Hi All!

Iam want to get a 10th Scale 4WD truck or buggie for my 7 yr old son. This is going to be a pure basher so durability is number one priority. Seems my local hobby stores carry very limited models but pretty big on the revos. I am hoping to spend under $180.

Please advise.

I notice you said, "hoping" to spend around $180 on a durable 1/10 4x4. The closest thing i can think of is the HPI wheelie king for around $200. However, there are plenty of "off brand" vehicles out there, but they have less support after sale and possibly inferior components. I wish you the best in your search.

Yeah hoping lol. Well I was thinking that maybe there might be some legacy products that have been lowered in price or maybe i can get one preowned. As long as there are still aftermarket parts online I am ok with discontinued models also.

What's going to make that hard is the 4x4 part. There are tons of 2wd bashers out there but the 4WD limits your options and raises the cost. Wheelie king or maybe a used E-maxx.

Wait 2 more days and see what traxxas is releasing on the 8th. There is a lot of talk about a 4WD buggy or maybe a 4WD slash but know one really knows.

Agreed, traxxas would be making a smart move to release a solid 1:10 4x4 truck/buggy. I can't wait to see what they are coming out with.

why not buy a kit and build it with your son, it's a great bonding tool.

get a tamiya df02 or df03 4wd buggy and build it up together. </p>

The E-Maxx looks hella fun! I'll wait to see what traxxas comes out with on the 8th.

The E-maxx is a fun truck. If you start looking at those make sure you get the later model. I've had both and the later truck was not perfect but it was miles ahead of the first model.

this poor guy don't wanna have $450 in an emaxx, I agree on the df 02 tamiya buggy kit, $114.99 from tower and the kid can learn a little as your build it and maybe gain some respect for it, I would say don't spend alot of money on a radio, little ones tend to drop them or leave them laying around on the floor and stuff, $50 new from tower, you can ebay a cheap radio, craigslist is also a good place to find radios and chargers/batteries but if you got a racetrack that is where I would start, most people in rc have tons of extra crap, they always want new batteries and often times have good packs to sell fairly cheaply, same thing on chargers and radios, many will have a plug in style wall charger they would give you for free or $5 and radios for $20-30 with reciever as they got it in a rtr or have had it for 10 or more years.


http://www3.towerhobbies.com/cgi-bin...?&I=LXTDR5&P=7

rtr if yuu think you have to lol

http://www3.towerhobbies.com/cgi-bin...?&I=LXJHZ5&P=7

I will totally agree that a Tamiya is a great learning experience and they make awesome cars. I'm a tamiya collector but..... This guy wants a pure basher and that is not really what Tamiyas do best. If it needs to be 4WD then a used E-maxx or wheelie king are good choices. A decent 1st gen E-maxx can be had for around $125 or so and a nice 2nd gen can be had for under $200. The one down fall is it does require two batteries to run.

Are you sure it has to be 4WD because there are a ton of used Rustlers and Stampedes out there for way under $100 ea.

i gotta disagree with you john, tamiya's make excellent bashers IMO.
some are tougher than others. but lets just take 4wd buggies, tamiya's buggies are way tougher than race bread buggies, from the df01 to the df03 it's tough to find a tougher 4wd buggy.
traxxas does have the monster truck market locked up pretty good though, then again most people seem to upgrade the hell out of them with rpm stuff, so maybe they aren't as tough as we think in stock form.

plus we are talking about a dad and a 7 year old, no reason not to go with a nice kit. (i can't wait for my son to be old enough for me to teach him how to build a kit)

df 02 thrashing, see what a stocker take, with a few parts and truck tires you can embarass emaxxes with these cars

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wwTMADiC3UE

tons more vids on youtube

when he is bigger you can make it badder

I'm going to side with John on the whole basher thing. Tamiya makes great buggies and if that's what's wanted then they are a great choice. But for a small kid and pure bashing I'd have to choose a Traxxas MT or slash/rustler/stampede for the cost/performance.

I have 3 tamiya buggies and while I really enjoyed building them and they are very tough for buggies they won't survive the type of construction yard bashing that a MT will. The biggest issues are the low ground clearance and exposed front shocks.

I can't remember the thread but someone on here jumped a buggy off a 6' jump, landed wrong, broke it, then asked "what did I do wrong?". Well... you jumped a buggy off a 6' jump onto hard, flat ground....

Unless you're averse to building a kit I'd recommend you go with a Tamiya Kit. It'll be fun for you two to build it together, and it's a good fit for your price range along witha basic$50 controller/servo setup from a Co. like Futaba. Tamiya's run great, look great, and can handle almost anything. From my experience they are CRAZY tough, easy to fix and hop up, and most instances where people think a Tamiya could be tougher are extreme cases where someone is driving them off ramps fromtheir garage roofs or something really stupid like that. A Tamiya DF-02 would probably be perfect.

redcat tornado EPX pro

4wd buggie, brushless motor and ESC. i picked mine up new for 175.

you will need a better charger and set of batteries, but its very nice and fast, durable when you don't run into sign posts at 30 MPH like i did ... lol