FTX Edge & Vantage Cars
 

Are they just for bashing/beginners or is there any racing credentials to be found in such cheap cars?

The Vantage seems to share some DNA with the LRP Blast BX, with a few revisions and improvements. They certainly look ok for club level.

There are a few of these now available, especially 2wd ie, FTX as mentioned, Electrix Boost & now the LRP S10 Twister, all quite similar it seems (eg, all have slippers for example) Only the FTX has turnbuckles, (also has Bottom loading battery) I think the FTX is the only RTR which comes in brushless flavour too.

The Edge has recently been reviewed in a recent (latest) Radio Race Car, they seemed to like it.

Same old problem though, they're good as an introduction to racing but some will argue that your money is better spent on a 'proper' competition based secondhand set up (as well as maybe better availability of spares) if you're looking ahead to when you become quicker/more competitive etc.

A mate of mine started racing with a FTX Vantage he found that he had problems with drive shafts snapping which seemed to be caused by being brittle, the servo saver kept breaking where the big E-clip sits as the plastic was too soft and im sure the wheels kept braking, there might have been more wrong with it but in the end he kept the electrics and sold it as a rolling chassis and bought a 2nd hand B44................

That was my main question, how competitive can they be for a low cost kit, never mind being rtr for that price. Their are quite a few upgrade parts for them, I assume their is no sponsored drivers...

A mate of mines has the LRP blast and it won't make 5 mins before self destructing the steering system.

Unless i was on a seriously tight budget (if it was so tight i may not be racing anyway tbh) & you want to buy new you could do worse than buying an Ansmann Mad Rat RTR, this will get you going, cheaply, better spares availability & upgrades than the others plus it's 2.4Ghz. Looking at the other makes, either they're not 2.4Ghz, not adjustable suspension or wheels not a common fitment (ie, FTX) etc etc.

That's what i would buy for a start in racing if buying new. I would have suggested the brushless RTR but i think i'd be upgrading even the brushless further so may as well get yourself started for peanuts then go for a better ESC, 7.5/8.5T motor later on.

Dan.

I would have to say you can't much wrong than an Ansmann Mad Rat (rear motor) or better still the Mad Monkey (mid motor) - my first car was a 2nd B44 and it was a good intro into RC.

From what I have seen of the FTX cars (and it isn't much) they look too much like toys rather than something that can be tuned and raced even at club level.

I have an FTX Carnage which is basically the same chassis as the Vantage and I Love the thing. I've bashed it around a bit and only had one minor breakage which was the front bumper.

It's very tune-able and has a large selection of option parts available including alloy hubs etc, carbon fiber shock towers and chassis brace and many other hop-ups.

The overall design is also very good, better then my LRP Blast. The way the chassis and diff assemblies work together is excellent and allows for quick servicing.

In summery I've not had many issues at all with my Carnage and I find it great value and great fun. I am considering getting the Vantage to replace my LRP Blast for club racing due to how much better the car design is.

I'd certainly not class the Vantage and Carnage as toy grade, they are hobby grade for sure.

One day I might get a £300 pro car (I always buy new) but with my current skill level I'm happy with my LRP Blast for 4wd.

I've no idea what the Edge is like...but has many has said here the Ansmann Mad/X-pro's are excellent for 2wd. I have a brushed one that I love to drive :D. The only thing I hate about the Ansmann's is the thin skinny design of everything and the thrust bearing...I hate Thrust bearings so the Edge is actually quite attractive to me as it's diff is not based on a thrust bearing :)

J

The car comes with gear diffs and big bores but from the manual the gear diffs look like the pre-ball diff style and don't seem to be sealed for filling up with oil like modern day gear diffs. Just going from the pictures but their interpretation of big bores look like standard size shocks?

I'm not looking at one of these for an RTR to get me started, I'm a well seasoned racer. I was just wanting to know if a kit at this price bracket can compete with anything considered to be a real off roader on the track.

I started with a Vantage and I had nothing but problems with it, drive shaft bent, spurs would strip at a glance of a pinion even when new out of box, and teh plastic was very low quality from what i could see broke at a moments notice and as soon as I moved it from brushed to brushless (was only a 9t etronix system) it tore itself apart.

Strange,i have a vantage with a 5.5t combo in it and have had no issues whats so ever,great car and handles really well.....

