I had the same dilemma about 2 months ago,the rc8 or the mbx-5r. I've been racing 10th scale nitro on and off road for about 8 to 9 years and I take it very seriously. One of my
on road cars is an nitro ntc3 which at the time I thought was an pro racer,but later found out upon close inspection it was for begginers. I have an RC car action magazine dated
dec 1998 that featured an 1/8th scale 8 buggy shoot-out which the mugen mbx-4 won;the kyosho inferno mp-5 was also part of this shoot-out. Like I said I am a serious racer,
mugen to me is a very serious race company that has been winning 1/8th scale buggy championships for more than an decade,they don't even make an rtr or arr(rc8) unlike
Associated who caters more to the begginers/basher crowd. Raced my 5r last weekend for the first time and was running between second and third place for more than a third of
an 20 minute A-main until my servo arm came lose, was very impressed with the way the car handle box stock. Do the research.