Best value in RC now

[TokyoProf]

What is a great value in RC now (vintage or otherwise)? I'm going to focus on the positive for now

My vote in 2025 in the vintage class would be the reissued Kyosho Turbo Optima. Maybe it is not selling well in the states, but what you get for the price today is amazing.
The bling, gold, and amount of car and quality you get for the price of a new RC10 (actually cheaper) is simply headshaking.

[1911Colt]

To the surprise of absolutely no one, I am going to say Pro Cat is the bargain of the vintage offerings. That is a lot of buggy for ~$320 and it doesn't have any issues. Amain even had it for ~$275 briefly.

Cougar Classic is pretty reasonable at $249, but I suspect there will be an even lower closeout price coming soon. With the C2W, you get so much more content for the extra $90, so I suspect the CC is not moving. I have the bits to make a CC into a Top Cat if they do lower it.

I am not bashing AE prices because people are happy to pay them, but like for like, there is usually at least a $100 delta and the Schueys all have bearings (not to mention telescopic drive shafts that are always the right length ).

For modern stuff, I always think of the Fazer line as good buys. Kyosho makes nice stuff, the bodies are gorgeous, and I am told they have the best RTR radios.

[GoMachV]

Agreed on Schumacher, for what you get they are fantastic. Kyosho quality is awesome and the prices are ok. Yokomo and AE are too high for what you get. The quality is just not great. I will also say for the money the Tamiya Top Force, Manta Ray, and Super Astute are not too shabby! You don't get full on racers but they are very affordable as well. My astute suspension is 300% tighter than my AE. Almost no play vs over 5mm of play lol.

And yes, known plenty of both. I don't avoid buying the AE stuff just because the quality is crap. I still enjoy it. They could just do so much better for the premium they charge

[juicedcoupe]

I still say that the Traxxas 2WD platform has the best value, at least in non-race platforms. They are tougher than most (comparatively), have excellent parts availability (mostly cheap!), and their aftermarket support is legit.

For someone just having fun, they meet all the criteria.

As for what is cool, pick you poison. I just dropped $480 on a RC104WD, knowing that they have issues. Also knowing that Jeff is working on resolving some of those helps a little.

I also have a Hasley RC10, YZ-10, and Turbo Scorpion waiting to be assembled. But before that, I'll probably waste more money on some Tamiya ORV's ( talk about sloppy).

[RogueIV]

My money is on Kyosho and now Schumacher. I have the Turbo Scorpion, JJ Ultima and Optima Mid 60th anniversary and all of them were amazing to build with great fit and finish and instructions that don't lead you astray.

I just recently built the Cougar 2 Works and am very impressed with the quality of that as well. Parts bags are all separated by step # and fit and finish was great. I do wish they used hex hardware but as long as you use quality drivers the phillips they use are fine. Instruction are great too and actually have setup tips.

Associated, I like the cars, I really do but there's a lot of improvements they should have done before releasing them. The hinge pin holes are larger than they should be causing slop. The small ballcups they use are next to useless if you plan on racing they will come off at the slightest bump and ruin your race. Also they are way too hard to thread onto the turnbuckles. The instructions are full of errors and often vague and you're better off using the original old school manuals that actually give you all the relevant info. The RC10DS manual was so bad I ended up making a annotated version of it just to help out other builders. (if you want to see just how many notes i have on that, see here:
)
None of the manuals really have setup tips and tricks either. That said I still love the cars but they aren't as good quality as Kyosho or Schumacher's rereleases.

Yokomo YZ-870C is a fun build but for the price there are things that should have been straightened out. The shocks are just wrong for the car. They are too short and don't allow enough down travel The shock caps lack a bleed screw or bleed hole and also don't have a relief cut in the threads making it extremely annoying to bleed them. I haven't had any issue with my drive shafts but I've seen other shear them off. If you do decide to buy one I suggest getting some longer shocks. Fan RC makes some nice RC10 replica shocks and will look period correct.

[Dangeruss]

Great question. Redcats TR10 RTR stadium truck is $108 shipped. Tamiyas Grasshopper and derivatives are $103 and up shipped. DT-02's are a good value. The new FMS 1/10 RTR Monster truck at $168 shipped is a good deal too. Then there's the WL Toys Match 4wd RTR buggy, which at $140 shipped, is a ton of cluck for the buck. Plus the Kyosho Axxe and Sandmaster 2.0 RTR's at $140 are worth mentioning too.

Admittedly though, I've been pondering what would Nikko/Tyco's equivalent be today, so... the above suggestions might be biased towards what's currently gnawing at my brain.