Tuesday 11th July 2017

Tommy Kaira ZZ: Spotted

This Tommy Kaira is your chance to own a piece of video game history

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It's unusual to find "it takes 5-10 minutes for the car to idle properly" written as a selling point, but welcome to today's Spotted: a Tommy Kaira ZZ.

Ah, the ZZ. This first came to the British public's consciousness when the PlayStation game Gran Turismo 2 went on sale, late in 1999.

Gran Turismo, then rated as the best driving simulator around, featured the ZZ - which was Japan's answer to the Lotus Elise, if you like - among the cars players could buy and tune.

In fact, the ZZ was so much Japan's answer to the Elise that Tommy Kaira - an established Japanese tuning firm that wanted to branch out into making its own sports car - had the car built in Norfolk, then exported to Japan.

Tragically, it sold in far greater virtual numbers on PlayStations than it ever did in real life. Which is a shame. Because there's a lot to like about this little roadster.

It has two seats, weighs comfortably under a tonne - the owner of this one plus some original specifications say 670kg - and had a four-pot 2.0-litre Nissan SR20 DE engine (from, among other Nissans, the Primera eGT and Almera GTi). Converted to run on carbs, it's said here to make a healthy 200hp. Hence the lumpy idle, presumably. The engine drives the back wheels through a five-speed manual gearbox.

Reviews at the time said the ZZ was fairly twitchy at the limit, and although the ZZ sold throughout the 1990s, and it's reckoned 200 were made, eventually demand dried up. The Elise went into production in 1996, which probably did it - like other niche sporty roadsters - no favours, so the ZZ went out of production in 2000.

Then the tooling and rights were obtained by a company called Leading Edge, which began assembly again between 2002 and 2005, after a few tweaks, calling the car the 190RT or 240RT, depending on power output. It was reviewed by the UK car mags - I had a go for the website 4Car - who found the earlier twitchiness was gone, that the car was good fun to drive. The weight was then quoted as 809kg, which sounds more believable than a number starting with a six. But still, against a backdrop of Elises and Caterhams, the Leading Edge wasn't unusual in finding itself a pretty short lived product.

But back to this ZZ. This car's a fairly late one - 1998 - and comes with the detachable roof. It doesn't appear to be registered, but it is right hand drive, and if you want it to be road-registered in the UK that should be possible. You'll have to go through Individual Vehicle Approval, but hey, there's only a 65 page document to digest before you've even started.

That might sound like a hassle, especially given the €38,500 (£34,070) asking price for this low-mileage ZZ. So the chances are you'll probably look at all of that, and then buy a Lotus Elise anyway, just like you might have done when the pair were new. But just in case you don't, this is a rare chance to buy a little piece of electronics age history.

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TOMMY KAIRA ZZ
Engine: 1,998cc, straight-four
Transmission: five-speed manual, rear-wheel drive
Power (hp): 183@6,900rpm
Torque (lb ft): 142@4,900rpm
MPG: N/A
CO2: N/A
Recorded mileage: 5,998km
Year registered: 1998
Price new: N/A
Price now: 38,500 euros

See the original advert here

Matt Prior

[GM182]

That is a sweet looking car. I bet it would be great fun.

But the price! Imagine the nightmare if you damaged the bodywork and it makes no sense against the huge range of established competitors for less money. What does a 340R fetch these days?

[ambuletz]

The AI always came in first place when driving these in gran turismo, damn buggers! always loved TK cars.

[Krikkit]

I was ready to love it... Right up to the price! Considering you could nearly have two minty S1 Elises for this money it seems like madness.

[HeMightBeBanned]

GM182 said:

What does a 340R fetch these days?

£70k+. One sold at Bonhams in May for £69k. There have been cars sold in Europe for €80k and €104k. There's one on Pistonheads at £79k.

[JohnoVR6]

Really do quite like that - but if I were in the market for an inappropriate, roofless two seater from the mid-90's, my money would still go on a Renault Sport Spider.

[Frimley111R]

HeMightBeBanned said:

GM182 said:

What does a 340R fetch these days?

£70k+. One sold at Bonhams in May for £69k. There have been cars sold in Europe for €80k and €104k. There's one on Pistonheads at £79k.

