Choro-Qs are stylized after real-world automobiles, with real rubber wheels and a pullback motor that makes them move.

Most Choro-Q feature real rubber tires (usually with larger ones on the rear) and the characteristic coil-spring pullback motor.

"Penny Racers" tend to be garishly colored and given silly names, ignoring the actual names of the makes and models, and marketed for US children, whereas the Choro Q in the far East are made to a much higher quality standard and many are specifically designed for the adult collector, with high detail and/or tiny, incredibly detailed racing graphics and occasionally other realistic gimmicks such as fold-out headlights.

They have grown more sophisticated over time and now are for the most part cast in a uniform clear, colored or smoked resin plastic which is then painted, thus leaving the windshields and headlights, etc.

The Choro-Q line is also based on an earlier Takara product called "Mame Dash", which had only lasted a few years before being discontinued in 1980.

[1] The idea for the coin-operated wheelie function came from an employee suggesting the cars could bend in other directions, rather than simply moving forward when pulled back.

[2] Unusual Choro-Q which have the wheels and pull-back motor but are not modelled after vehicles are also common, often sold as special collectibles.

In 2013, following the example of the Tomica line with its Limited Vintage models, Takara Tomy unveiled Choro-Q Zero, a premium series of classical Japanese cars aimed at the collectors market.

The team entered the 2004 24 Hours of Le Mans driving a Porsche 911 GT3 RSR (996), driven by Manabu Orido, Kazuyuki Nishizawa, and Haruki Kurosawa.