ok short and simple. this is going to be my first nitro car and it is hard to choose a car. i'v looked into the companys and the two that i thing that are the best are HPI and TRAXXAS. now the cars that i like are: HELLFIRE, JATO, REVO, T-MAXX and the SAVAGE. which one should i get. i what something with high speed and u can beat the crap out of it without put it in the garbage. tell me anything, tell me the car, what i need. and if there is anything i should buy.

Thanks alot for the help

I've personally owned the traxxas stuff, have played with the hellfire and my last buy was the Savage X (I like HPI stuff), I can say that I've jumped anything and everything with my savage so far, and I haven't broke anything to date... it's been 3 weeks of trying and I haven't had a problem...

out of the box, the only upgrades I did was install my JR radio and a JR steering servo (personal preference) I also installed the HPI dual brake (20 bucks) and I threw some shock socks on for the bling bling factor... I installed RPM arms just because I figured eventually I'd break them and wanted the purple.. other than that, it's stock and I'm not changing it..

the hellfire is very well built also, I just didn't want a truggy..


justification why I like the savage - I've had the t-maxx for over a year, everytime I ran it something broke.. finally, this winter, I did a ground up rebuild using everything that RPM offers, added some integy stuff, and some other odds and ends.. now my t-maxx runs real good, but the price tag was real big, I wish I'd bought the savage first...

well see thats kinda funny because I beat the crap out of my t-maxx and nothing big has broken since I had it. I mean I ran it off jumps and evrything else and it took some very wild tumbles. The only thing thats has really broken was the high speed needle. But thats me and maybe I got a tougher then usuall t-maxx. I dont know, but it basically all comes down to personal prefference and what your LHS has for parts. Does your local hobby store, store more parts for HPI or for Traxxas. There's nothing worse then wanting to drive your truck and not being able to because you have to wait for your parts to be UPS'd in.

So thats one thing that you should consider in what you get. Along with personal preference and how much room there is to work on the truck and how simply the design is. You will have to eventually work on the truck and that should be considered also. Personally I think the t-maxx is an overall good truck. Even though people say the design is outdated. So who cares it's a proven design and it works.

But thats my opinion and when it comes down to it you will have to make the choice not us.

A lot has to do with what you are going to do with the vehicle. Are you going to bash or race? Being you are new to nitro does no matter what you get it will be fast. Fast is over rated as you can only drive so fast and control a vehicle particularly being new. All I can say is at the track people break a lot more parts on Traxxas then they do on the HPI vehicles.

One other thing if you are going to get a Traxxas get the Revo. Best vehicle Traxxas makes in my opinion and if they made it in a kit with out and engine or radio I would consider one.

Ya know I say the CRT RTR! I heard of people taking the RTR and just BEATING the SNOT out of them and they brake a chassis brace...

you stole my name too

Who me?

Are you looking for a buggy, truggy or truck?

Maybe, I got the wimpy t-maxx... no wait, I've got three of them, my mother broke hers at 60 something years old and they all break pretty easily... anyhow, my opinion for what it's worth.. some like fords, some chevy's..


I will agree though, look at the stores in the area, buy what they stock parts for or be ahead of the game and stock parts yourself, at any given time I have a couple of each part I've ever broken sitting at home, this works for me, the nearest hobby shop is about 60 miles away.. you've got to look at what is in stock and available for repairs... LIFE SUCKS WHEN YOU ARE LOOKING AT A BROKEN TRUCK!!

So true. My LHS has mostly Traxxas parts, but they have no idea about the RC hobby. Every time I go in there they try to sell me the wrong parts for my Rustler.

As to the OP, I'd go with the Savage X. Take a look at the MT forum and see what people are saying about it. It looks like there's one part that is prone to breaking after some time, but it can easily be upgraded to aluminum to stop that problem. I got to drive a friend's Savage X and fell in love with it. It makes my Rusty look like a POS.

I order most my parts on line and have them in about 3 days. We only have a small part time hobby shop here now and the next closes one is about 50 miles away and they do not have much. Getting parts is no big problem! Most hobby shops are not going to stock at least 1 out of 3 parts you need. Now most hobby shops stock a lot of Traxxas and I will let you figure out why!

Yeah, Traxxas parts are in high demand, for obvious reasons. I actually stopped buying the screws and stuff from the hobby shop. I can get all the right screws, nuts and bolts from the hardware store for no more than $.06 each. I laughed when the LHS had a pack of 5 3x15mm screws for $4.

