back179

Hi Everyone

I've been looking for a while now at the various clones of the bajas available and had up until now decided upon the King Motors one but then recently I have come across this version of the Shengqi and I think that i'm going to probably go with this one. I just want to get some peoples views on this make and model? It has the exact same specs as the original HPI baja.

Has anyone seen or owned this version?
The shengqi make of the baja, is it any good?
What do I have to look out for in terms of weak parts, etc?
Is the 23cc motor the exact same as the HPI baja?

Thanx for the help!

FastEddy

My Feedback: (1)

If these are the photos that they are supplying you for the actual RC you are getting I would be surprised. Are you expecting to get a CF body and Aluminum aftermarket parts?

This company seems to have hijacked photos of other peoples upgraded RCs and posted them as a product thst you can buy from them. What you will get in the box that arrives at your house will be MUCH different then what you see in the photo BUYER BEWARE.

bajamaniac69

Agreed Eddy,

I doubt it will look like that at all.............bvasic model for sure[]

turbodremz23

My Feedback: (16)

I have to agree with Eddy..dont expect everything you see in that pic...I can tell by looking at it that #1 the body isnt real CF, that is a vinyl sticker. Then the aluminum upgrades that are on the buggy total almost half of the retail of the clone buggy..

If you want a clone get a King Motor...its the closest thing to the 5B so far, and I'm extremely happy with mine. Its not Excellent quality, but the KM is decent as far as clones go, and the price isnt bad either and it will hold up for some good bashing for a while right out of the box..not to mention that everything is interchangeable with the HPI and the KM.

just remember, if it seems to good to be true, it probably is, and the pics you posted just scream SCAM...

back179

Thanx for the input guys. With regard to this being a scam, I highly doubt it as the company is a gold member and has been verified by a third party. Also, they do have the standard clone for sale which sells for $455 and this upgraded version sells for $555.

I'm still going to do more research on the validity of this and the listed upgrades but if it all is legit it sounds like a good deal.

Has anyone had any experience with the Shengqi make? Is it a worthwhile make or inferior rubbish?

Like I said, i was set on the KM baja but then I saw this and now i'm lost again

mbe301

Found their site. They also have pics without the hop-ups. But they also have this freaky lookin thing

FastEddy

My Feedback: (1)

First off, I do not own a clone nor will I ever.
Being around the Baja and somewhat active in the Baja community, we have found that the dollar amount to bring the clones upto the same quality of an original Baja will in the long run cost you the same if not more. This company along with others repeatedly posts photos of Bajas belonging to people in the Baja community as photos of their own cars for sale. What you will get is much different then what you see in the photos.

At the risk of sounding snobbish. If you cant afford to purchase an original Baja chances are you can afford to be in this part of the hobby. SMART money either saves up to get a quality Baja or keeps it in the bank collecting interest. Your buying a money eater with an original Baja and with a clone, your tossing even more of it in the wind. Again, Im sure a lot of people dont want to hear this and even more likely they are going to post here telling me Im wrong. So be it..... All we can do is share our own personal experience with people that ask.

turbodremz23

My Feedback: (16)

again with Eddy, the best thing to do if you want quality would be to save for a HPI 5B RTR. Yes I own a clone, but I got one hell of a deal on it locally, but I am happy with mine, but can honestly say that I probably would not have spent as much in upgrades of parts that have broken if I would have bought an HPI...

IF you really want a clone get a KM...there is a whole thread dedicated to the KM baja, and as far as clones go, they are going to be your best bet..

so the conclusion you need to come to is:

#1- save and get a REAL HPI 5B, or..

#2- Go with a clone, and atleast get a decent one and get the KM Baja

#3- look in the forums classifieds and find a HPI 5B for $500 to $1200....This is what I would do.

cherokee_140

I have the Shengqi car, I have had it for a little under a month now. All I can say is so far so good the only thing that I have broken on it so far is a side body post mount. I have tried a few real HPI parts and they do fit (I got a deal on ebay for a clutch, some wheels and tires, and a few wear type bits).

So far I am very happy with the car and have had 0 problems with it. I would buy it again in a second.

Not to turn this into a clone VS hpi thread, but I think that there is a place for the clone, I got my car for a little under $500, when you think that a new HPI is close to $1000, you can go a long way with that extra money, and from my experence you will not spend it on parts that don't break on the real baja, I have spent all my extra money on go fast parts and wear items.

The engine on my car is a CY motor (funny how some chinese things are ok), started on the third pull and runs just fine.

I am not going to say that one is better then the other....it depends on what you call better, but just the success I have had with my car I would say I would buy it again.

Bratch96

I agree with you, FastEddy, but I also see alot of 5B owners upgrading the crap out of there bajas, so if you're going to do that anyway then you might as well start out with a cheaper base or just build one with all after market parts.

If anyone thinks that buying a clone is just like getting a good deal on a 5B, they are wrong.

Bratch96

Is Gazzapro's baja in the "Baja clone but not a King motors" thread a Shengqi car?

turbodremz23

My Feedback: (16)

I think Gazz's is a Shengqi...and so far has held up pretty good from what I have read

and you are absolutely correct about people buying clones thinking is a good deal for a 5B...it may look like a HPI, but it the end, no matter how much money you throw at it, its still a clone...but I like my clone

back179

Thanks again everyone for the input. I think that I am going to look at the Shengqi as from what i gather it is very similar in quality to the King Motors baja and if you had to put the two next to each other i doubt you would see a difference. Also the Shengqi comes with those alloy upgrades and i know that the king motors are releasing their new version but i'm worried that the bigger motor there would cause problems due to weak drive system parts.

