I have had good luck with this buggy so I bought my second one a month ago. It is less expensive all around. The plastic seems to wear sooner than other buggies but the D8 can get really loose and still handle great. It does not break easily, unlike what my friend says about his Kyosho.
I always say the best buggy is the one you want, but for me, funds are tight, I like the D8, so it's the way to go.
Really cool buggy , I have two and I love them ....it's my best buggy until now because of the wight , the shape , the price and the stringth. All I can say about this buggy is "WOOOOOW" .
Awesome car!!!!!! Really tough and fast very well priced!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
MY FIRST NEW BUGGY. EXCELLENT OVER JUMPS AND GREAT HANDLING . CANT BEAT THE PRICE AND UPGRADING PARTS ON IT WILL STILL BE CHEAPER THAN ANY OTHER KIT
I have had this car for about a month now and have a gallon on it and all I can say is WOW! If you want to get into the 1/8th scale buggy for a great price then this is the car for you. The kit went together super smooth and I had no issue with fit & finish. One the things I like the most is how easy it is to to remove the electronics and motor for cleaning. 9-10 screws and its all out ready for a bath.
I bought this kit and put a Picco .26 JL red dot in it(only engine i have at the moment). This thing rips. The motor isnt actually half bad and as long as you seal it, it holds a tune very nicely and provides more than enough power for my track. Only broken the wing and that because i was doing the big air bash and went for a triple backflip and got 3 and then some. But eveything else is holding up well, got almost 5 gallons through her!
I received this buggy some time ago and it was my first build. And I can say how easy it was, the instructions were top notch and easy to use. Over all the build went very smoothly, my one complaint about it is the electronics box. It was such a pain to get the servos to fit in. The way they want you to rout the wires ...had to cut into my box a bit to get a sensable wire rout...other than that it is a very good design and very easy to work on especially with the engine mount. Remove the engine without messing up you're gear mesh...ah. Right now my setup is very "basic" with nothing fancy, I have a nova 21 limited(little $140 thing) and it runs good and smooth. The rear shocks need to be stiffer but other than that it is a very good buggy and a great buy for 280. Awesome way to get into the 1/8 buggy class.
The more I race this car this car the more I love it! It comes out of corners very hard. I have added the WCE drive shafts, Aluminum servo horns, M2C hinge Pins, Pro-line body, and 112mm shocks. Next race season I plan to try the light weight drive train and 3mm chassis. Get this buggy! Compare parts cost to other platforms. -//- I really like this buggy. Follow up on rctech and try some of the setups for your track.
It builds really easy. I have a gallon through it with know breaks.
sorry you feel that way about this car man I have two of them and love them to death and I have not got 8 more of them running at the track I run and and everyone seems very happy with the
Just finished building the kit but I haven`t purchased the engine, servos and radio yet.This is my first kit and i really loved the assembly. Considering that this is my first build, i enjoyed it, it`s really easy. Although the plastics are not the best quality and the drive shafts are so thin, i`m really excited to run it so i really can not comment on how it performs now. overall... assembly was easy but the materials are cheap, and no grease and thread lock included, but since it`s my first kit, i`ll still cosider it a good buy for the price.
I dont own one but it says you need a tuned pipe and engine.
Id have to agree 100% with scott. Same here i DNF alot of races due to rear hubs and cvds. Just not a reliable enough car to race week after week. Just dont know whats going to happen. Im going back to my jammin for now and maybe hyper 9 soon.
Ok, my review comes after my first race last weekend. and this is not my first buggy.
Build was excellent & manuel is high quality, but parts count is exactly what is needed for build & no kit tools are included.
Fit and finish is excellent, aluminums are high grade & plastics are fair ! I have 2 5min quals over 30mins hard practice and only 10mins of the main because my motor went out and no visable wear or slop in suspension !
Performance:
Awesome ! The car accelarates really good with low inertia from the chassis (it digs and claws forward!), Cornering is nimble and stable, not quite as quick reacting as my old Losi but is a little more stable and it still is quick like all modern buggy's.