I find that I just order from Towerhobbies the majority of the time, anyway. If I'm broken down for the weekend, oh well, there are other things I can do.

Get the Revo. Look at my signature, go to my website, it's under my avitar, trust my experience. I had a SavageX and I got rid of it, it wasn't as good as a 3.3 TMAXX for Bashing and not even close to a Revo for racing.

Yes because they break so often they sell a ton of parts.

anything associated is guaranteed quality and availability, that all that can really be said. that is guaranteed. that and hpi can be found almost anywhere.

the LHS that's real local to me, is really a bunch of plane guys... I go in there, it's like speaking russian or something to them...

I eliminate the problem of wrong parts by giving him numbers for what I need, that way, I get what I want (right or wrong)... we've got that understanding, he don't know cars and I give him the knowledge... it's all good with me...

yeah, that savage is great!! I can't say enough about it... I've stripped a spur, but that's due to my stupidity and that's it.. it's the most fun with a truck that I've had overall.. I still like everything else, but the first to get grabbed is the savage..

Thestratcat if there so bad then why would you have 3 of them. It doesn't make any sense and I just happen to have 2 of them. I bought the 2nd one from my next door neighbor for $50 because he's a moron and thats all he wanted for it. And another reason why hobby stores stock a lot of parts for traxxas because thats what a lot of newbs buy. And as we all know that newbs cant drive all that well till they get a handle on things. And as for your 60 year old mother breaking it. So what, I can get my 70 year old grandfather or a 100 or 120 year old stranger to break a savage to. All they have to do is hit a telephone pole fast enough and it going to break. So what you said has no real meaning. Everything will break at some time. There is no unbendable steel, carbon fiber,titanium or plastic so it's going to break at some time or another. Everybody knows about the RMS Titanic. The so called unsinkable ship.

Now im not trying to bash you im just trying to get my point across. All rc's break and there's no way to get around that unless if it's a shelf queen. Just go to your LHS ans see what they stock for parts. Then take those companies and then see what you like the most. It's all about what you like and what you want.

Remember that one man's trash is another mans treasure. In the end you have to make the decision.

I bought one...
my mother bought one (based on my purchase)
my father bought one (again, based on my purchase)

they both did it within a week of me buying mine, I came home from work and found them on my porch with a note that said "please make it work, love Mom"... what the heck.. you know... Dad did the same.. I'm saying that they spend more time down (when stock) than others.. that's alll, everything breaks, I like my t-maxx and all, just in my opinion there are better choices for a person that wants to keep a stock truck... but!! as a project (mine was a winter build up project) the t-maxx is absolutely great!! I had a ball rebuilding mine (which gave me a second one that's under the kitchen sink)

and what's wrong with ships that sink? seems to me I spent 10 yrs on them and I'm doing just fine!!

I run a t-maxx and I love it, but admitedly it took a lot of work and $$$ to get it to where it is now. Stock: I broke parts almost every time I went out. It seemed that something silly would give out everytime I drove it. Over time I managed to build a maxx that I absolutely love and rarely break anything on unless I take tha abuse to extreme levels.

I also have a rustler, but it was decked out with RPM and titanium when I bought it as a roller, so I have never had any issues with breaking parts on it.

My brother-in-law has an HPI MT2, which at first glance appears to be built a bit more solidly than the traxxas vehicles I have played around with. In fact, when I first saw it I was really impressed. But after we took it out a bit we started to realize it is like any other RC in that it has certain weak parts that will break when you screw up. But unlike the traxxas vehicles, I found the available upgrades for the MT2 to be extremely limited (in comparrison to what is available for a maxx) and also pretty pricey. I still love the thing, but we have just found that you need to keep and extra set of arms, caster blocks and axle carriers with you if you plan on catching serious air.

All that being said, and given my limited exposure to other brands, I think the one real upside to the t-maxx is option upgrade availability. If you plan on buying an RC and working on it constantly and pouring money into it until you end up with an amazing RC, then it is a great option. However, if you just want to go buy something that is super durable right out of the box so you can drive it and not have to work on it a lot, then the t-maxx is probably not the best choice; well actually nitro RC in general is not the best choice they all require lots of maintenance and tinkering, but if you are into that kind of thing yu can't beat this hobby.

You won't find more upgrades for any truck like there are for the TMAXX.....

ok thank you alot for the help that was given i thing i will go HPI