Cherokee_140, I read somewhere that you had problems with the engine bogging, were you able to fix the problem? If so, what did you do? Any tips on what I should look out for before I start the engine?

jasrx

my brother has the Shengqi clone , it seems pretty good for the price . his had a bogging issue but we fixed that [ i think the clutch spring is too weak] so i put in a hpi high rpm spring ] and now its nice and snappy off the line .

cherokee_140

I had an air leak at the intake, seems to be a common problem in both real baja and the clone. I ordered new gaskets, and shimmed the screws a little and good as gold. I went with the teflon gaskets.

Just charge the battery gas her up and go....thats all I did. I did mix my oil a little thick for the first gallon, I figured better safe then sorry.

I am very happy with the car, No glitches so far what so ever.

splcrazy

that thing looks pretty good what ever it is .

Foxy

Nobody said it's a scam, what Ed said is that you will NOT get what is in that picture, and I GUARANTEE you won't. These cloners are in the business of stealing people's pictures of heavily hopped up Bajas and IMPLYING that this is what you get. Of course when people complain, they say it was an example of what CAN be achieved and there's no issue.

False economy, mark our words. If you want a taste and this is all you can afford, then go for it. If you already know you like the hobby, then do yourself a favour and get a good car right off the bat.

cherokee_140

I also would highly doubt that you are going to get the car pictured. I bought my car from a popular ebay seller, he said that the car was a HPI Baja clone and that HPI parts would fit, he was a great seller, it shipped fast, and communication was better then I expected. He never said if it was KM, Shengqi, or made by Bozo inc. , just that it would accept all HPI parts and so far he is correct. I posted some pics of what the UPS man dropped off at my house, from box to unboxing, to the first run video. If you want to see what you get when buying a Shengqi checkout the KM thread.

When I decided to buy my car I read everything that I could find on the net, from everywhere. I found people that said that the HPI car was junk, would not run right bla bla bla, I also found many more people that said the same about the clone cars, the only difference is that most people commenting on clone cars did not own one, or have only "seen" had a "friend" that had one and the like.

People that actually own the clone cars seem to report the same type problems that the people that have the "real" car, the only difference is you will have an $$$ to spend on getting the clone where you want it.

The only thing I can say is that MY clone is a very good car, and I don't see how a real hpi could be $400 better. I do know for a fact that I have $400 that I would not have if I bought an HPI Baja that I can spend on a top end kit, new pipe, street tires, things that the owners of real baja's buy, and if I hit a tree again, only this time hard enough to break something I will still have money to put to fixing the car.

Perhaps I got lucky with my car I don't know. I do know I would buy it again. I am infact so happy with the car that I am thinking about getting the monster truck.

back179

Thank - you very much every one for the input, I really appreciate it! I have decided to get the King Motors baja as I am worried that for the price I won't get the relevant alloy upgrades and also a lot of people have ordered from King Motors direct. All the clones seem to be a really good buy for the price and I will be ordering two at once (one for me and one for my dad) so it should be great fun bashing them together.

I think that in the end the original probably does have stronger parts than the clones but I think that the main factor regarding parts durability is how one drives the car, if you drive the crap out of the cars then obviously parts will break regardless whether they are original parts or clone parts. I currently live in South Africa so $1 = R7.8 thus it works out to be far too much to order two of the original for baja's for me.

Anyway, thanks again everyone for all the help!

Cheers!

cherokee_140

Try to get two different freq. radios so you can get going right out of the box....provided you are going to use the stock radio.

CFLARGESCALERACING

We just reviewed a ShengQi product. Check it out @www.myspace.com/cflargescaleracing . There is some contact information you may be able to use...

CFLSRE staff

CFLARGESCALERACING

We did a write up last month on another ShengQi model, still runs like a top. If you do the RTR pre run stuff, Loctite, hardware tightening, and gear mesh check- you will be happy. We were. We are in the process of reviewing a second ShenQi model since we were so happy with the first. You can check it out, I don't want to post a link, due to forum guidelines. It's out there in most search engines..

It's tough to review a lot of these due to support. with so many companies(Bergonzoni, Technokit, etc..) not supporting the US market, We are left with what is available, has good parts and hop-up support. We have 12 large scale models in our stable, and it's tough to promote the hobby when there are only a handfull available., and supported.

suzukiboy

Ijust brought one of these, for the price I think it is great.
Quality and finish is not to flash but I know what I was buying.















Love this little badge that was on my Baja.

Dave ESPI

http://i34.photobucket.com/albums/d1...z/DSC00032.jpg
HAHAHAHH
"Over 14"
funniest pic ever


Side note: WHEN YOU BUY A "CLONE" YOU ARE BUYING A KNOCK-OFF. IT IS STEALING.

It is akin to purchasing a bootleg video, fake rolex watch, or just ignoring the "COPYRIGHT, TRADEMARK, REGISTERED, and ALL RIGHTS RESERVED" for a PATENTED design that is OWNED by HPI.

victory-rc

My understanding about the body is you cant pick the one you want,its a crap shoot on the body you receive,but the carbon fiber body is only a paint pattern.
the wheels are plastic not alloy like you MAY or MAY NOT have been told.
I'm bet The chassis will be purple like the HPI.
it looks like aluminum suspension arms,thats funny, you wont get them when you open the box.

If i didnt have a hpi already,i would get that for $350 and give it a shot.

its to bad there are people here that CONTINUE to state a product is junk ONLY because they support hpi for there personnal gain of some kind. Thats not helpfull info at all you should just keep it to yourself.YOUR BAD FOR THE HOBBY.