I started this hobby about a year ago with electric vehicles and now have about 6 decent electric vehicles. So now i'm thinking of trying nitro. However, I know zero about nitro vehicles. Are they a pain to keep running right? What are the benefits of nitro over electric. I have been told that run times are much greater than with electric which is enough to make me want to give it a try. I was thinking about the Savage XL. Any thoughts or opinions on nitro vehicles would be much appreciated.

A nitro engine needs to be tuned to the enviroment. Depending on the temperature and humidity you will have to tune it differently. They are quite easy to tune right out of the box. Once you get them going and tuned thats all you need to do is start them and they will run as long as you have gas. I would recommend a revo 3.3 or Losi XXL because they are very durable and hard to roll. The savage engine is kinda junk.

I dunno, I have a nitro car and a brushless electric and I can tell you what gets a hell of a lot more use. I find nitro a little fiddly, you gotta make sure you have enough fuel handy and glow plug ignition blah blah blah. Plus the idea of a car that can run out of radio range and still have plenty of power to the drive wheels kind of worries me...
I can see how some people get a real kick out nitro, with tuning them and whatnot, but my savage flux gets 30-40 minute run times per recharge and it's a hell of a lot quicker then my nitro touring car.

nitro is fun and fairly easy if you have a good nitro engine and you get the hang of tuning

30-40 minutes? REALLY??? wow. Is this common for the Flux?

It varies alot from run to run depending on what Im doing with it. Im using venom 5000mah 3S x 2. They cost a pretty penny but worth it....

Being mechanically inclined and loving to mod actual cars, I bought a traxxas Stampede 4x4 Brushless for my first RC and it was a quick little truck. But there was something missing for me. I looked more and more into nitro and then finally bought one and never looked back to electric. Now I have a HPI Savage 25 and a Tmaxx 3.3

Elec:
clean
quiet
easy to use
sucks to wait for batteries to charge
have to stock up on batteries to run all day

Nitro:
loud (some hate it some love it)
dirty, but it's an investment so clean it and take care of it
if you get the hang of tuning and have basic knowledge of engine's and tuning in general you won't mind.
nice to know as long as I have fuel and a charged ignighter, I can run alllll day and only have to stop for refill the tank.


Yes in the LONG run electric will be cheaper since you pay up front for LiPo batteries and a charger where nitro you pay ~$30 a gallon. But for me I love knowing I have a mini motor ripping around and it takes SKILL to tune a motor and understand it. Not bashing elec lovers but anyone can plug a battery in and go.

Now, take the baddest Savage X F4.6 vs the Savage Flux....the Flux will run circles aroud the nitro. The instant torque of electric is untouched by nitro.

Depends on what you want. I don't mind, and actually enjoy, going out on a nice night by myself and spending 45 min JUST TUNING the truck. Then I might run it for another 30 min bashing around.

FOR ME really being into cars and performance, I love nitro...sound, smell, rawness of it.

I have a HPI MT2 G3.0 with .18 motor FS that I just broke in 2 weeks ago, practically brand new if interested. It's on the smaller side like a Jato etc. The smaller trucks may be better for your first nitro.

Goodluck!

i have no electric experience, all nitro and baja, but I think people get too hung up on the tuning. I've never had to spend more than 5 minutes tuning for the day. Watch some videos on youtube and read a few articles, and be patient. I don't race so I tend to run everything on the slightly rich side, but there is still plenty of power. Check for smoke on the top end a pinch test the lsn and have fun!!! 90% of the time I can run the car/truck without tuning it from the last time.

Depending on budget, i'd recommend a savage first (not the xl) 25 or 4.6 or the losi xxl.

I agree with you. I think the elec got bored becasue I never went LiPo with the Stampede, but also because it was small. They call it a 1/10th scale, but between a 4x4 Stampede and a Savage 25....it's night and day. The Pede feels like a little kids toy. Now if I got a Savag Flux or something the same size in electric, I don't know if I would have went nitro. I pob would have but kept 1 nitro and 1 elec.

