On my ZipZap Civic, the range sucks
 

How can I make it be able to go past 1 inch? Also this is 27 mhz.Should I just get an SE? Does the SE have better range? By how much? How long until it gets out of signal?

Make sure your antenna is attached to the pcb inside the car. Also try putting in new batts in your controller. Your car sholud go past one inch.

Range for the zz's and zzse's are about the same. My range is about 12 feet.

Oh
 

I was looking for a micro car with terrific range:( oh well

Not going to happen.

You're only providing 2AA worth of juice to the transmitter...Not enough to provide "terrific" range.

...Then again, these are micro cars and not meant to be driven over long ranges either.

Still, something's definitely not right if you're only getting a couple of inches of range...You sure you're not exaggerating a little with having only 1" range? hmmmm? :)

The micros should have a range of up to 25', but on average 12 to 20 is decent.

A parabolic reflector helps...
 

I don't actually have a ZZ, but my friend lent me his SE so I could fix it (it's working now), and I wasn't impressed with the range either.

I imagine (haven't tried it yet) that soldering a better antenna onto the car might help, but the simplest thing is probably to make a parabolic reflector for the Tx antenna. Think about it - most of the signal is going off in other directions... the attached file is my pattern - make two and wrap a cardboard strip around it. then cover the inside with aluminum foil and punch the antenna through. the antenna will still work normally for normal range, but as long as the reflector is pointed at the car, it should be able to go at least half as far again, if not more.