We found the motor to be poor too. The guide ,as you point out, was the other main concern,but have to say that at our club we don`t go in for many mods so if a car doesn`t go pretty well straight out of the box then apart from the usual tuning that`s it. I think the issue here with Phoenix and perhaps SF slotties is that if there is a front runner then any new release has to compete with that particular model. The Ninco Scoobie seems to be the front runner on our Ninco club circuit. Note here I`m only concerned with the racing quality, the Autoart car is very nice to look at