Autozam AZ-1 Mazdaspeed Review // Size Doesn't Matter, OKAY?

i still can't believe you got this thing that's a truck it's great yeah it's great over compensating for your little pekka well that's that's not a thing you have a miata yeah i bought the smallest possible car to show the world i've got the largest possible size doesn't matter anyway just a myth yeah [Music] you're watching throttle house i'm thomas and i'm james and this is a k-car what do you do when a nation of people are forced to buy motorcycles because all of the cars are financially out of reach well in japan they answered that question with these little things k cars and as a north american import this one might just be the most desirable to have it's called the autozam az-1 and it was made by mazda it's a two-seat sports car with the term sport used loosely and it fit within the k-car restrictions when it came out in 1992 so it was cheap to buy cheap to own and cheap to run and they only made 4 392 of them and of that number only a very small amount had the mazda speed package like this one does these days if you want to pick up an ultra clean autozam az-1 like the one you see here which we borrowed from the amazing folks at collection auto here in toronto who specialize in imports and unique cars you'll have to spend upwards of thirty four thousand dollars canadian or about twenty five thousand dollars u.s that's a pretty hefty amount of money for what is effectively a two-seat motorcycle with less storage than a change purse so to find out if it was worth it we decided to start the day by doing some normal everyday stuff and since its right hand drive being a jdm import i decided it would be funny to make thomas drive first we do car reviews track tests and quite a lot of messing around so subscribe and hit the bell [Music] okay oh why am i driving you were just in england this is a right-hand drive car you know that i'm not comfortable with this because it's more fun i i'm ambi carstress i i can i can see either side of the car okay so okay the turn signal stock is on the opposite side the pedals are the same but those are the same shift patterns the same yeah okay here we are okay the tiniest car ever with the tiniest amount of displacement okay and we're off and we're off and we're gonna go to the most japanese place we can think of yeah uh the sushi place no we're gonna go to mcdonald's oh okay yeah all right so i haven't driven this yet um first impressions honestly very easy okay i say that but then i just did a alerts there everything looks so large yes everything's up i feel like i've drunk the little thing in alice in wonderland yeah in terms of driving position this reminds me a lot of uh an n a miata in terms of my space here right i will say that the pedal box is rather small i'm glad that i wore my tiny shoes okay so this has an interesting amount of power right because it weighs just over 1500 pounds yes and it has a what is it a 660 cc engine like a 0.6 liter 0.6 liter three cylinder turbocharged turbocharged engine that revs suzuki motor to 9000 rpm i don't think i've ever been in a turbocharged car that can do that most don't and the sounds it makes that's crazy there's so much turbo noise going on too oh that's so cool right away it sounds like minnie me and austin powers when he gets kicked yeah exactly what's his name vernon troyer yeah maybe rest in peace in peace that's what it sounds like it sounds it's trying so hard you know it doesn't it doesn't feel like it there's actually quite a lot of torque oh look at the visibility here what visibility are you actually going to go and go [Music] oh okay all right how fast it feels like we're going really fast we went into a 40 zone there it's like i got to slow down i was doing 39. that's why these are so great because the sensation of speed i think it's got 64 horsepower yup no that's not well you know what so i've heard legends that they only say that it has 64 horsepower because it had to fit within the the k car restrictions right so maybe it has more because i will tell you that this does not feel slow at all no it's it's it's pepe it's great i'd say like in terms of like shove you in your seat it feels similar to a miata like a na yeah yeah so basically all the power you could ever need yep people just look they give you weird looks it's it it ranges from what on earth is that to oh my god is that a k car the short wheel base means that we're just all over the place yeah it's kind of cars we actually handled the bump really well yeah yeah but just normal like car motions are very very obvious okay oh geez i'm afraid of bumps because they look big to me no but this has good clearance surprisingly experience yeah this is what like tables felt like when you're a kid when you woke up yeah you walk up to where the grown-ups are yeah that's what this feel everyone feels like a grown-up i literally feel like this is so strange like that is like an accurate tl and we're looking up at it that is a very short man right there and we're looking up at him too don't tell him i said that okay a bit worried about this mcdonald's drive through oh i've got to be the one that opens the door because we're on the other side oh yeah yeah yeah i mean i have the window but it's not oh okay i closed started closing it before i put my hand back but i mean it started closing something out the window yes so you are responsible for that i'm a manual i'm gonna have to show so we'll order through the window yeah but we'll i we might have to i'll open the door to pick up depends if it's a big mac it won't fit you know i think i've been to a drive-through maybe 15 times in my whole life it's very english i i no english people do mcdonald's all the time oh really macky d's mate i just thought you guys just went to pubs we go down poop okay ready hello hi could i have a little donut please they're just the little ones why is that a little because it's lil apostrophe uh yeah just the the sprinkle little donut or an assorted pack of them please sure yep the air conditioning is very good though i will say it's very cold it is very cold impressive i mean it doesn't have much volume to cool yeah so do you have any money yes okay i'm glad that we planned that just yen all right onwards to little donut pickup time all right so i i don't think i'm gonna fit them through the window no you're not even though they're little yeah the little yeah yeah so up you go okay i think i've lined that up properly it's possible i didn't secure i don't think this was in properly yeah there we go thank you thank you very much all right okay we're gonna go i haven't closed the door oh you haven't closed the door i was just in the mode of get out of the drive-through you know what i'm saying you know what i think it's my turn to drive let's let's stop eat some donuts okay let's go to find a park okay okay you got it fast yes well as we learned earlier i'm not particularly well endowed so there's nothing getting in the way i have a steering wheel to attend this is so cool look at this car i don't want to close these it's too it's a true signature for this car we must have looked insane driving around yeah yeah um well insane not only because it is insane but also it's it's about as safe as a