Which RC Car to Buy: A Guide to Choosing Your First RC Car

Choosing your first RC car can be overwhelming: there are electric and nitro models, on-road and off-road cars, small indoor cars and 1/5 scale giants. The good news is that five questions rule out almost everything. This guide helps you answer them.

1. Where will you drive it?

The terrain decides the type of car:

• Smooth pavement or a track: touring cars and on-road cars, or an RC drift car if you like to slide.
• Parks, dirt, grass and jumps: buggies, short course trucks (like the Traxxas Slash) and RC monster trucks. They’re the most versatile option for beginners.
• Rocks, hills and slow, technical trails: an RC crawler, which puts traction and precision ahead of speed.
• Indoors: small models, in 1/18 or 1/24 scale.

2. Electric or nitro?

• Electric: charge the battery and go. Quiet, with little motor maintenance, and you can run it almost anywhere. It’s the recommended option for beginners.
• Nitro or gas: the sound and smoke of a combustion engine, but you have to tune the carburetor, do the break-in and clean the engine. If that appeals to you, read the guide to nitro and gas RC cars first.

Among electric cars, brushless motors are faster and more efficient than brushed motors. A brushed motor is tamer for learning; compare the two in brushless vs brushed RC motors.

3. Which scale?

• 1/10: the most popular and the best for getting started. A manageable size and a huge number of models and parts.
• 1/8: bigger and more stable, ideal for dirt and jumps, but more expensive.
• 1/12 to 1/24: small and affordable, perfect for indoors or for kids.
• 1/5: giants, usually with a gas engine. They’re impressive, but they need lots of space and a big budget.

You’ll find the actual dimensions of each one in the guide to RC car scales.

4. RTR or kit?

• RTR (Ready-to-Run): arrives assembled, usually with a transmitter and sometimes with a battery and charger. It’s the most convenient option.
• Kit: you build it yourself, part by part. You learn a lot, but you’ll usually need to buy the electronics separately.

If building one tempts you, take a look at RC kit vs RTR and how to build an RC car. Check carefully what’s in the box: many RTR cars don’t include a battery or charger.

5. What budget, and what about parts?

Beyond the price of the car, think about:

• A battery and charger, if they aren’t included. See RC LiPo batteries.
• Parts: crashes break suspension arms, steering knuckles and gears. Choose a brand whose parts are easy to get in the US, such as Traxxas, Tamiya or, at the budget end, WLtoys.
• Basic tools for maintenance: see RC tools.

Toy-grade or hobby-grade

What sets a hobby-grade car apart from a toy is that it can be repaired and upgraded: it has suspension with oil-filled shocks, a separate receiver, ESC and servo, and swappable batteries. Toy-grade cars are cheaper and fine for little kids, but when they break they can rarely be fixed. If you’re looking for a gift for a child, check out RC cars for kids.

Our recommendation for beginners

If none of the above is clear yet, a 1/10 scale electric RTR monster truck or short course truck is the safest choice: it handles almost any terrain, takes a beating and has parts that are easy to find. Once you know the hobby better, you’ll know where to go next: speed, crawling, racing or combustion engines.

To start comparing models, check out 1/10 electric RTR RC cars on Amazon and electric RC monster trucks. And once you have your car, look for RC tracks and clubs near you so you can drive with other hobbyists.

Lost in all the acronyms?