Hey Guys,

I've seen ya'll racing around my city and it made me wonder how costly it would be for me to join in. I'm really interested in something that goes offroad, is inexpensive and durable. If ya'll wouldn't mind, could you give me some suggestions. I don't mind spending some money on maintenance and fuel, but I don't want it to be a "multi-million" type of deal. $200-450 to spend.

Thanks,
Haertel

First off, do you want a monster truck, or buggy or a CORR truck? Do you want to race? What is your budget? $400 can get you rolling with a bunch of good buggies and monster trucks to choose from- $400 includes total cost to start including fuel, batteries, RTR car/truck with radio- everything.

Go onto www.losi.com, www.teamassociated.com, www.ofna.com, www.hpiracing.com and www.traxxas.com to get an idea of what is out there and see what you like.

It doesn't really matter to me to race or what sort of vehicle it is. I just want something good for offroad, that can take a beating and that isn't costly.

There are two basics you need to decide though.

4wd or 2wd and nitro or electric

Once you have decided that really narrows the field down.

Also isnt too costly is a genral word. For some pople inexpensive is $50, for some it is $500. What would YOU be fine with spending for everything needed for a rc car? Do you have any mechanical experience?

I'm trying to find a cheap-priced, durable rc offroad vehicle. I have no idea how much it would cost or whether i want two or four wheel drive. Information on this subject would be greatly appreciated.

I'm new to this field and am interested in starting. I don't know how much difference there is in electric vs nitro and 2WD vs 4WD. I have enough mechanical experience to work on these cars, I assure you.

How about I say "Best Performance for Best Price"

OK, we arent going to be able to suggest cars if you dont have a budget. how does $400 sound? $250? $500? If you dont tell us that we have no idea what to suggest.

$200-450, preferably as low as possible.

Guess i took too long to post....

Traxxas Slash 2wd electric for $200
Traxxas Slayer 4wd nitro $400

Thank You!!! [sm=thumbs_up.gif]

ALRIGHT, THANKS. anyone else?

If you like to tinker with things, have a look at this

http://www.amainhobbies.com/product_...oducts_id/7328

It's called the Aftershock and it's made by Losi. It's not the best, but it's far from the worst. I'm sure i'll get shot down for saying this but as far as begginer nitro goes, its fantastic. Comes with a decent Radio to boot.

Here's a review from someone who bought one :

There's LOADS of Losi support here, and if i'm not mistaken it can be upgraded to LST2 (or near as) spec when the bug bites (which it will, trust me ) and your funds allow.

If your after electric, i haven't got a clue. But my thoughts are Electric is more for onroad and nitro for off. I know thats not the case, but it's the way i've always seen things. Either way you'll have a blast. Have a read around the forums and you'll be more than set to go.

Welcome

My first was a T-max Nitro. Bought it used for 200.00 with everything including some fuel. Ended up putting a new motor for 135.00. the truck is great. But be careful once you get the RC bug it takes over. Few months ago I bought a HPI Savage X 4.6 435.00 and my recent purchase a Duratrax Firestorm M/T 2-stroke 700.00. If you are just learning to drive plan on spending some money to repair your mistakes.

I'm no expert (I was in your shoes a few months ago), but this is my experience. I went into my LHS looking for a cheap way into actual RC racing, and mini's were what was suggested to me. There are two tracks within 1.5hrs of me that race 1/18th scale twice a week. I've found a really nice group of people who have been very helpful to me. The vehicles (AE RC18 series, Losi mini-DT, Xray m18 series, DTX detta ST/buggy) are all under 200 and are relatively cheap to keep running (most parts you are going to break are cheap such as suspension parts and the stock gears and such). The running cost is something you don't think about until your into the hobby but it exists in every vehicle in any scale but 1/18th scale is definitely cheaper overall. Just my .02

ok i think u can start whith a t maxx 3.3 ease to learn and many setup, u have a electric starter, good motor sheap parts, for setup anything u want but the important part is the setup whit some little tips u can maked better whitout any money and is 4wd and drive any place u whant

I got into RC cars earlier this year after a bad experience with RC planes. With the planes, everyone told me buy "the best" so I wouldn't have to "rebuy" better stuff later on. I was also told, "get a plane with ailerons, lipos, blah, blah, blah". A few months later after only getting the plane in the air only a few times, I sold all the stuff for a loss because it was too much of a hassle. I was so concerned about my kids crashing my carefully built plane, so they never got a chance to fly them). In short, had a gone with a cheaper RTF plane, I'd probably still be flying planes.

I came to this forum and read the huge "HBX" thread and bought an electric on-road car. Right out of the box it was a blast (for $100), even though again, people told me I'd hate it, it was a cheap car, you should have gone nitro, brushless, lipo, blah, blah, blah. Almost a year later, I'm still having a blast with my HBX car, in fact I even bought two more so my kids could join in on the fun. I learned a lot about RC cars INEXPENSIVELY with the HBX cars, and eventually moved on to building a kit car, and now I've moved on to a few Traxxas Rustler I bought off eBay for cheap.

My suggestion:

1. Electric, Non-lipo
2. Off-road or buggy

Since you said your budget is around $200 - $450, I'd go with a Traxxas Rustler XL-5. I have one of the older Traxxas models and it's durable and upgrade parts are easy to get from your LHS. You can get one for around $200 and then spend money on a GOOD charger and GOOD batteries. I wouldn't recommend going with lipos at first because you have to be a little more careful with them. Nimh are practically foolproof and no real hassle to maintain.

If you really want to go cheap, and insist on a 4wd car, I'd go with a HBX Bonzer. Again, you can get one real cheap (around $150 or less) and again, get a good set of batteries and a good charger. The bad thing about the Bonzer is that although they are based on a Tamiya TL-01, the parts are harder to find at LHS, but no problem finding them online.

Some people are going to say go nitro. As a starter, I wouldn't recommend it. With electrics, it's basically charge and go, and you can use them in areas where nitro cars would be considered a nuisance. When I'm fixing my electrics (mainly at night when I have the time) it's no problem to test them in my driveway without bothering the neighbors. If you decide you want to stick with the hobby, there are brushless electric models that are as fast a nitros.

A Traxxas T-Maxx would be a good starter vehicles, I will agree on that. However, I would get an Associated Mini MGT 3.0 or MGT 4.6(bigger all around). They're great vehicles that are reliable, durable, and fairly easy to mess with. They also come RTR so you can get into the hobby without having to build everything(I wish they came in kits though, because I HATE RTR). If you go nitro prepare to spend some time tuning and getting to "know" your vehicle before it's a start up and go truck everytime. They take a little time to break in and make reliable and easy to start, but after that they're pretty simple. Electric is an easier way to "get into the hobby" IMO. Both forms of vehicles are great though, electric or nitro, they are just great in different ways. They both have their high and their low points.