[Frimley111R]

This car looks like a kit car, but not as well finished. Mad money, just don't.

[GM182]

HeMightBeBanned said:

GM182 said:

What does a 340R fetch these days?

£70k+. One sold at Bonhams in May for £69k. There have been cars sold in Europe for €80k and €104k. There's one on Pistonheads at £79k.

Bloody hell! I sold one for £17,500 in 2003. What a pity! I was thinking they'd be around 35-40k now.

[donprior]

I have read the information with car it is a bit floored it was a production car first came out of the Hingham factory 4th July 1996 which went to Japan while making cars for Japan they got the car to uk spec and SVA ( single vehicle type approval) I think the car in add was SVA late 1997 or 1998 the car went to a uk showroom can't render where if can remember I think 8-11 cars were uk spec and had SVA done I know this because I took these cars for the test and worked for them April 1996 till 2000 when it went all wrong. I have a badge sales brochures the magazines that done road test copy of video that fifth gear done o yes and it had 4 carbs on engine if anyone want to know more just ask I can hunt out the info and speak to other people who were involved in this car.

[samoht]

I bet that would be a real laugh - the SR20 is a nice engine, torquey and great induction howl on an open intake.

[SpudLink]

JohnoVR6 said:

Really do quite like that - but if I were in the market for an inappropriate, roofless two seater from the mid-90's, my money would still go on a Renault Sport Spider.

That’s exactly the car I was thinking of as I read the article.

[Alanok]

Ahh Gran Turismo, my introduction to many obscure car manufacturers. Who had heard of Pagani before Gran Turismo?

Looks a bit agricultural compared to the ZZII. Did they ever get round to manufacturing any?

[hondansx]

I'm confused, is it an Elise underneath then, given the Norfolk connection?

I remember them from Gran Turismo well... would love one in my imaginary collection just for the sheer rarity and geek value. Of course, i' need an R34 GTR to go alongside it!

[Andy S15]

Damn, that ZZII was a wonderful looking thing. Mini Mclaren F1 with a mid mounted Skyline GTR engine. *swoon*

[rtz62]

Very minimalist, just like the Renault, I'm guessing it had no heater etc looking at the images?
But somewhere stirring away in side of me is a little voice that tells me if it was a choice between the ZZ and the Renault then the ZZ would be in my garage.
Now if it was a rarer version of a mk1 Elise, it could be quite a different story.
You've just got to love the single-minded approach to the car to be honest even if it's not the prettiest thing ever to crawl off a designers drawing board.

[yellowstreak]

I remember one of the magazine articles at the time said that the carbs were each labelled "for motorcycle use only" and thinking that was very cool.

[Hatchoo]

This was one of several cars produced in very low numbers around this time that I loved the sound of, the Strathcarron was another. The one that I really loved was the Vemac RD200 which came along a few years later. I'd love to import one of these back from Japan which I think was the original market.

I can remember reading head to head reviews between the ZZ and the Elise at the time. The Elise seemed a significantly better road car and a less razor edged (lethal) track car as well.

[SpudLink]

Hatchoo said:

This was one of several cars produced in very low numbers around this time that I loved the sound of, the Strathcarron was another. The one that I really loved was the Vemac RD200 which came along a few years later. I'd love to import one of these back from Japan which I think was the original market.

I can remember reading head to head reviews between the ZZ and the Elise at the time. The Elise seemed a significantly better road car and a less razor edged (lethal) track car as well.

There’s a Strathcarron sitting on the driveway in a local village. It’s covered in moss and dead leaves, and looks like it’s been left to rot. It’s a sad sight.

[Hatchoo]

SpudLink said:

There’s a Strathcarron sitting on the driveway in a local village. It’s covered in moss and dead leaves, and looks like it’s been left to rot. It’s a sad sight.

Painful...it ought to be saved for the nation. I vote "Cars at Risk Register", 12 months on the register then a public auction, 10% of proceeds to (insert charitable body here).

[Podie]

Alanok said:

Ahh Gran Turismo, my introduction to many obscure car manufacturers. Who had heard of Pagani before Gran Turismo?

Looks a bit agricultural compared to the ZZII. Did they ever get round to manufacturing any?

Yeah, always liked the look of the ZZII