swatzlewattle

I dont know what to do, so im posting this hear, I have a choice on two cars, both are different scale, and I like them both the same, so dont talk to me about the peformance of them, I know.

Now heres the cars, HPI Baja 5B, and the HPI Savage X, Now your thinking, you cant comapre them, they are for different things, i know that, i just dont know which to get.

This is my situatuion, I dont really want to spend more that $700 Australian, and the Baja is $1400, But baja has cheap fuel and all that, Now i live in a semi-rural town, so i have plenty of large areas around the place but i also have access to a massive area of cane fields and Sand dunes, A friend has told me that Nitro dosnt not do good in sand, ive seen plenty of vids, and i owned a MT which i took to the beach and it cruised.

The other problem is that I have school, tafe and day, then work at night, so i dont always have free time, but i love running a rc car on jumps and stuff at the front but i also want somehtng that could do sand dunes good, I understand I can buy paddles for both the savage and the Baja.

But since my only free time will be at 3:30-5 on 3 days of the week and then ive got saturday nad sunday's free, so if i get a baja, il be forking out 1400 straight up for about 5 hours runtime MAX per week, as I only ran the MT when i had free time, and I went though like 1L in 2 weeks, i used it that little, but loved it when I did.

So what car should i get???

fat1

I think you'll spend less time working/tuning on the baja but that's just my opinion. I haven't heard a person yet complain of the baja so....if I could afford it, I would get it, period. everyone and their brother has a savage man. Did you know they (HPI I think) drove the baja 120 miles through the desert on a race course on a gallon of gas and didnt break anything?

VIPER458

imo i say the baja. if i had the dough i would be gettin one too. but im tryin to save for a house. to me the baja just seems more fun. and fuel is alot cheaper. if you live in the middle of nowhere and there arent any hobby stores around you then its goin to be expensive to get nitro

webdr

I would trade all my cars for a baja5b...
Its big, loud, and has a commanding presence about it. A savage just doesnt compare to the brute force coming from that gas engine. Baja all the way!

swatzlewattle

i know all about hte baja, trust me, but to get the money i need to sell my ps3 and my 360, so thats going to suck ass, but to get the savage only need to sell the 360.

Foxy

Um, that's odd. How many of you have actually talked to a baja owner that hasn't spent another $1000 on broken parts in the first 2 months. Personally, I hear ONLY complaints about them from people who actually have one (only a few people I've talked to).

To me this is an easy decision, the Savage will serve you better for longer, jump higher, go faster, has more upgrades, 4 wheel drive, MUCH more durable (the Baja is made of chocolate I'm afraid to say). The only thing in it's favour it's that it runs on normal gas and doesn't need to be tuned or anything.

Having said all that, I hear the the upgraded version they brought out recently is stronger, but I'd still be hesitant to get one. If you really want a BIG car, better to go for an FG monster truck or something that will last a bit better.

fat1

well Foxy, I do have a friend that has one, he likes it alot. I haven't seen him breaking anything at all. He's an upgrade freak so he bought the race engine and some other parts, none of which were required, at the same time he bought the vehicle, the stock parts that were replaced were never ran. He did that because he likes aluminum not because he was expecting any problems....money to burn. It does suck that it's only two wheel drive but to be out there running with this thing you'll see it gets along just fine. I love how you assume everyone's talking out of their ass.

anyway, back to the topic. As the case is, you don't have the money for the baja so get the savage. I would skip past the savage myself and go with some sort of truggy like a matrix or jammin or something. You don't really have enough time to dedicate to getting these things running nicely so maybe a brushless system would be better for you, still expensive. Nitro requires time to break it in and tune it properly thats why I said the baja but since you dont have the money for that then...

Foxy

Where do you get that I assume everyone's talkign out of their ass?? Anyway, as you say, back on topic...

A friedn of mine has one too. I got sick of hearing him complain about it (though he's a racer like me, used to high quality, maybe that has something to do with it). The people I have talked to have nothing but problems. I've inspected one up close personally, they are simply not built strong enough for bashing. My 1/8th buggy has thicker shock shafts, the servos are inadequate, and the list goes on...I only hope they have improved the situation a lot with the new release. Furthermore, you only have to look on youtube to see how poorly they handle and how easily they break. I agree a truggy would be a wiser investment than both.