motorcycle yeah yeah well you always think a miata's not that safe and it's this is it's hard to tell this is two feet shorter than my mx-5 that you saw at the beginning of the video that's crazy so this is the mazda speed right so it's a proper performance car if you if you hadn't already doubted it because of the the tester oscar you know style lines here yeah yeah yeah yeah yeah well those are functional there's an intercooler and this f40 style wheel yeah well that's part of the mazda speed package you get that the hood the front kind of splitter diffuser thing and you don't get a hood if you don't get the master speed no you do get a hood you don't need that hood listen i said uncharted territory for me i don't know what speaking of hood this is this is a fiberglass hood it's incredibly light um pull that there there's almost something portion about these lines coming out yeah okay um yeah so there you go that's that's your storage and if you opt for the spare tire you get zero storage okay yeah it doesn't have pop up and down headlights though no i feel like they missed the trick there you know yeah that's what the na miata gets although this does have the door handles from the n8 miata yes those are the same door handles have you ever looked up for a door oh yes yeah there they are yeah speaking of it okay so from a distance when when this is up it looks so tall yes but we are taller than it at a strong six feet as we as we say yes agreed upon um and with the engine bay as well it's very cool right so it's obviously it's it's fully mid-engine right so there's the there's the axle line and that engine is in front of it so it's not a 911 no it's a ferrari it's a cayman yeah it's a cayman competitor there's actually quite a lot of like a camber adjustment in front and rear i found you could really dial this thing in for the track you know what i mean oh yeah this is a track car it's interesting to think of it as a cayman competitor though because how i wonder how much the cheapest cayman is this is so clean that it's got commands a pretty good price yes i wonder how much like a 987 came in high mileage they're they're not that cheap i i tried to buy one and yeah they're still holding their value yeah okay i want to try you want to drive i'm not driving check out these like houndstooth mats say they're like actual az1 mats they say right on them too they say exciting micro micro coupe exciting micro coupons that's really cool yeah it is they're right [Music] all right so it hasn't got tons of power no it doesn't but it's still it's quick it doesn't really it's a very light clutch very light light like you have to be purposeful with the shifts yeah it's it's got a really nice little gearbox actually yeah same decade as the enemy yes this is a 93 so this car is good for north to 60 in 10.5 seconds 1.5 seconds it feels quicker than that it feels yeah it does it feels quicker than that it's not really that if i shift second it just it just wails up to the top that's so fun it's really trying and there's unassisted steering yeah yeah isn't it it's so good absolutely tiny so i was recently when i was in england i was driving the gr yaris yes and that had a similar amount of kind of like turbo eccentricness yeah although this is just this goes on for so much longer and i've got this boost gauge here which is a floor there point five i says sitting at about point seven five bar of boost i think yeah yeah you floor in third gear isn't it fun though it's really it's just a happy little car it's so tiny people will love it we've been we've been yeah driving around people have been cutting us off to take photos yes and beeping as they drive past on the highway yeah yeah it's at 5000 rpm in fifth gear at 130 kilometers an hour so there's a lot more well there's a bit more but do you really want to be hanging out at 9000 rpm in fifth gear like no no definitely not it's just so neat it's it's such a novelty this it doesn't like in terms of the attention it gets on the road maybe the bmw i setter gets more maybe maybe but this is in terms of cars that we get more looks in i don't think we're doing anything like it this is just hilarious it feels good though it feels real good so this car gives you a lot of confidence it's also very easy right they've made this no abs they've made it so it's easy to drive but they've made the autos animated ones especially the master speed look like a sports car so when you actually push it a little bit in the corners don't lift it's mid engine not gonna lift like would i maybe i don't know if i would it's not got grip for days you know no no no no no no no the gr yaris you could oh yeah like crazy this uh this i feel like it would it would go yeah 100 if you lift in the middle of a corner it is mid-engine it's gonna swap ends and it's gonna swap ends so quickly because there's wheelbases all right here we go what a unique experience of an engine that is just so cool it's just a motorcycle top of second gear is about 65 70 kilometers an hour you get to enjoy so much engine and transmission and be within the speed limit there's a lot of rigidity to the chassis because even though it's like because of the way the seal's high here the doors come down yeah and you know we've learned recently that with convertibles the super snake mustang they need as much as much as they can yes as much as you can yeah and this has it this has it but it very much feels like a toy yes i don't know well like i mean like fundamentally that's what it is the k-car was never designed to be for sports cars the k-car was not for this the k-car was for you know saving money and transporting as much stuff and people as you could they've completely blown away the concept of a k-car by making this which is hilarious it is just absolutely for fun but we've recently hit the 25-year mark for the u.s to import this so but for the american or the north american it is just a toy yes and i don't know and they do range in price but if you want something like this this clean and mazer speed yeah it's like a brand new car this is a good price yeah but still mid 30 thousands on a toy it's a lot of money you know it's a really cool toy though it's really really a cool toy maybe the coolest and overly expensive toy or not this car sold literally within hours of us turning off the camera proof that k-car desirability is as high as it's ever been although we don't expect its north american adoption rate to reach the almost 40 percent of the nation that it peaked at in japan at one point and that's okay because what this car does achieve is one of our favorite things in the world to discover that you don't need to be massively rich and buy supercars to achieve most of the joy that driving a supercar gives you the az-1 is impractical and everyone you drive by looks at it it revs to 9000 rpm and it has gull wing doors and this one does all of that with great fuel economy so in that sense it's actually better than a supercar also you get to shift twice before you hit the speed limit so you're actually having more fun around town than the guy in the lamborghini huracan next to you and if that little piece of knowledge isn't worth one tenth of the price we don't know what is thanks for watching [Music] you

