Purchasing a Remote Control Car/Truck

This guide will help you decide what type of RC car or truck is best for you.  It includes information on brands, and also the major differences between electric and nitro.

Vehicle Useage
If you are considering purchasing a remote control car, buggy or truck, there are many things that must be considered.  There are many deciding factors.  The first thing to consider is what you are going to use the vehicle for.  Your first step should be to establish your intrest in the hobby.  If you are looking into a vehicle to drive for fun, and not racing or any other competetions, you will want to look at the less expensive vehicles.  If you will be wanting a performance vehicle, the price you will need to get a good vehicle will be higher.  If you are not buying the car for major performance, any brand will work fine.  However, if you are buying for performance, I reccomend Traxxas, Team Associated, (Associated) or Team Losi.  Those provide the best performance, plus are stocked the best in all hobby shops.

Vehicle Types
The next step is to determine the type of vehicle.  There are 3 basic types of RC vehicles.  They are: On road cars, Stadium Trucks, and Monster Trucks.

On Road Cars:
These cars cannot be taken off of the road.  They will not run unless they are on pavement, so if the primary area you have for running these is dirt or other terrain, this is not for you.  On-road cars are the fastest cars built.  They are also the hardest to work on.  Everything is packed in tight into these speed machines.  They are awesome, and have loads of power, but if something breaks, it may become a large project.  These cars are about 16-18 inches long, weighing about 2-4 lbs.  They have about a .25" ground clearace.  The top performers can go up to about 65 MPH. 

Stadium Truck:
I feel unless you have a specific purpose this is the best option.  These are designed to run on road like the cars, yet can still go off road.  These can tackle grass, dirt, mud, and small rocks with ease.  They are still strong performers on the track, also.  They have bigger tires than the on road cars, and are open wheel trucks.  To sum up what they are best is to describe them as half cars, half trucks.  They are essentially low-profile monster trucks.  These still have alot of power, and some of these can go 55+ MPH, depending on the brand, type, and setup. 

Monster Truck:
This type of vehicle is for the serious off-roaders.  They do not handle well on road, because of their height.  However, the height gives serious off road abilites.  Most have 3-4 inches of ground clearance stock.  They can be modified to have wider wheelbases, for stability, and then raised up to 6+ inches, making them extremely powerfull and stable off road.  These are for mud, dirt, grass, woods, rocks, and just about any other terrain you can think of.  These however, because they are geared for low end, and are heavier, the top performers can only go about 40+ MPH. 

Now that you have the type of vehicle decided, the next step is to decide on a power source.  There are 2 power sources nitro, and electric.  Electric is by far the easier, and cheaper option.  Electric provides an easy to maintain, cheap, power source.  All you have to do is plug in the battery and go.  Nitro, however, is a performance engine in the vehicle.  They require extensive care, and time.  They are also more expensive to maintain, and require a technical knowlege.

More On Nitro Engines
I would not reccomend buying a nitro powered car without knowlege about the car.  If in an auction the car is old, or not taken care of properly, you could spend an extra 150 dollars fixing and or replacing the engine.  The engine needs to be oiled often, and needs extensive tuning.  Not having a properly adjusted carberator can make your engine run too hot, or too cool, damaging vital engine parts.  It is also vital that the engine has good compression.  If it doesn't, it will be about a 50ish dollar fix hitting you soon.  Bad compression means that the piston is not fitting snug into the sleeve.  You will loose compression faster if you do not oil the engine, because then there will be more friction in the engine, causing it to wear faster.  If an engine is taken care of properly, it will last for a long time, depending on usage.  Nitro power also allows the cars to go faster, and have better power than electric.  For example, an electric 4Tec will go 25-35 MPH, where as a nitro 4Tec will go 55-65 MPH.  The major disadvantages of nitro are:
They need extensive care
They are loud
They burn fuel, cannot be run indoors
They are more expensive

I still prefer nitro power, because of its advantages.

I hope this provides you with assistance in purchasing your vehicle.