Nitro212

man only thing i would say, after reading all the post, if u don't have enough money as said above.. to buy the car u know u will need money later on. in case u break something, so why stress your budget? just get a car that fits nice to ur budget, and u still have money to buy parts, fuel and any other unnecessary thing for it, thats just my comment don't go over ur budget stay level with it.

fat1

Foxy has some valid points as does Nitro. Foxy also has several thousand posts and probably has spent more time around a baja than myself if he says it's weak it must be, seriously. My friend got his about four months ago and has put about gallon and a half in it, which seemed like alot of running but I guess not. When I got back into this a while back I had a budget of $600 to get a decent truggy for bashing. I've spent way more than that so far....

Checkpointracer

Dude, post count doesn't mean anything. Foxy seems to be a smart guy though.

If you would be streesing your budget with the baja then it probably would not be a good idea especially since you're almost guraented to break something no matter what one you get. So I say get the savage and enjoy the left over money.

Foxy

If he takes it easy, he may never have a problem. The problem is from any jump more than a couple of feet, you will lose the shock shafts, they banana without you even realising it til you get home. And while this part is not expensive, it sure is a pita to replace. I'm hoping my friend who just sold his will come and add his 2c later...

As for costs, tell me about it...I've got a 1/8th buggy with over $1000 in it and a touring car with over $2000 (including specialist tools etc.) I'm also about to buy a truggy, so as you can imagine, money isn't my biggest issue (but it dioes play a role, I'm not 'rich'), I wouldn't consider buying a baja, as a basher (no racing class for that car) it just doesn't cut the mustard. I won't pretend that the 'gas and go' formula doesn't appeal to me, but not that car. Just 'my' opinion, there are many in the large scale forum who think it's a great car.

fat1

well it means a little bit, I've read a good bit of his posts and he aint posting crap. It takes a while of hangin around here to achieve that number so you can guarantee and they're not a noob.

RevToTheRedline

My Feedback: (4)

Alright here we go.

I had a Baja, I was very involved in it, I bought it around early February of this year. Right from day 1 I knew this was gonna be a project in the under taking. Let me just put this simple. In stock form the Baja is far too weak to be considered a primary basher. I put about $2300 in to mine before I sold it, and was still breaking stuff, including the final thing that lead me to selling it, I snapped a 8mm thick carbon shock tower in half off a small jump.

The baja has far too many weak points imo. HPI's so called heavy duty drive shafts will get bent under normal use, the most common problem is the shock shafts, they will bend like a butter knife. Of course you can go and spend $100 on better ones but here we go with the "required upgrades" that make an already expensive vehicle, even more.

And HPI's 2nd problem are the tires, the beadlocks may seem awesome when you get it, but once you start having tires pop out of them, you will soon realize you need to go spend another $120 on a set of aluminum beadlock rings. And don't get me started on the tires, the rear ones will last you about 30 minutes on the dirt, 5 minutes on pavement. And costing $35 for just the rears, that was another selling point for me. Many people say the high point of the Baja is throwing it on the sand dunes, that's all well and good if you bring a dozen spare clutch shoes with you, they last about 5 minutes as soon as a little sand gets in them. And they aren't cheap either.

I will admit that the general design of the Baja is amazing, it's by far the best 1/5th scale offroad buggy I've seen and driven. But it's weakness is undesired.


Just a little reminder, the Baja is not a $920 vehicle, It will cost you about $1500 to get it running half way decent, that includes a MUST have 2.4Ghz radio system. The stock 27Mhz FM radio is just plain dangerous for use on a 24lb leg breaker. And have fun trying to make the Baja handle anything like a 1/8 buggy/truggy, it just won't be happening. It's a 23lb pig what can I say, it handles crap on the track. It's meant for the backyard and always will be.