Channel: Throttle House

Views: 588,829

Keywords: Autozam az-1, mazdaspeed, autozam review, az1 review, best kei car, kei car review, mazda kei car, suzuki cappuccino, honda beat, az-1 drag race, az-1 launch, autozam az-1 sound. Autozam az-1 drift, az-1 turbo, az-1 modified, autozam az-1 acceleration, az-1 tuned, az-1 car, az-1 mazda, mazdaspeed az-1, mazda az-1, cool jdm cars, best jdm kei car, fastest kei car, suzuki f6a engine, f6a swap, kei car japan, kei car engine swap, kei car history, kei car build

Id: 9y41o6CiE_8

Length: 17min 28sec (1048 seconds)

Published: Sun Oct 10 2021

Reddit Comments

[u/Alecides]

Now this is the RS 200 I can afford

[u/[deleted]]

[removed]

[u/OhHelloPlease]

I can't believe how expensive those things are. I know the used car market has exploded recently, but 10 years ago JDM imports in Canada were dirt cheap

[u/rm2601]

I can tell the smiles-per-gallon is going to be real with this!

[u/DenseHelicopter92037]

How is it so ridiculous and amazing-looking at the same time?

[u/aroc91]

The AZ-1 is making it's rounds, eh? First Doug a month ago and now TH.

[u/Sjetware]

Throttle House has truly mastered the intro sketch. My wife is not a car enthusiast at all and laughs at each - so kudos guys. Keep it up.

[u/Michelanvalo]

They sell donuts at McDonalds in Canada?

I can't get over how many suction cups are on the windshield in front of James.

If I had one of these, or a car like it, I don't think I could resist revving to 7000+ literally all the time. It's so out of the norm for a normal road car and you don't even have to go fast to do it.

[u/s_0_s_z]

"I'm ambicarsterous"

Bloody hell this is a perfect example of why I think TH is the best car YT channel. That had be rolling.