the title is a little misleading. im 40, ive been racing off road and dirt oval since 1986, mostly with electric power but ive had a couple of nitro stadium trucks. i had a fairly good ear for tuning smaller .12-.18 engines, and am sure that tuning abilities wont be a prob.

here is the deal though, i am limited to about a 300-350 dollar budget, but want to give a 1/8 buggy a try. i figured it would be a good idea to run it by some guys with some knowledge of these machines since i dont know what is good, and what is bunk. i dont want to go out and drop 3 bills on the new duratrax raze if its not the real deal. i am more than willing to go the ebay route if it means i can get much higher quality at a comparable price.

i would like to go with a rtr if possible, just to make my entry a little easier.

some of the ones ive looked at are the raze, ofna ultra comp, and similar rtrs.

so let me hear the experienced masses, and thx in advance, bryan.

The Ofna Ultra Comp should suite your needs:

http://www2.towerhobbies.com/cgi-bin...&I=LXLTL4&P=ML

thx foamy, i have looked at that one and i like it . can it be upgraded, like 2 speed tranny, titanium rods and such? in other words, is it popular with the aftermarket folks?

hey dont listen to the guy who advised an ultra lx. its like a 6 year old buggy. you can race it, but wont be competitive at the pointy end at all.

it probabaly ranks last of all of ofnas buggies.

if you can pay an extra $50, for $400 definitly get the hyper8. then pay for engine $100 for sts. then 2 hitec 945mg servos $200, then a decent remote like a sanwa mx3 for $180.

you get what you pay for


or if you dont want to spend extra, the hyper7 is still good in the rtr form. the go for $450, but the servos and remote are worthless.

or go on ebay an look for good condition second hand mbx5 or sp2 or kanai 3, from racers. beware dont buy from bashers, coz usually they thrash thier buggies, dont know how to maintain it etc.

like me i have my mbx5 for 3 years now. still in perfect condition, coz after every race i change out any parts/bushings that have developed slop, change the cva pins, etc etc.


cheers

You dont want 2 speed in an off-road buggy. + the ultra comp aint that good.

Hyper 7 TQ kit $210
JR XS3 radio $150
Then your still light an engine but should be able to pick up a hyper 8 port for under $100 on ebay.
Thats about a minimum fairly competative setup
You can go for RTR but the radio isn't upto much as said above.
The good thing about the hypers is that spares are aplenty and there is a good range of hopups available so the buggy can grow with you.
I would steer clear of the ultra comp too. If your serious about 1/8th you'll be selling it soon for an upgrade

My suggestion is to save a little more money so you can get better gear. 1/8th buggies are the top end of off road racing and their price reflects it. While there are cheaper buggies just remember you get what you pay for getting the cheapest possible buggy is bound to lead to dissapointment.

I going to suggest a matrix rtr they come with metal gear servos a fm radio and they have a trade in thing were you can trade in one of your old cars and get one of theirs for like 300-350 some where around there.and the car is a realy good racer they had some issues with the motor and the out drives ween it first come out but all of that has been fixed and they have ecellent customer service.


Dennis


Cen racing, TQ fuel

If you can get the matrix all in for $350 then do it. I'd live with the crappy engine until I could afford a better one.

they have fixed the engine it was a carb issue they have redesigned it so know they run better.



Dennis

Cen racing, TQ fuel

I made my suggestion based on his price range. I happen to have exp with one, it's not a bad car. It would be a decent first car to make sure he even wants to race 8th scale buggy. Otherwise, he could blow $500+ on a nicer setup, decide he's not interested, and then it'll be $500+ paper weight... There's nothing really wrong with that car, it's a decent first step, wich is what he's looking for. I'd take a new Ultra Comp over a used, slightly higher quality car any day. At least at that point you know nothing has been broken/worn out...besides, everyone on here knows that ANY properly set up car can be competitive.

Yeah but hes not a complete noob hes been racing for yonks and has run nitro before. If it was someone who was just buying on a whim then fine, but considering the guys circumstances I say get something better.
When I started in 1/8th I wasn't a complete noob, but I still ended up buying a buggy that I had to sell within a month cos it was pants.
Just passing on my advice and experiences.

the ultra comp isnt a bad car i owned one 2 years ago but it just isnt a real racer but its a excellent basher just the matrix is the fastest car that i have driven and i have owned the higher priced ones but i just really noticed a differents with the matrix.

