I race 1:10 scale but want to set up an 1:18 or 1:24 garage on road track for me and my family. From what I have read, the BRP cars are top end. Too much moolah though. I have just started researching HPI and Kyosho products. What do you guys and gals think? I want to buy three cars that are RTR and no more than $150.00 per ride.
Thanks.

Go with the BRP. They the best for what you want to do. Very cheap to keep on the track and a lot of fun to drive. For 150.00 per ride you can get a lot of racing in with a BRP. Goto brpracing.com and research the price. You will not be dissappointed :)

BRP doesn't have RTR. But you can get the SC-18, ESC, and Radio for $150.00. Plus they are VERY durable...get the bumper and it is very unlikely you will brake anything...Mini Z and others, may need a little more maintenance if you hit the walls!!

Go with the mini-z's they are cool to race and you can get more stuff for them when you want to spend money on them. The mini-z's will give you your more bang for the buck. I race the mini-z ans I run both the 01 and 02 they are both good to race with. The other thing that you have to decide is do you want cars or trucks. The trucks you can run the losi mini-t, assoa. rc-18, oe the mini-z monster truck and/or overlanders. The mini-z's has a good acortment or cars to run check out Kyosho web sit and look at other threds to see the track that these guys race on.
Hope this helps you out.
Thanks,
John

have you looked into the Radio Shack Xmods? They are 99$ for a full complete kit. Sure they are "heavier" than a Kyosho, or HPI, but darn if they ever break! My friend has one, and i swear he is attracted to walls and curbs... he bounces off everything (literally).

thank god he doesnt race 1/10th scale.. LOL... hahaha no hand eye coordination i guess :P

Just make sure they are all on diff frequencies. I've seen people mod them. They have "heavy" bodies good for bashing.. plus they aint all that silly fast so it is still manageable by novices and kids in a garage type setting.

not bad for a "toy" type car... almost got my wife one .. but they ran out of the mustang body.

the local radio shack to mine was offering buy 2 xmods get 1 free last week.

...now...

if you want a bit more upscale, go for the mini-z (you can get them from towerhobbies) and they have a whole slew of upgrades.. and even some places race those... i think they are like 99-109 as well.

so.. take your pick.. cant go wrong =)

Thanks to all for the great info!
Please continue if you have something to add...your personal experiences are worth a lot.
Thanks again.

have you looked into the Radio Shack Xmods? They are 99$ for a full complete kit. Sure they are "heavier" than a Kyosho, or HPI, but darn if they ever break! My friend has one, and i swear he is attracted to walls and curbs... he bounces off everything (literally).

thank god he doesnt race 1/10th scale.. LOL... hahaha no hand eye coordination i guess :P

Just make sure they are all on diff frequencies. I've seen people mod them. They have "heavy" bodies good for bashing.. plus they aint all that silly fast so it is still manageable by novices and kids in a garage type setting.

not bad for a "toy" type car... almost got my wife one .. but they ran out of the mustang body.

the local radio shack to mine was offering buy 2 xmods get 1 free last week.

...now...

if you want a bit more upscale, go for the mini-z (you can get them from towerhobbies) and they have a whole slew of upgrades.. and even some places race those... i think they are like 99-109 as well.

so.. take your pick.. cant go wrong =)

RCMits, you are correct, these are a cheaper way to go if you're worried about dropping a ton of cash. The full Xmod stock kit is $50, upgrades add up to around $100+ total, depending on what you want.

But I have to disagree with their durability. I bought 3 during that deal you mentioned(one for me, one for my bro and one to mess with). Within two days and actually only 2 hrs, all three broke. I don't know the correct terminology, but the screws holding the suspension together on the bottom of the car were completely ripped off because of a few "bumps" on my flat concrete b-ball pad.

So I went to a very smooth tennis court and tried out the other 2 (one had an engine upgrade, the other was stock). Within a half hour of run time(straight outta the box, fresh as can be), one of the stock Xmod's cup joints shattered. So I only had one spinning rear tire. 20 mins later, the other Xmod's cupjoint also blew.

I don't see how I just "happened" to get 3 defective Xmods.

I returned all 3 and now have a Mini-Z on order. :) I will admit, they were a BLAST to run, that's why I wanted something similar (mini-z). The way I see it, stock Mini-z's are faster than the Xmod upgrades from RS, so in the long run, Xmods aren't all that much cheaper.

Sorry for the long rant, but this is my personal experience.

A few observations and info gathered over the past few years.
The HPI Micros when they first came out the racers here locally quickly found out the Micro steering knuckles were very weak. Some drivers trying to learn the track couldn't finish a 5 minute practice session before hitting a pipe and breaking a knuckle.
The dogbones are also a weak point. The diffs are known to not be very durable and
simply can't take high output so you must upgrade them before going high power.
I don't think it or the MiniT were designed with racing in mind but merely as small toys similar to their 10th scale counterparts.
The Micros are a lot cheaper since they have lost popularity.
The M18 out of the box is much faster than the Micro and much more stable. The Micros are known for rolling in the corners when not properly tuned and are not as
quick as the M18. The M18 has its weaknesses but it a much better design out of the box. The M18 was a racer by design.

The BRP SC18 and SC18 V2 are much more durable (not prone to breaking things) and
are racers by design. The MiniZ will need a few upgrades to make it more durable but
are a good car. The Associated RC18T is very quick and I'm not sure on durability, it is much tougher than the Losi MiniT.
Also, realize that aluminum upgrades just push the weak point to another area.
Strengthening something will cause the stress to go someplace else...and something else to break. Realize this when you start down the upgrade path.
Additionally, the aluminum parts are sometimes heavier than the stock parts.

