fredswain

iTrader: (1)

The 210 was essentially designed as nothing more than a B4 with a different chassis and gearbox. It was a B4 suspension. The geometry is identical. At least it was. When they decided to make a production car out of it, they couldn't just keep the exact carbon copy so they changed some things. They did gullwing front arms (V1) since Losi was doing gullwing arms. They didn't take into account the difference that upper shock mount points would have to be to maintain the same effective shock geometry though. Associated did think of this and you can see that on the B5 they have different front towers depending on which arms you run, flat or gullwing. Durango didn't take note of the total travel length when their new big bores came out. While the are the same dimensionally as the Associated at full extension, they don't travel in as far. That led to the up travel issues that I've fixed. They also did the mid or rear motor option since Losi was doing it. I do like the gearbox though. That was their design and it is good. The option with one box to go rear or mid in 3 or 4 gear and with the slipper designed in such a way that everything doesn't hang off of one side is great. This also allowed front or rear mounting of the rear shocks on the arms. I'm only a fan of front mounting btw. Keep that weight inside the wheelbase. They came up with the hub insert system that allows you to change toe and caster without replacing entire pieces. That's a great feature that is being copied by others. They didn't do everything bad. Some things are very cool. Unfortunately the suspension geometry issues all go back to the fact that it was someone else's geometry that they copied and then screwed up when they tried to make things unique. I'd personally like to see the entire front of the car chopped off and replaced. Unfortunately this is the same front that the 210F has.

I get that there are features from different manufacturers that are good ideas and worthy of integrating in your own products. That's called design evolution and everyone copies at some point. I like the rear end of the 210F. It has some neat features. I certainly like it better than the B44 rear end based hybrids that convert them to 2wd. I've got complaints about every car in some form or fashion so don't be too put off by my personal opinion. It seems like I'm always attacking Durango because it's their cars that I drive. However it should be noted that it's still their cars that I drive. I won't buy a B5M.