It jumps really good also, the Losi, and new Kyosho/Mugen & Xray cars require less effort because they weigh around 7.3-7.5lbs and the HB's weigh in at around 8lbs. so this car needs a little more effort for those big jumps but it still is a great and easy jumper.
Durability, well I can't tell yet but it looks good so far. For the price this car can't be beat as on track with tuning it can compete with & beat the higher end price buggy's on the market if your talent is good enough, Parts are cheap & so far durability for me has been good !
You get what you pay for, but don't think this car is lesser because of the price, sure other makes have higher end materials and most have under gone complete changes thats why they cost so much, the Hotbodies has recycled a lot from the old Lightning (Diffs, rod ends, clutch, bumpers, rear hubs & other stuff) and so they have been able the save a lot of the tooling costs and pass it along to the price of the kit.
This car is great for the beginner or more advanced racer can be tuned to the racers liking or track conditions, it is a true contender. Would be a 5star if it weighed a little less but it is no less than a 4star !
Very good and top quality car ! -//- Sure it looks like a Losi, but you gotta admit this car looks awesome by it's own right !
This maybe the car that gets me in 1/8th scale by the way Travis, Robbers and Felles performed with it a the nats !
And the price is ohh so great !!!
This has to be one of the easiest builds ever. First, the cost is alot lower than most other kits which allows alot more people to enter the class. Even though it has alot of plastic parts on it, it's not something that should turn people because the quality is there. You can always upgrade later if you want to. Second, the build is excellent, all the parts are in bags that you completely use up step by step. The instruction manual references all the steps and the bags are clearly identified. This really allows you to take your time in building it right. You don't have to finish the kit in one night, or keep track of extra screws needed in other steps. The manual is top notch made of heavier grade paper which should last a long time. Plus, if you get it while HB is having their promotion, you get an additional $25 off the price. Also, the you gotta love how the new shocks are put together and designed. Super smooth and the seal should be very strong due to the design. Top notch parts and materials used in the shocks. To me, this is one of the areas where they really stepped up and made this buggy reliable.
Would be nice if the front hubs, front steering brace, or chassis braces were aluminum. Also, if the rear front hinge pin mount allowed you to also secure it to the chassis the way the kyosho or king headz does. Time will tell if these parts need to be upgraded to aluminum. But other than that, it's a excellent kit for any level racer. Also, this is a excellent kit for those starting out because it has a high level of performance without the high costs of other kits.
I am really loving this buggy! The build was very easy and the parts quality seems pretty good. I did manage to break a cvd but hotbodies sent me a full set of the new updated versions.
I ran my D8 in its first race today. I used City-blocks med on HB rims. Track started out moist with clay pebbles then blue groove by the mains. Tires were great the entire race (2 5min qualifiers and 15min main. I got 2nd in the Bmain. I ran the box stock setup, with a few changes. I swapped the springs and ran Losi 40wt in the rear. I like 5-4-1 diff setup on my track.
It says on sale now 10-30-2008 ---> $349.99
Was 334.99 last week????? That's NO a sale! Raise the price $15 and call it a sale!!!!!! Probably the best buggy for the money but WAY too much jacking with the prices here!!!!!
Its over 8 pounds ready to run with top of the line racing gear throughout. The car is heavier than the other ones, but that doesnt seem to effect its perfromance. the car is really fast and has incredible steering and stability. plus its 350 dollars. you cant beat the value of the entire package. the car is more than capable to beat any of its competitors, and with ease.
I Dont know how people can say that this car is very light when we can see on the web the D8 car @ 3.590KG , IF that is light i really dont know what heavy is...
I happy to hear a positive review from you samual, im just putting my kit together and hopefuly run this coming weekend indoor clay (CRCRC) im copying jessie robbers set-up slitely changed from the worlds. So far its going together well quality parts...
