Off road RC car for a first timer?

Always wanted an off road RC car. Thinking of asking my wife for one. Any advice? Are there any that come with everything in one box so I can go out to play with it immediately. 🙂

Cheers

Ed

Tamiya still do (I think) a Mad Bull kit, great for off road/rough tracks, rear wheel drive power slides & reasonably tough to take a few hits

Half the fun for me was building up the kit, lots of option to upgrade too.

Basic kit will not have a radio, but sure your local model shop will bundle up everything you will need.

Anything rtr (ready to run) will do you.prob need to get a few aa batteries though, and if you’re going nitro (which you should!) You’ll need to get a nitro starter kit too….
DrP

Half the fun for me was building up the kit

90% of the fun was building mine, I’ve barely used it since.

Dont waste your time with nitro, its noisy, messy and just generally a pain in the arse.

Brushless electric is the way forward, its almost silent, as fast if not faster than nitro and is charge and go.

I have a few different cars, a HPI savage 4.6 (nitro) Traxxas Stampede VXL (Brushless) , hyper 7 (nitro buggy) and a Associated B4 buggy.

I have just finished building this for my 7 year old, this was his first time out with it.

I did enjoy building it and going back to my youth, my stepfather owned the modelshop in Cromer, Norfolk so i spent most of my time in the shop building and fixing for people.

Flying (Heli’s and fixed wing) is my main hobby.

pacemaker has a point about nitro it is great fun but u need so much room/time for it to really open up im jacking in my nitro for a brushless setup it just takes up to much room and effort
probably going for a traxxas or hpi myself if i cannot rig a motor in my current hpi rush.
have a gander over on modelsportuk forums there always a great help.

pacemaker are u running a brushless in that? how douse your young one cope with reactions?
my 3yo had a go with my nitro and loves it so would love to build a kit with her tamiya brushed kit lookes the fav atm

90% of the fun was building mine, I’ve barely used it since.

Totally, I did this a few years ago, ended up selling for a little less that it cost, was worth it thou, as I never had one when they were big in the mid 80’s

Is there anything in the cheap end of the market worth considering?
I’m talking less than £80-£90.

rp16.

The lunchbox is as standard at the moment, he is very experienced with the controls as he flies co-ax rc helicopters (and has been flying for a couple of years).

I did wonder about putting brushless in the LB but it just lumbers about. (i always remembered mine was a bit a bus 25 year ago!).

It is ideal for him though as it takes loads of abuse and keeps coming back for more.

OP i would buy this if i were you, its £99 but it a proper rc car, not a toy.

The Mad Rat is used as an entry level racing buggy quite a bit.

for that price the mentioned is best u will get also if u dont like the buggy look then they do a stadium truck version that will take abit more abuse

@pacemaker
On that Mad Rat link, do I need all or just some of the stuff in the “Sport Combo” section? (not including the car obviously)

you would need 8 AA batteries for the transmitter and a 7.2 pack for the car and a charger but you can get cheaper entry level stuff

basic battery

basic overnight charger

these will do the same job, but the battery wont last as long, and is a slow charger over a fast one.

The other car worth a look is this it comes with everything but isnt quite as good, but is still a good deal.
my freind has the 4wd version of it and its well built and decent quality for the price

Cheers. Appreciate the advice.
Any idea roughly how long the car will go for once fully charged?

Flying (Heli’s and fixed wing) is my main hobby.

Ooh, another one. What do you fly?

Hi folks. Just wanted to say thanks for your input so far. I have ALWAYS wanted an RC car and I figured now was as good a time as any to have a go.

Thanks for your advice.

Ed

I recently bought a second hand Traxxas E-maxx off of the RC equivalent of STW calssifieds:

http://www.msuk-forum.co.uk/forum/7-for-rc-sales/

It’s an absolute hoot, and remarkably inexpensive compared to MTBing as a hobby.

That car is a beast though, and deffo not for kids. Although we did build a big jump for my son and his mate to lie under it, Evil Kinevil style, as we launched the monster truck over the top. Great fun, not wife approved however… 😆

Kev

So many brands I’ve never heard of. Back when I built mine, it was “Tamiya” and “everything else.” I think I’d be scared of getting something that’s built out of custard and can’t get spares for.

This brings back good memories from my past.

Got my first RC car when I was about 10 or 11 I think – Tamiya Boomerang.

Then a couple of years later spent months saving up to by a Schumacher Cat XLS.

Then I ‘grew up’ and got into other stuff.

Was recently given a Traxxas T-Maxx nitro truck. Not used it in anger yet, need to spend some time tuning the engine I think as it keeps stalling when it’s started up.

I might get it out of the loft and have a play at the weekend.

If you’re anywhere near London, then it might be an idea to go and talk to my mate Wayne, what works in ModelZone in Holborn. He knows tons of stuff about RC cars; builds them up, races them the lot. He’s yer mayn in tahyn!