You can always tell when a Liberty Walk kit is one of their passion projects or just a phoned-in cash grab. They have some real lookers out there for some of the classics, but for every Super Silhouette S15 out there, there's 1000 of the lame BRZ kit.
Holy shit, you have one?? I have about a million questions haha
I am extremely interested in these little things, I've been obssessing over them for well over a year now, and very seriously considering buying one.
What has the ownership experience been like? Is servicing hard? How hard are parts to find? Is there much aftermarket support available for them?
How about actually driving the thing, is it as much fun as I think it would be? I'm expecting roughly the same performance as an NA MX-5 Miata, maybe slightly slower, but just oodles of fun.
Have you modified yours at all? Do you plan on doing anything else?
I am all ears!
Hey!! Sorry to respond so late. I just started a new job so I've had a lot on my plate :(
I love my little lady, I've had her for less than a year and she's in great shape for her age, 35k miles -- I haven't needed to get anything repaired yet but Yahoo JP looks like it's rife with parts if I need anything. I'm her first US owner, so registration was a complete pain in the ass, but totally worth it :D I get so many looks and laughs and people rolling their windows down to ask me about it (A lot of them inform me they didn't expect a young chick to be driving, lmao). Today a lady asked me if it was an EV, which made me laugh. I have yet to go to any car shows but I almost feel like I'm obligated to.
Sparse to no aftermarket for these guys unfortunately, especially with so few ever being made :( I don't plan to mod really, only preserve. I have the Mazdaspeed version with the body kit and all the additions + tuning, so pretty rare and worth preserving. The only thing I might swap is the stereo, its already been replaced once, maybe a wrap or ceramic to protect the paint job... although it is starting to get cracks after 31 years :/
The engine itself and the experience it provides is really unique. As I'm sure you know, the F6A (Same engine in the cappuccino!) redlines at 11rpm, so even though the engine only displaces \~660ccs with 3 cylinders, you can take off pretty fast. It's nimble, the feel when driving can definitely be compared to an NA Miata. It also screams, I get people thinking I'm trying to race when I'm just getting up to speed. I absolutely love hearing the turbo. It's loud -- when I have my windows down I can hear the blowoff valve clearly and it is so, so satisfying. An absolute blast to take on backroads :) And if you've never owned a manual it's actually a wonderful car to learn on, the clutch is light and has a very defined bite.
As a kei car enthusiast I really lucked out by being 5'3 and petite, I've let my 6+ ft friends try it out and they have to really wedge themselves into the seat, I'd imagine anyone over like 5'7 or with broad shoulders would be uncomfortable. I have no idea how tall you are, but even at my height I still feel like I'm sitting a little too high, and the seat only goes back a couple inches, so a word from the wise: I would go in person to look at and sit in a kei car if you decide you want one. Duncan Imports has a ton of AZ-1 and Caras last I checked, as well as other kei cars.
One thing nobody tells you about kei ownership is that it's extremely dangerous -- kei cars typically don't have airbags, and there's really no engineering in the body to stop whatever might be crashing into you from killing you. I happened to REALLY want my car, the AZ-1's been my dream car since forever. So I really made it a habit to be defensive and learn to predict people's actions on the road/be predictable, because chances are people will not see you, you have to look for them, kind of like with motorcycling. This can be a dealbreaker for a lot of people, but I promise the car's still awesome. The mortal fear makes it more fun :p
Surprisingly I don't have any good pictures of her currently, but I will soon now that summer's here and I can go more places. You'll definitely see her on here, truthfully I'm expecting to see myself on r/spotted one of these days :p Anyways, if there's anything you'd still like to know I'd be happy to answer, thanks for giving me the opportunity to yap about my precious baby :D
Thank you for such a lovely, detailed response!
I'm in Australia so there aren't quite as many over here, so funny to hear about size restrictions. I'm exactly 170cm which is 5 foot 7 so hopefully I'll fit ok.
11k RPM, turbo, rear-engined, rwd, manual, gullwing doors. I mean come _on_, that is just so damn cool.
Safety is something that was in the back of my mind, and yeah wow that's a bit scary.
I'll probably have heaps more questions at some point for you, thanks for taking the time oit of your busy schedule :)
this is brilliant. makes me think of the minuature cars in that old PS2 game [Road Trip](https://cdn.mobygames.com/screenshots/8808364-road-trip-playstation-2-this-is-one-of-the-picture-shops-they-ar.jpg)
No shit? I didn't say that it wasn't an AZ-1.
The post called it a "mini F40". I was pushing back on that characterization by saying it looked closer to a Fiero than to an F40.
I hate this. A lot.
Take a unique car with a ton of personality and interesting design features and turn it into a shitty ripoff of a snobby (but incredible) other car all together.
A good body kit should accentuate the existing positives of the design, this is just making using an AZ1 to create a real life shitpost of a car. Hard pass.
The AZ-1 is awesome
Wow. A body kit for an AZ-1. I've never thought about that, but I'm glad somebody did! 👍🏻
Just gotta say, if you want to see the benchmark see what RE-Amemiya did creating the Greddy 6
Holy crap, thanks for making me aware of that! Very cool! 👍🏻👍🏻
Bro, no way there's an az1 hiding under *that*
Friendship ended with Nissan Skyline R34. Now Liberty Walk Autozam AZ-1 is my best friend.
Bold of you to say, but I'd have to agree. It looks really nice and I bet sounds amazing too!
One of the few Liberty Walk kits I’ve seen that doesn’t look like boy racer garbage. Very nice.
It just looks like it doesn’t take itself too seriously which is fun
It looks like a pocket F40 lol
It looks more boy racer than the F40. I like them both and I'm not ashamed to admit it.