Dennis

Cen racing, TQ fuel

save up your money...like the other dude said.....you get what you pay for in this hobby

Non of the ofna RTRs are worth getting. The electronics need to be upgrades straight out of the box which will be atleast another $80+. The engine will last a little while but you will replace it shortly so thats anywhere between $130-200.

I can't belive I'm going to say this [:@] but sense Cen seemed to work out all of the bugs with their RTR I'd go with the cen matrix. Its deffinatly a fast buggy just like it was when it first came out but the durability and engine problems seem to be fixed now so its deffinatly worth buying. The electronics are also pretty decent.

I'd still go with the turmoil RTR over the matrix but it will cost you $550.

I'd still probably take the hyper 8 over all of them. $400 for an 80% build kit then you put your engine, electronics, and starterbox (if you don't have one) in but you will never need to upgrade one single thing on this buggy.

Turmoil 450.00

http://www.rcuniverse.com/magazine/a...article_id=769

8ight RTR $?

http://www.horizonhobby.com/Products...rodID=LOSB0081

its all in an opinion my freind sold his hyper8 and got a cen becouse the cen handled better and he said you could drive it harder and this guy got 68th at the nats of 255 cars i couldnt come close to running with him before with my mugen but i can run right with him know. so the car is very fast i mean i had to get the setup down but know its the best i have ever driven.

Dennis

Cen racing,TQ FUEL

i think im gonna go with an ofna simply because its what my track supports. they said they stock all the ofna stuff and they are building inventory for the 8. they said they stock mugen, but its pretty thin. so is the ultra the bottom end, then the hyper 7, then the hyper 8??
do any of these buggies come with ti turnbuckles, or is that an add on for all of them. also, shoulod i look at pull start, shaft start, (or whatever they call it with the little shaft start devices,) or does that even matter?

almost all buggys come with ti turnbuckles, no need to worry about that. pull start is pretty painful, based on being an eyewitness with 2 pullstart users. with my roto start (shaft start) the engine starts fairly easy, and no need to yank endlessly and get blisters. ive never messed up a one way bearing KNOCK ON WOOD PLEASE . all you have to do is charge the battery on the roto start and your good to go. ofna isnt a bad brand, but my sportwerks turmoil is a good bang for the buck. yes, you get what you pay for, and my turmoil sure showed me! its my first nitro, and its really good, especially because it came with a Spektrum DX2. if you can save up til you get $500, get the turmoil, worth the money.

If I had to choose, I'd go with shaft start over pull start, at least then you can avoid the blisters associated with a stuburn pull starter. You got the order right, and if you can afford a Hyper 8, that's a very good car. If you can stand to wait just a bit, and save another hundred bucks or so, the Turmoil RTR with DSM is a fantastic bargin. If you wanna wait a bit longer, the 8 RTR would be even better! Everyone who said you get what you pay for is absolutely right. I believe Ti turnbuckles are only options on RTRs, and are sometimes included with high end kits.

titanium turnbuckles is very unnessisary because the normal turnbuckles do fine. The only buggy that comes with them stock is the Losi 8ight.

I'd stay away from shaft or pull starts. Both of these have a one-way bearing that can fail and some do very often. A starter-box will spin the flywheel directly leaving no room for failure or atleast very little.

As for the buggy I would stay away from the RTRs for sure. The hyper 7 TQ kit is a great buggy and its cheap ($200 on tower). Of course you need an engine, electronics, and starterbox after that still but paying the extra money is worth it for the quality. Keep in mind if you got the ofna RTR you'd be spending the same amount of money if not more while upgrading it to make it reliable and perform well. Of course the hyper 8 would be the upgrade and it drives a lot easier then the hyper 7 TQ but it still has the capability to drive faster then the hyper 7 while being easy to drive.

turmoil rtr comes with ti turnbuckles, so do the mayhem, matrix, and most ofna cars. i have experienced bent turnbuckles at times, so no its not too uncommon.

I gotta look into that. I thought most just came with a soft steel.

Horizon offers Ti-Nitrite hinge pins as upgrades on the turmoil and mayhem under "hop ups." I'm not sure if its a special coating but I do know the Losi already comes with them. Also Ofna lists the titanium turnbuckles and hinge pins as an upgrade for the hyper 8.

I have to agree with super dave, hyper 7 or better, most rtr radio and servos are throw away out of the box, and starter box. If your not going to race its probably a different story.