Lrp blast, we have 2 that my son and myself run, we have changed the standard radio gear,both have brushless in them and rearlly had no problems with them apart from steering blocks stripping threads on my sons car(soon modified with brass inserts) but they are like anything else, treat them correctly and they will be as reliable as any thing else plus you can get carbon shock towers for them and on the LRP part of the forum there is even a guy that runs a carbon chassis which he had made at a reasonable price.:D

Update...

I've taken my Carnage around a couple of tracks now and not just bashing and it's excellent!

Could do with the anti-roll bars but it's brilliant fun and has exceptional handling for such a brute of a vehicle. I do have a slightly leaking front shock but that's it.

I was thrashing around the 1:8th scale dirt track and the Grass track at NBC last weekend and it was great... It was keeping up with and competing with a few buggies with ease :)

I'm deffo getting a Vantage for the summer and I'm pretty sure I'll get an Edge soon too. Will even race the Edge instead of my precious Ansmann X-Pro when I get one.

J

Yes,,i have been racing my vantage,,and have to say has held up really well...not sure id go quicker with a £300 car!?......these really are good value for money..FTX vantage championship anyone!!!!??????:)

I reviewed the Edge for RRCi magazine and it is a very good car for the price. Everyone will have their own opinion but it compares well to the Mad Rat (my daughter races one of those).

Some people I race with swear by second hand, others only go for new - it's a personal thing. But I'd definitely say it's not a toy and other club members who've had a go have all been impressed. It needs a faster steering servo but then all RTRs do.

It's just a question of spares - not something I've investigated so far. It's generally far easier to get hold of parts for cars like a B44 than certain others.

hi

i am stephane from france, and i can see than you arre usinf ftx carnage.

I get lrp balst TX, and i'm looking for parts.
Then do you kno witch kind of part are compatible???

I took some picture of my chassis for exemple, could you have a look with your ftx if hole in the chassis are same place??

then my last picture.

any way if you are able to help me thanks a lot.

cordially

steph 996

For what they are they are super quick and n ideal starter car :D

My son bought the ftx vantage to get him in to racing and so far its working fine, he is starting to improve and when he brakes it it is cheap to repair. Great car to start with at a fraction of the cost of others

I race one,and apsrt from changing out the front CVDs to dog bones(the cvds can break) the car has been bullet proof...in fact my spare vantage is in the for sale section as i havnt needed it!!!!

It won't be, at all BUT it will be a starter car.

What do you want, budget starter car or somethnig comptitive?

Complete different area's.

Thought i would add my experiences.

Bought a brushed vantage probably about 5-6 months ago. I bought it for my 5 year old son, to start racing with.

Overall it has been excellent value for money. It was perfect for him to get going and importantly not too much of an outlay if he got bored after a couple of weeks.

Couple of things to bear in mind if thinking about buying to race. You only get a slow charger with the car, so you will need to budget for a basic fast charger. Also you will beed another battery, but tgese are pretty cheap too, about £15'ish for a 3000mAh pack. Other than that you are ready to go.

As he has improved a lot and still loves going. In terms of upgrades, i have done a few things, more recently as he gets better and better. I have put my spare servo in as its a bit quicker than the standard one. Recently i put in a new esc and uprated brushed motor, still quite cheap stuff.

Probably the most impressive thing has been its robustness. After a few months of racing most weeks (indoor on carpet) we have replaced one prop shaft that bent, £2.90, 2 bent shock shafts, £9 for a pair of ready built shocks and springs.

I have thought about at what point i might upgrade him to a more comoetition based car, but to be honest his ability has not exceeded the car yet. I also think i would probaly be paying out more in spares through breakages.

Anyway if anyone has any questions, let me know.

I am giving some serious thought to getting back into the hobby after what is now approaching 25 years away, to be honest I am torn between getting something second hand from a name I remember from back in the day, Associated, Schumacher, Kyosho etc or going down the cheaper initial outlay route, FTX. Basically my concern would be availability of spares. I am under no illusions as to what to expect, two decades out is a long long time so I would put myself firmly in the club racer group, but if I start to improve then maybe shoving a few hop ups on and some better radio gear etc is the way to go, or is this just a false economy? after all the top end boys in any club throw quite a lot of money at it and I am coming in completely from scratch. Thank you in advance for any advice, Chris. :) PS, I would be going the 4wd route.

