Easiest 4WD Buggy out of the Box

[4times]

I posted this in another forum, but you folks on this side of the water seem to run a wider range of buggies, so I thought I would ask here too.

Interested to hear what 4wd buggies you all found easiest to drive right out of the box.

Any modern 4wd is good with time and tuning...my question is, what do you all think is the easiest and quickest around the track out of the box without a lot of wrenching or tons of set up advice.

Hopefully, this doesn't turn into another parts availability, durability, or "drive what other local drivers are driving" type of discussion.

I remember Car Action did a shoot out where all the cars were equipped with Team Losi Blockheads (silver compound) up front and Team Losi BK Bars (red compound) in the rear. Pros were allowed to take the cars around the track and make final setup adjustments.

At the time, there was no Associated B44, Kyosho ZX5, Tamiya 501, or Hot Bodies D4, but they tested the following:

1. XXX-4 graphite plus (Mike Truhe's)
2. XX-4 W.E. (Travis Amezcua's)
3. X-5 (Greg Hodapp's)
4. Yokomo MR4-BX (Masami's)
5. Durango (Joe Pillars)
6. BJ4 W.E. (Ryan Cavalieri's)

Interesting article, they had 3 different driver's (one novice, and two expert level) drive these factory rides and each gave their opinions....

It's a 10 page article so too much info to include here...but here are some quotes from the article:

a) fastest lap times were recorded with the Durango, XX-4, and XXX-4;

b) the BJ4 and XX-4 were pegged as "most aggressive cars, so they were tougher to drive...had loads of steering...",;

c) the X-5 and Durango were "the easiest to drive,...had very nuetral setups, and neither were overpowered rockets";

d) the two advance drivers "prefer the feel of the Yokomo or XXX-4, they were fast, yet not too much to handle"

It seemed from all the comments (not just those above) that the driver's really liked the XXX-4 and the Yokomo MR-4BX.... as being easy to drive fast and balanced... they all agreed that the BJ4 W.E. was difficult to drive.

Pretty interesting, just wondering what similar experiences you all have with buggies that you just put down (whether a friend's or out of the box) and immediately liked without any real set up headaches or wrenching.

Again, let's leave the parts availability and durability issues to the other 4WD threads.