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Just a heads up, anyone who wants something fast and modern and cheap to bash with, or if you've seen what folks online are doing with these things, the WLToys 144001 is already a screaming deal for less than $80. But at $37 they are practically disposable!

Blue/green for $37: https://www.walmart.com/ip/Wltoys-XKS-144001-RC-Car-1-14-2-4GHz-High-Speed-Buggy-4WD-Racing-Off-Road-Drift-Car-RTR/686765843

Red/white for $40 https://www.walmart.com/ip/Wltoys-XKS-144001-RC-Car-1-14-2-4GHz-High-Speed-Buggy-4WD-Racing-Off-Road-Drift-Car-RTR/522825888

This thing blurs the line between hobby grade and toy grade. It's a hobby-grade design and performance but the materials aren't the best in some places. At this price you won't care. 4WD, 550 motor, bearings, oil shocks 2.4 radio, LiPo power, etc.

Only $2 in taxes and free shipping to boot.

Red costs almost 3x.

Is this like buying an inkjet printer? The buy-in is low, but any/all parts (like ink) are expensive.

Parts are probably gonna be aliexpress. I nabbed one just for giggles.

I've seen several reviews of this model and other WLT vehicles on youtube and I don't recall anything negative.
I think Tomley RC is using one of these for speed runs.
At 37 bucks, how can you go wrong!
If you're looking to get the kidos interested in RC, this could be a no-brainer.

Only real issues:

As expected, the quality of the plastics and hardware is a bit lacking, but I haven't rounded anything off or stripped anything out yet.

The gear diffs are sparingly lubricated but not packed with grease so they tend to eat themselves unless you take them apart and squeeze your favorite lube in there before the first run. Mine had a lot of leftover grease from the over-lubricated ring gears on the outsides of the diff cases so I squeegee'd it off carefully and slathered it back into the insides. Not the cleanest process but it worked. If they grenade now then I guess it was meant to be.

The top deck is thin plastic to there is some chassis flex that affects gear mesh between the pinion gears on center drive shaft and the ring gears on the diffs. A $10 crappy aluminum replacement from eBay fixed that. The Chinese call it the 'top floor' or 'second floor' or something. Search for 'upper chassis' or similar and you won't find anything.

The plastic rod ends and possibly metal pivot balls seem to be all over the place tolerance-wise. They generally work fine but some are a bit snug while a few pop off way too easily. Easy enough to fix with better parts should you care to.

I've not tried to but apparently WLToys superglues the motor mount screws and pinion grub screw making them VERY hard to remove without heat.

Frankentruck wrote: ↑Mon Oct 18, 2021 2:24 pm Is this like buying an inkjet printer? The buy-in is low, but any/all parts (like ink) are expensive.

I am looking at this deal as getting a free parts car when you buy one at normal cost.

One of the reasons I grabbed one is to make towers and an upper chassis, maybe there are enough out there with them that it will be worthwhile

GoMachV wrote: ↑Mon Oct 18, 2021 5:04 pm One of the reasons I grabbed one is to make towers and an upper chassis, maybe there are enough out there with them that it will be worthwhile

Hmm, you may run into trouble since one the towers has a bend in it. It's slight but necessary to allow the design of the gear cases to work on both ends of the car.

And the upper chassis isn't flat unfortunately. It has a dip in it to accept the ESC/receiver combo since there is very little room on these things to put electronics. The aftermarket aluminum ones are actually three pieces that screw together.

I saw some pics, but we have ways of making things work

GoMachV wrote: ↑Mon Oct 18, 2021 6:03 pm I saw some pics, but we have ways of making things work

https://youtu.be/B_O5VW7A0Uw

What the hell, I bought one as well.

As with all RTR's, I figure that it could use a good once-over.

From what I've read, the motor is a 17t 550. I figure that a 21-23t 540 should work nicely, or even a 27t stock motor. I have a few to try.

Bought one too just for the heck of it. Like juicedcoupe, I'll certainly swap out the 550 for a 27T stock or higher turn modified 540.

juicedcoupe wrote: ↑Mon Oct 18, 2021 6:40 pm From what I've read, the motor is a 17t 550. I figure that a 21-23t 540 should work nicely, or even a 27t stock motor. I have a few to try.

I've read somewhere once that it might be a 21t but never a 17t. General consensus is that it's a cheapo 12t. But if true, I admit it's a bit slow for a 12t. Now I'm curious if a 'real' Titan 12t 550 would be a good upgrade.

I have a Dynamite Twin Tazer I was going to put in it with a set of metal gears but the motor can sits right on the chassis so there's no room for the finned Tazer can.