Feel free to ignore my advice, but I have been in a similar boat.

I raced cars as a teenager and did ok, Club B/A final. Came back to sport 2/3 years ago and actuaooy got a 1/8 nitro buggy (as i always wanted one aswithid). Bought Losi 8 (decent competition buggy) second hand pkus most of the gear. Didn't want to buy new in case i didn't stick at it. It was a good decision and all wentvwell.

Got rid of the 1/8 and swapped it for a secind hand Team Associated b44. Main reason for swapping was so I could go racing with my little boy. I got him the FTX Vantage rtr and its been amazing value, had no problem with parts, thay are readily available online and very cheap, much cheaper than the B44.

Having said that, if you reasonably competant then I would recommend you spend some more money and get a second hand race set up. The vantage is perfect for a novice or young driver, but if you are half decent and buy the best value brushed version it won't be long before you will replace the servo, motor and esc.

The brushless set up is better, but if you are at that price then if it were me i would get the team durango dex 210 rtr, which is selling for £169 at the mo.

Anyway I've bored you enough. Give me a shout if you have any questions

Hi Chris,

I'm basically a noob but I got a brushless vantage for Christmas and that's what has gotten me into racing, don't get me wrong its a decent car, however some parts do have a tenability to break quite easily, like gearbox casing and the front chassis plate, which is highly annoying as its a farce to repair,

It will go round a track quite well, definitely need sway bars, they make a huge improvement and some better tires as the stock ones are solely for bashing,

so on the face of it the brushless setup looks pretty good value for money, but I will list some things I have noticed,
the charger is pants, takes like 6 hours to charge the standard 2700mAh battery,
the 2.4 system is fine, but very basic, (if you are getting more into club racing you'd be looking to update this anyway)
the steering servo needs updating instantly if you are to compete with it,
brushless system is unsensored (if you've driven a sensored system its highly unlikely you will ever go back to sensor-less)

since then I have bought a tlr 22, I know it is 2wd, but the thing is undestructable, the only thing I have broken is a rear wing, and that was because I spent more time on it than the wheels for a practice session.

I would argue that if you are getting back into it, you are better off to get yourself a buggy that can stand up to a proper beating (as I race 2wd now I dont have much knowledge of the strongest 4wd buggies) , with some semi decent electronics (just turned down to start with) and go from there, instead of buying the brushless vantage because I'm pretty sure you will grow out of it quite quickly.

there have been some pretty good deals in the forsale section which included literally everything you would need charger ect, and for the slightly extra money you get a much better car, much better electronics and many spares and tyres than you do witha new vantage

just my 2 pence

Thanks guys, appreciate the advice and think I will probably go the second hand route. :)

Just out of curiosity, is the Vantage Pro worth looking at? Does anyone here run one or know what they go like at club level? Many thanks, Chris. :)

Hobbyking has it too...

http://www.hobbyking.com/hobbyking/s...uggy_KIT_.html

only the dish rims rubs against the hubs.( alu hex upgrade??)

Big bore shocks have mucho droop..( spacers )

But alot of fun for the value!!!:thumbsup:

I saw the ad in RCCI and took a look at their website also. It does look good on pics but I can't say I have ever seen one in the flesh.

Hang on, forgive me for being daft here but are the Vantage and the Vandal one and the same then?

Anyone know if the losi big bore springs fit on the Vantage shocks??

This is completely correct. .
I bought the vantage buggy off eBay for 99 quid or something about 2 years ago now on an impulse buy..complete with 2.4ght controller etc. My local 1/8th nitro buggy race track closed down.. so I wanted something neighbourhood friendly ..so i went electric for the 1st time ever.
My opinion on the vantage is that it is an excellent introductory car to any budding rc enthusiast. ..It's strong. .easy to fix and a seriously good introduction car ....It handles well and is easily upgradable when the drivers skills requires it ..upgrade the brushed motor. .The speed controller. .The maH batteries. Alloy.hop up parts are cheap aswell..

My verdict is ..

Pro's

This buggy is cheap to buy ..
Cheap to repair
Cheap to upgrade ..better motor. .better esp..faster steering servo + antiroll bars etc..
But don't go brushless with it ..If you need/can handle brushless ..then buy a competitive roller ..or don't even look at this post lol