Don't forget the gear diffs are due any time for the k1

B44 has really good value spares when compared against other cars in your list...

Front wishbones, since they are a common spare:
B44 - £5.89
Cat - £8.50
DEX410 - £7.49
FS2 - £8.98*

*FS2 price taken from a well known shop whereas the others were from the Manufacturer's RRP.

But aint the b44 ones alot more breakable??

Not in my experience.

To be honest I don't think you will find a bad car.

Apart from the K1 I have had them all. (Well, a B44.1)

From what I have seen, the K1 looks nice quality. Probably the only Scumacher buggy I'd think about going for.

XB4 is brand new so has some teething issues which is going to happen but it's great quality. Was a great build and handles great. As someone said earlier, it doesn't need anything in the way of hop-ups.

Durango is a great car and pretty bulletproof. There are some bits and bobs that need upgrading to ensure no breakages. And at £280 it's great value.

Kyosho Lazer is superb. £380 is a lot for a plastic kit but its solid and the quality is second to none. Parts are expensive too but I doubt you'll need that much.

AE B44.1/2 out the box are spot on. Great handling and parts are cheap and readily available. There are some parts that may need replacing early on tho. You can pick up second ones at good prices too.

Another car you could look at is the Yokomo B-max4. Quite expensive (around £350 I think) but again it's superb quality and rock solid. I have two of them and they are great handling cars and easy to drive. MB Models are doing spares etc for them too now.

Hope this helps a bit.

Dave

Lol, depends on how much u crash i suppose, thought they were soft as butter, schumacher ones tough as old boots

Only broke 1 in 3 years with the 44.
Did about 1000 shock shafts though...

No idea on schumachers, never owned or driven one.

One thing that you have to think off is how the different cars drive and what ones will suit your style. Any chane you could have a quick go on some team mates cars to see they drive?

I have a K1 and it seems to be neutral and balanced to drive whilst still being responsive, more so than the SX3. The kit is high quality and the build easy. Belts and ball diffs can take more maintenance though.

The Durango is a tough cookie, once hopped up. Can be a bit of a pain to work on though as it's all a bit crammed in, changing a steering servo takes some work. The Durango seems to need an aggressive driving style and has quite a lot of front grip and I always seemed to struggle to get the balance right between front and rear grip. The poor support and lack of spares seems to be getting better though.

The Kyosho looks a good car, a bit expensive though. Seems to go well and apparently easy to drive, seen many break plastic parts though like front shock towers etc.

The XB4 looks like a real good quality kit and it seems that XRay are determined to get the bugs fixed. It's a new car and range for them so it was likely that there were issues, but their response has been excellent.
From what I'm told the car is between a Kyosho and a Durango to drive, so should be quite nimble. The car seems to generate lots of grip. RCDisco also seem to be getting quite a few team drivers so help should be on hand for set up etc at most tracks.

Not really seen many B44 cars, don't seem to be that popular in the south. Never seen a B Max4 so can't comment, but again looks like good quality.

At my local track the popular cars this year seems to be the K1 and the XB4, with more than a few Durango's and Kyoshos as well.

Hope this helps a bit, but I think most are well built just will drive differently and I think this should be one of you main decision points.

Yes I know they are shaft drive, I was just using that as an example of the price of general xray spares as I buy belts for my t3 and nt1, the xb4 spares will most likely also be very expensive.

I found the rod ends on the v3 to be very robust, never even had a pop off, I heard the earlier cars had a lot of issues, as for the selling it's soul, maybe an exaggeration but let me guess, you have never owned a bj4?. The b44 is a great car but it is no bj4 but then in all practicality it cannot be because associated need to make lot's of $$$$ so they made everything plastic instead of nice blue alloy :thumbdown: there has to be some old Skool boys on here with some love For the bj4 who can back me up?.

Aftermarket parts such as those from exotec have nothing to do with comparing kit price to value ratios and none of the parts you mentioned have any impact on performance whatsoever so have no need to be upgraded? Changing the plastic wheel hexes, spring collar and shock bushings will not make a blind bit of difference, only aesthetically, as for the lipos, the v3 will fit any lipos that conform to brca rules. I feel like you have never owned a dex410? Most that do go all giddy over it like I did:drool:

just to throw another spanner in the works , another vote for durango :p ! ive only been back into offroad for 10months or soo ( done tc for 3yrs , then offroad before that ) and i used to be schumacher thru and thru , sx sx2 sx3 and then bought the k1 when it first came out , at first i absolutly loved it .

then decided to sell my sx3 , and bought a durango 410r just for something different and a spare car etc .. ended up using ther durango the following week as the k1 felt a bit edgy , put the 410 on the track without a practice , and straight away first race pulled in an extra lap !!

soo that was it , i sold the k1 and bought a 2010spec durango 410 , oh and sunday just gone , i pulled another lap !!:woot: ..

i absolutly love my , 410 , soo much that i'm selling my sv2 , and have bought a durango 210 in its place ..

and one last thing , people say that durango bits are exspensive ?!? , theyre talking b*&+#x (on par with schumacher bits ), and you dont need the bling , its only bling !!

actually those after market parts have a lot to do with comparing kit prices

because you want to compare what your getting in the kit for the money that your spending

I have owned a Durango 410r and despite my love for my 210 I didnt like the 410 much at all.
as somebody new to 4wd I found it was far too cramped for getting electrics in and just generally had a bad experience with the car.

That doesnt mean its a bad car just dont think its for me

[QUOTE=AfroP;748382]actually those after market parts have a lot to do with comparing kit prices

because you want to compare what your getting in the kit for the money that your spending

Wtf? You don't get any aftermarket parts when you buy a new kit so it has nothing to do with the value of the kit. We will have to agree to disagree .