R/C crowd, need your help and opions (nitro trucks/cars)

In My Humble Opinion
1

Okay, I am looking to invest some hard earned dough on an R/C vehicle. Before I get pomppous hobby shop and intense R/C forum advice, I seek down to earth advice.

Category: Nitro trucks or “rally” vehicles (See, it is hard to find good surface for cars, so rally cars interest me as hybrids.)

Nitro: 99.99999% sure about nitro. Forget electric. I have a 13 y/o nitro .12 truck and always loved it. Fairly early model for nitro, and nothing replaces the sound and smells of a real fuel burner. Heck, I’d do a Zenoah gas motor and 1/6 scale if $ were no object!!

Electric: Not interested. I have a 16 y/o elec. Road Wizzard tricked out (it scares me it is so fast) and it is fun. Real fast, real fun…but, well screaming engines and re-fueling for hours is the best, and this falls short.

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What I am after…help needed: **

I want a more robust truck, possibly 4wd, although 2wd can be a hoot, because I ain’t interested in racing. I want the sucker to start more easily, idle a little better and - GULP - be Ready to Run or darn near close to it . I don’t have time to build, and I’ve seen some screaming reviews of RTR vehicles as of late.

Perked my interest: This HPI Racing RTR Nitro Rush Evo Truck really got me thinking, especialy @ the clearance price

http://www.rcthrills.com/site/746267/product/336-4918701

In sum, I am looking to keep things close to 300 and definitely under 400 bucks. I want a quick starting, reliable nitro powered vehicle. I lean towards trucks because of their clearance and hardiness.

I’ve seen on-board electric starters (gimmicky??), but I actually prefer the external crank starter via motor (like the Evo truck posted). I don’t want the weenie pull start.

Any ideas? Is the truck posted a good deal? Should I be concerned about the carb (needle valve), or are there other things I am missing? Any feedback about other nitro vehicles, considering price, starting, etc. Should I rethink cars? Look for a rally car?

Opinions, opinions…!

2

I have a nitro truck very similar to the on you linked that I bought last year. I actually bought 2 trucks last year. The first one I bought was a fine truck, until it broke (which of course they will break). I quickly found that I could not buy parts for it locally when I broke it. I then went to a few hobby shops around town and saw what brands were popular in my area, and then bought another Ready-To-Run truck of a different brand. Now, when I break things, I don’t have to wait several weeks to drive again. So that’s my suggestion. The truck you linked to is a nice truck that I am sure you would love. They have good engines that are easy to start.

The only other thing I would suggest is after you get the truck, get an aftermarket muffler. You will see HUGE gains in performance by putting on a better tuned pipe. I did, and it was unreal. It was like a totally different engine.