaru Impreza WRX STI V, colors are.... (Metallic Blue #30932 MB) (Black #30932BK) (White #30932W) and Nissan Skyline GTR R34 V Spec, colors are.....( Red #30931R) (Metallic Blue #30931MB) (Silver ##30931S). The detailing is excellent! (almost Tamiya like).

How the body is mounted:
The Mini-Z Racer has (3) inner body "snap" points (2) that are "badly" glued inside the body shell, with the other molded into the body shell. The front position of the body shell is molded and the other two along the door sides are the "badly" glued small plastic pieces. It is easy to put on and take off the body shell, without either worrying about breaking the body shell itself or the inner body snaps no matter how badly Kyosho glued them inside the body shell.

Ok, the testing track was... my Living room. Unlike American apartments or condominiums, my dwelling is a typical small place. So I can test how quick and responsive the Mini-Z Racer is in a small narrow setting. My wife was not too happy with my playing on her freshly cleaned and waxed wooden floor, but I told her that I would clean and wax it again if she liked after I was done (hence the life of a married man:)). I loaded the transmitter with (8 AA batteries) and Mini-Z Racer (4 AAA batteries) with non rechargeable batteries (Alkaline), to see how long it would last. To my surprise it lasted for 2 hours of race time! WOW! try that with a Tamiya or ABC Hobby or Kawada mini. But after about the mid-point of the testing, I noticed the car started to do "donuts", wow it was cool but at the same time I wore down the rubber tires. But to my surprise I did not mare the floor with rubber marks! That's something mothers and wives are going to be happy about. I also ran the car on carpet and a Japanese surfaced called a Tatami (a thick rectangular floor mat made of rice straw woven together with rush grass). This surface was fun to run on, but it ate up my rubber tires, and dirtied the Tatami (the wife was really mad now I am in big trouble........... Oh on!!!!!!)

On all three surfaces the Mini-Z Racer ran on without a problem, and with the included obstacle cones and plates (red in color, I did not take a picture of them) Kyosho includes with this set it made the driving experience that much more FUN!!!!!!!!!!!! All in all this RTR set was a pleasure to drive and work on. I really recommend the Mini-Z Racer to any RC nut that loves the bigger RC types but needs a "R/C FIX" during those days your ill from work and school, or during rainy days to either try this kit or try a buddies. But once you drive a Mini-Z Racer you're going to be hooked :)

Thanks for reading my review :)

Takashi I. :)
Have Fun!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Note from hankster: Takashi is a regular in our Forum and lives in Japan. His perspective on RC gear shows no matter what country you live in we all have one thing in common, we love our RC cars and trucks!

End of review. Comments are welcome.

The review was very good. i have since bought 3 mini-z's including a bmw f1. i encourage everyone to go out and find one. They are great to run in the house on rainy days or those to cold days, plus there's tracks to run them at everywhere! i currently have mine running at 30mph, it is up with my 1/10 electric. Alot of lhs carry them, try one out. You will not be dissapointed.

Steve