FWIW,

RAFster
David

Thanks again for the info all.
Now answer this question if you please:
I want to buy 3 on-road RTR cars (GT, TC or F1 type preferred) for under $130.00 per for me and my kids to race in the garage only; what, in your opinion, should I get?
Durability and the ease to maintain are paramount. Speed and tunability are not.
Remember, RTR on-road only.
Thanks.

Thanks again for the info all.
Now answer this question if you please:
I want to buy 3 on-road RTR cars (GT, TC or F1 type preferred) for under $130.00 per for me and my kids to race in the garage only; what, in your opinion, should I get?
Durability and the ease to maintain are paramount. Speed and tunability are not.
Remember, RTR on-road only.
Thanks.

mini-z i say..

http://www.snowbirdnationals.com/frankspictures.htm

while thumbing the snowbird site.. lookie what i found!

you want tc/f1 etc? http://www.kyosho.com/cars/kyod01x1.html
they have onroad.. offroad.. mini trucks.. ;)

a forum about them
http://www.minizworld.com/

here is an article on them
http://www.dansdata.com/miniz.htm

some prices on them
http://www2.towerhobbies.com/cgi-bin/WTI0095P?FVSEARCH=mini-z&FVPROFIL

like any r/c car.. if you hit a wall enough times.. something will break no matter if its a kyosho mini-z, xmod, etc..

if you have a budget of 40$ more or so.. check out the rc18t, or the losi mini-t. they run about 180 or so...

i could go on and on ;) sorry... but for what you want.. *I* think a mini-z might fit your bill.

anyone else got any ideas?

here is a search from hobbytalk http://www.hobbytalk.com/bbs1/search.php?searchid=80827 for mini-z's

and a xmod vs. mini-z http://www.hobbytalk.com/bbs1/showthread.php?t=91766&highlight=mini-z

RCMits...what can I say other than...THANKS! :thumbsup:

WHile I haven't even seen one yet in person... I'd lean towards the RC18T... It should be durable and have enough ground clearance to run in a driveway, etc... The other 'cars' will have to be driven on very smooth surfaces only... But then the RC18T is not currently available... they came out before Christmass and quickly sold out apparently and the next round of shipments haven't came though just yet. Tower is currently saying early February for more shipments...

WHile I haven't even seen one yet in person... I'd lean towards the RC18T... It should be durable and have enough ground clearance to run in a driveway, etc... The other 'cars' will have to be driven on very smooth surfaces only... But then the RC18T is not currently available... they came out before Christmass and quickly sold out apparently and the next round of shipments haven't came though just yet. Tower is currently saying early February for more shipments...

:confused:
Although the 18T is the truth:
The 18T is offroad(strike 1), $160.00 each(strike 2) and definately not a GT, TC or F1 type(stike tee you're out) and I stated that I will be running it in the garage only. Did you read the question?
Thanks anyway. :wave:

I've found the HPI Micro RS4 to be tough as nails. The only thing I have ever broken has been the front diff gears and that was when I was running a speed 300 in it. They are a very fun class to run. Since the X-Ray M18 came out they just cant compete out of the box and can barely compete if you have threw a ton of money in them but for having fun in the garage I doubt you can find better.

Beeoh,
Buds SC18 are cool but for a garage track the Mini Z is the way to go. If you shop hard you can find them for less than $100 complete.That includes radio. The cars use AAA cells.Available everywhere I use the NIMH cellsThe charger for thes batteries are available everywhre also. Remember that the cars will have to be maintained. I have a SC18 and I own several Mini Z's, The SC18 is considerbly larger than a Mini Z. A smaller car will allow you to have a more elaborate track if you want. Besides at $100 Per car that leaves $50 per car for hopups and extra batteries. The Mini Z's are way Better than the X MODS If you want something that will handle not so smooth terrain try the Mini Z Overlander. We race have a class for them when we race mini z's at Franks. It is one of the most popular classes. They are a blast to watch and fun to drive according to my son who races that class.

Given a small space I would say go with the MiniZ.
The BRPs are nice but to get the GT/TC in one it will take painting and assembling.
Once you have them built they are durable and rarely break. They will wear pinions and spur gears with time but are a very durable car as well as fast.
The MiniZ will provide a realism that is hard to achieve by 90%+ of the owners of a BRP. You have limited body selection for the BRP whereas the AutoScale bodies offer a plethora of styles to choose from, provided they fit the MiniZ chassis you purchased.
The BRP would be in that price range buying from Bud directly.

Realize some of the NiMH high capacity cells have low power output or punch.
While they may lots of run time they are real speedy. For learning that might be
desired but, not once they have learned car control.
A excellent loose cell AA or AAA NiMH charger that is inexpensive is made by MAHA.
http://www.imaging-resource.com/ACCS/C204W/C204WA.HTM
He has a great NiMH battery review for Digital Cameras as well:
http://www.imaging-resource.com/ACCS/BATTS/BATTS.HTM
Thomas Distributing does a nice job of providing good prices and excellent support.
I'm a satisfied customer.

Be mindful of the frequencies you buy and realize Radio Shack has some crystal sets that can be used with the 27 MHz Kyosho cars at a low cost if you need different frequencies.

How else can one afford to have a garage full of Ferrari's?

Thanks again all.
I am buying 3 Mini Zs.
Ciao' :wave: