Cougar SV or TLR22

[8rad]

Trying to decide what buggy to buy for the upcoming racing season. Cougar SV and TLR 22 are my two choices. On the one hand, the 22 is cheaper, has the option of rear and mid motors and parts supply should be more plentiful. On the other hand, the Cougar is just the sexiest piece of kit I have ever seen and the 2011 spec has a longer chassis and purple titanium turnbuckles. I cant decide.

Thoughts and opinions?

[kikcaffine]

I plan to more than likely pick up a 22 just because. lol

[Charlie don't surf]

Parts support should be much greater in Canada for the 22-

[Jay Dub]

The rear motor configuration option is a must. Plus (and I know this from experience), you will have a much better development team working on this car (the 22) now and in the future. This means that a variety of real working setups will be available to you as the car progresses. Sure the Schumacher cars look great, and have the potential to be great cars, but they have no real world class drivers developing the car, and to be honest that is more important than purple titanium turnbuckles. -Jeff

[8rad]

WHAT? NOTHING is more important than purple titanium turnbuckles! I put them on my Grasshopper and shaved 15 minutes off my lap times!

[Lonestar]

the mainstream choice vs. the underdog one... your call

Beware that the SV is a bit like the italian cars from last century, it seems to require a lot of TLC to make it work right, but when it does it's dialled.

I'll pick my "revised" 22 when the 11/12 indoor season starts so that they have the bugs worked out. Too much new stuff on a new car makes me nervous about the first batches... sticking to my B4.1 for now

Paul

[8rad]

Part of me wants to wait for the new Associated offering but that may be awhile. The release of the 4.1 makes me think it may be years.

I think I am leaning towards the 22. Unless I can get a cougar for $200. I think a Jrx-2 box art 22 would be awesome!

[kaiser]

i only know one guy who can win with the cougar and he's sponsored.
the other cougars seem to struggle, sure they beat me but thats not saying much.

i'd go for the 22.

[DerbyDan]

I'm currently racing in an indoor series at the newly opened Moto Arena which is based within the main gates of the Silverstone race circuit... I haven't seen any TLR 22s race there yet.... but currently the Cougars are the dominant force! I'm hoping to see some race at the next meeting on 2nd April.

I think, so long as you buy a later spec SV with the bugs ironed out then you'll have a very competitve car... which in Canada must be a more unique machine? - but I guess spares will be harder to come by too? Cougar looks much prettier IMO

[tim.sanderson]

Parts support should be much greater in Canada for the 22-

Agreed. Parts support should be a very important deciding factor. I race with a guy who runs a Cougar and a Cat. He's been knocked out of race days early simply due to not having access to parts when he breaks at the track.
If you're running on Carpet, mid motor is the way to go. But I don't think it is a big enough of an advantage to trump the parts problem. (Plus, the 22 can be made mid or rear, suited for both dirt and carpet)

[fredswain]

I think the problem that many people are having with the Cougar SV is that they actually have to learn how to drive a line through a corner that is more like a real race car rather go straight for the inside of the corner, jam on the brakes, let the rear end slide around and then gun it. It's hard to drive a rear motor car any other way unless you really really have it dialed in and even then when the back end comes around, it goes fast. Mid motor should much more forgiving and less prone to handling that way. There is no way you'll be able to use the same driving style for mid vs rear motor and expect it to work well. Setup on suspension and tires would be different as well. Keep in mind wider front tires will probably be necessary compared to rear motor. The weight balance will allow you to carry more corner entry speed and with the weight transfer you'll need the traction. I think over the next couple of years we will see more and more people setup the 22 mid motor. At first I expect to see them all rear motor though.

From a design standpoint once a driver learns each car, with the 22 in mid motor its looks like it and the SV should be fairly comparable. The nice thing is that each of them took the time to make sure the gearbox is setup in mid motor configuration to allow the motor to rotate the same direction of the wheels. This will transfer lots of weight to the rear wheels coming off the starting line or out of a corner. I'd be willing to bet they will have more forward traction than their rear motor counterparts as a result. It's going to be a different beast.

As has been pointed out, the Schumacher will have little to no useful US support or parts availability. The 22 definitely will. It will take nearly a year before parts for it are readily available too though and some updates may show up in the first year. It should be a fun year to those playing with it though. The nice thing about the 22 is that it was designed around the lighter weight of current electronics and batteries which means they could add a little bit of weight to make it tougher. Current 2WD cars are pretty fragile. I'd bet the 22 is stronger than the Schumacher and that too is a plus.

If support and spare parts were equally available here, I'm not sure which I'd choose. However since Schumacher doesn't have much of a presence here, the 22 would probably be the smarter choice. The Cougar SV sure is one sexy car though!

[airbats801]

WHAT? NOTHING is more important than purple titanium turnbuckles! I put them on my Grasshopper and shaved 15 minutes off my lap times!

I need to get me a set of those for my fox!

[8rad]

Just pre-ordered my 22.

[fredswain]

I need to get me a set of those for my fox!

Lucky guy! The Fox was my first RC car and is still my favorite out of all I've owned. I wish I still had it. One day I'll just spend the big bucks to find another nice one. I once raced it in the stock class with a Trinity motor against a field of RC10's and ended up getting 2nd in the A-main! I guess those guys couldn't drive very good! They certainly thought I had something special done to it but I didn't.

[8rad]

I once raced it in the stock class with a Trinity motor against a field of RC10's and ended up getting 2nd in the A-main!

I hear you! When I first started with my falcon I did pretty well. Everyone else was so much faster than me but they also crashed alot more. Ever hear the story of the tortoise and the hare?

When I would tell my buddies I was beating RC10s and Pros with my Falcon they though I was lying!