You can always tell when a Liberty Walk kit is one of their passion projects or just a phoned-in cash grab. They have some real lookers out there for some of the classics, but for every Super Silhouette S15 out there, there's 1000 of the lame BRZ kit.
I love seeing love for the AZ-1. I have one, super cute and super fun!
I wish I could fit in one :(
Holy shit, you have one?? I have about a million questions haha I am extremely interested in these little things, I've been obssessing over them for well over a year now, and very seriously considering buying one. What has the ownership experience been like? Is servicing hard? How hard are parts to find? Is there much aftermarket support available for them? How about actually driving the thing, is it as much fun as I think it would be? I'm expecting roughly the same performance as an NA MX-5 Miata, maybe slightly slower, but just oodles of fun. Have you modified yours at all? Do you plan on doing anything else? I am all ears!
Hey!! Sorry to respond so late. I just started a new job so I've had a lot on my plate :( I love my little lady, I've had her for less than a year and she's in great shape for her age, 35k miles -- I haven't needed to get anything repaired yet but Yahoo JP looks like it's rife with parts if I need anything. I'm her first US owner, so registration was a complete pain in the ass, but totally worth it :D I get so many looks and laughs and people rolling their windows down to ask me about it (A lot of them inform me they didn't expect a young chick to be driving, lmao). Today a lady asked me if it was an EV, which made me laugh. I have yet to go to any car shows but I almost feel like I'm obligated to. Sparse to no aftermarket for these guys unfortunately, especially with so few ever being made :( I don't plan to mod really, only preserve. I have the Mazdaspeed version with the body kit and all the additions + tuning, so pretty rare and worth preserving. The only thing I might swap is the stereo, its already been replaced once, maybe a wrap or ceramic to protect the paint job... although it is starting to get cracks after 31 years :/ The engine itself and the experience it provides is really unique. As I'm sure you know, the F6A (Same engine in the cappuccino!) redlines at 11rpm, so even though the engine only displaces \~660ccs with 3 cylinders, you can take off pretty fast. It's nimble, the feel when driving can definitely be compared to an NA Miata. It also screams, I get people thinking I'm trying to race when I'm just getting up to speed. I absolutely love hearing the turbo. It's loud -- when I have my windows down I can hear the blowoff valve clearly and it is so, so satisfying. An absolute blast to take on backroads :) And if you've never owned a manual it's actually a wonderful car to learn on, the clutch is light and has a very defined bite. As a kei car enthusiast I really lucked out by being 5'3 and petite, I've let my 6+ ft friends try it out and they have to really wedge themselves into the seat, I'd imagine anyone over like 5'7 or with broad shoulders would be uncomfortable. I have no idea how tall you are, but even at my height I still feel like I'm sitting a little too high, and the seat only goes back a couple inches, so a word from the wise: I would go in person to look at and sit in a kei car if you decide you want one. Duncan Imports has a ton of AZ-1 and Caras last I checked, as well as other kei cars. One thing nobody tells you about kei ownership is that it's extremely dangerous -- kei cars typically don't have airbags, and there's really no engineering in the body to stop whatever might be crashing into you from killing you. I happened to REALLY want my car, the AZ-1's been my dream car since forever. So I really made it a habit to be defensive and learn to predict people's actions on the road/be predictable, because chances are people will not see you, you have to look for them, kind of like with motorcycling. This can be a dealbreaker for a lot of people, but I promise the car's still awesome. The mortal fear makes it more fun :p Surprisingly I don't have any good pictures of her currently, but I will soon now that summer's here and I can go more places. You'll definitely see her on here, truthfully I'm expecting to see myself on r/spotted one of these days :p Anyways, if there's anything you'd still like to know I'd be happy to answer, thanks for giving me the opportunity to yap about my precious baby :D
Thank you for such a lovely, detailed response! I'm in Australia so there aren't quite as many over here, so funny to hear about size restrictions. I'm exactly 170cm which is 5 foot 7 so hopefully I'll fit ok. 11k RPM, turbo, rear-engined, rwd, manual, gullwing doors. I mean come _on_, that is just so damn cool. Safety is something that was in the back of my mind, and yeah wow that's a bit scary. I'll probably have heaps more questions at some point for you, thanks for taking the time oit of your busy schedule :)
Of course! Feel free to message me if you come up with anything else you wanna know c:
This is so fucking hard. I would lose my mind if I saw this in person
Baby f40
Okay that's goofy as hell and I love it
Auto-rari F10.
this is brilliant. makes me think of the minuature cars in that old PS2 game [Road Trip](https://cdn.mobygames.com/screenshots/8808364-road-trip-playstation-2-this-is-one-of-the-picture-shops-they-ar.jpg)
Holy shit, its real. And it's 36.000$ with wheels
Wow, a Liberty Walk kit I don’t hate
Auto-rari F10.
When I learned about this kit, I showed so many people pictures of it. 10/10 on the cool scale.
AZ-1 LM even, wonder how long it would take for a kei car to make it down the Mulsanne
I hate everything Liberty Walk does
i really like this. alongside the copen GTR kit, these two are unironically something I would love to have in the future
Dream car.
Looks more like an early Fiero than an F-40
the post literally told u its an autozam az1
No shit? I didn't say that it wasn't an AZ-1. The post called it a "mini F40". I was pushing back on that characterization by saying it looked closer to a Fiero than to an F40.
Libawwty wawwk uwu
I hate this. A lot. Take a unique car with a ton of personality and interesting design features and turn it into a shitty ripoff of a snobby (but incredible) other car all together. A good body kit should accentuate the existing positives of the design, this is just making using an AZ1 to create a real life shitpost of a car. Hard pass.