Believe it or not, this car has no engine under the hood.
The car I found on the market is a 2000 Honda Z with approximately 64,600 miles on the odometer. While that is not exceptionally low mileage, one important point is that the timing belt has already been replaced—a reassuring detail for a vehicle of this age.
What makes the Honda Z truly unusual, however, is its layout.
The engine is located under the rear seats, between the rear seats and the rear wheels. In other words, despite being a tiny Honda kei car, it uses what is essentially a mid-engine layout.
And that layout gives the Honda Z a very different character from a typical kei car.
With more weight over the rear wheels, the car benefits from good traction, and combined with its turbocharged engine, the Honda Z is surprisingly capable on the road. This is not simply a quirky little city car with unusual styling. From an engineering standpoint, it is genuinely fascinating.
Its styling is just as distinctive.
The Honda Z has a relatively high seating position and excellent visibility, along with proportions that still look unusual today—in a good way. It does not look like a conventional kei car, nor does it follow the safe and predictable design language that has become common among many modern compact vehicles.
Even Honda’s advertising for the Z was memorable.
At the time, Honda featured ZZ Top in commercials for the car, reinforcing just how unconventional the Honda Z was meant to be. I have included one of those original commercials below. If you want to get a feel for what this car was like when it was brand-new, it is definitely worth watching.
However, the same unusual engineering and styling that make the Honda Z interesting today may also have made it difficult for buyers to understand when it was new.
The Honda Z was never a runaway sales success. For many buyers, it may simply have been a little too different and difficult to categorize. But that is exactly why it feels so fresh and interesting today.
Looking back at it now, the Honda Z is probably the kind of car Honda will never build again.
Think about the combination: a turbocharged kei car, an engine mounted beneath the rear seats in a mid-engine-style layout, a high seating position, unusual proportions, and a personality that immediately stands out on the road.
It is difficult to imagine Honda producing another car quite like this.
And today, that makes the Honda Z an interesting entry point into the world of JDM cars.
In the current market, a Honda Z like this could potentially be delivered to your home in the United States for around $10,000 total. Instead of starting your JDM experience with an expensive collector car, you could begin with something affordable, practical, and genuinely unique.
So, would you like to become the owner of one of Honda’s most unusual creations—a car we may never see the likes of again?