Foxy

And there he is (revtotheredline)...thanks Kev. Also, about my post count, yeh, I been around here for a while, but if you want to understand that I know what I'm talking about 'most' of the time , just click on my name and check out the models. I race in three classes (well, 2, I haven't raced the micro nitro for ages), but when you race, it changes your perspective, in some cases not in a good way. It makes you a model snob to be honest, and sometimes I have to bite my tongue and remember that not everybody is looking for the same thing out of this hobby that I am. I like to bash, but in my opinion, it can't hold a candle to the excitement of competition. It's just the way I feel, and it's hard to remember back to the days 15 years ago, when I was running Tamiya electrics up and down my street, and thinking they were great. Of course nowadays, they don't begine to compare to the racing models I run, but they had their value, and some people just want to mess around, in which case, the lower quality cars represent good value for money...

I believe that every serious RCer should have a monster in his collection (I'll sub that for a truggy though, now that the truggy phenomenon has really kicked off, as you can race and bash them equally well), I bought my Savage with the sole intent of jumping it high and crashing it fast, and for that, it is great. I wouldn't want to take such risks with a top dollar car that I need in good condition for racing...

You know, different perspectives as time goes by. The baja doesn't have what I look for in an RC car. I can't wait to get the Xray truggy though, in my opinion the single finest RC vehicle there is at the moment (if it's not my NT1, I'll let you all know).

DaveG55

I my opinion the answer to your question is simple and has nothing to do with the quality of the vehicle you buy. This is really simple. EVERY rc breaks. It does not matter what you buy, car, truck, boat, plane, heli, whatever, it IS going to BREAK. And when it breaks, if you ahve no time or money to fix it then all it will do is sit there in a broken heap. Whatever you buy be sure that you have enough money to buy parts because, like I said, it's eventually going to break and with rc's, eventually pretty much means right away...
So, since you have a pretty tight budget in both time and money, I'd say get the less expensive option.

sheograth

Having had both, I prefer the Baja. Yeah, its expensive if you break parts but I've never really been one to literally "bash" my RC cars, especially something as heavy as the baja. Treat it well and it wont break often.

swatzlewattle

wow, thanks for all the stuff, i think i will get the savage, was also thinking of a LSP truggy a while ago, but any way, thanks for the help

Rc Basher Jono

dont get the savage. get the baja it will majorly suck ass if we got two different scale and type of cars.

nitro _ burner

NO!!! get a 1/18 scale mini t/b, then upgrade it to BL.
In my popinion its the best for your situation, you can buy paddle tires, parts are cheap, if you only have 5 hours to run it, it fits in perfectly, its tough, with BL can be EXTREMELY FAST and have HUGE power.
Look at some vids on youtube, you WILL be suprised. Take it from another aussie who knows what remote areas in AUS are like.

swatzlewattle

um, no thanks, i like engines, il get something, il figure it out once ive seen rc bashers Baja in action!

nitro _ burner

Oh well. it was worth a try
You can get 1/16 scale nitro, 4WD truck which are supposed to be REALY good and tough, if your interested

RC Alf

I got my son the 1/18th mini, which is great for him and bought myself the Baja 5b...

Money... YES!! you will need a budget of $2K within your first year...

Tires... I did run my stock nobbies on pavement (which HPI expresses not to do) and they tore to shreads... got an extra set of wheels and also Tarmac tires for the road.

Space... you'll feel like Kirk, looking around for the final frontier if you live in the city like me (Atlanta, GA), but having dunes and rual area's is a BONUS for the 5b

Time... Overnight charge gives over 30 min and your tank about 45 min... get a quick charger to have you up and running again.

Transporting... its big and heavy, you'll need a wheel barrel of a case to transport and the sweet smell of oil and gas will emanate throughout.

Fun... @#^@#(^%... DOESN'T GET MUCH BETTER!!!!!!!

RCar

I'd get the Savage. I've heard of people having problems with the Baja, plus it's more expensive, and the parts are more expensive. And to tell you the truth, that engine does not sound as wild as a nitro engine. Sounds more like a lawn mower. [:'(]