I'm thinking to pick up a elec MT for the winter....I'll get real bored LOL

Losi XXL. The engine is very powerful and user-friendly - much bette than the engine in the Savage XL. Though both trucks are good.

You should also maybe consider a truggy or buggy, depending on where you want to run, what you want to do, etc.. (Associated SC8 might be interesting.. A platform you could convert easily to brushless too if you wanted to... I have one nitro, and it's a good truck.. Lots of people rave about brushless versions..)

I much MUCH prefer nitro.. Electric is like watching an action movie on mute afaic.. I've seen some FAST brushless rigs too - still, I feel no exhileration - not even the exhileration I get from a bone stock RTR MT.. I think with nitro, because of the revving engine, smoke, the aggressive sound, etc.., you feel more in tune with the RC. I know that sounds gay - but I think there's something to it. With an electric, it's just press a button, go, press a button, stop.. Repeat.. Yawn. (no offense to electric folks - just my opinion..)

Get a good, cheap, Taiwanese engine - SH makes tons, including the Losi 454 in the Losi XXL, or the LRP Z28 Spec 3, or Dynamite Big Red 28 and a temp gun, do the heat cycle break-in, which is very easy - and off you go.. It's really not that hard.

electric v/s nitro.

A very interesting debate could take place. But not what you were asking.


Over the years and the kids too.


We found electric easier, but going through battery packs every 2 years was a bummer. But these were basic electric model. not modded out with super cells and super motors.

Plug and go and the kids had fun on land or boats.

same with electric helicopters and planes.

It was much easier for the kids and everyone had fun.

My thoughts on nitro, My kids cant start them, you need more stuff and yes they can be picky, weather, here in illinois, the humidity can cause them to be tweeked a bit more often.

The sound and power seem un matched to electric in my mind. But I have not super modded out electric motors and ect either.

I just know all the electric r/c 4x4 we had, could not go fast in the yard / grass and chewed through a standard battery pack in 10-12 minutes and 4 hours to recharge it. not the higer end recharger or battery packs.

So unless you had 3 or 5 packs, you were waiting for them to charge. and seem from heavy use, we seen 1 year to 1 1/2 years before they were worn out.

but there is the same issues with engine, run them to hot or to lean or push them to hard and you ruin them too.

tuning and break in can be easy or a pain, depending on ones ability and patience.

Sporty

Nitro I think is fun for one thing, the Sound...I've owned 2 Nitro Cars over the years and I'd say it was 50/50. A lot of the times it wouldn't start, or the glow plugs wouldn't ignite or it was to hot and the engine would overheat(which can happen to electric to).

When you watch a video of nitro it's like watching a live game, when you watc a vid of an electric race, you wonder if your volume is muted lol.

When it comes down to it nitro is fun for the sound and smell, but the stink, and tuning and fact it may or may not start is what deters me from ever going back...Plus I get about 20 minutes on my 8ight-e and can pop wheelies all day long which I could never do with my gas mugen mbx xr works buggy.

Maybe buy a ready to run nitro and see if you like it?

I tried nitro and when I bought the thing, the guy in the shop already had me regreting it before I left with the 20 min speech on the 2 million ways you can break the engine. I get it, the sound is cool and smoke and whatnot but I can tell you a savage flux is anything but silent, and the thrill of seeing a car do the things only a brushless electric car can do is great.
Yes it can be annoying charging batteries but modern chargers can do it an hour and the higher capacity packs will see you running a long time between recharges. I still have my nitro but never use it, all it gave me was ringing ears and about 1000 burns from the engine.

I'm new and don't have a lot of experience with RC cars, but I flew gas/nitro planes for a few years before moving to electric. I just started with RC cars and gave the nitro Traxxas T-Maxx a try. It was cool, the sound and everything and it really moves. But, it brought back memories of all the slop, mess and hassle I gave up years. So, I bought a Stampee 4 x 4, added some heat sinks and a fan and an 11.1v 30c 5000mah lipo. There's no comparison in performance. I can't imagine trying to control anything that's faster or has more torque! But, I'm going to try a 1/8 buggy with a Mamba Monster 6200 and 14.8v next anyway.

Haha yeah nitro can give you burns. Just got one ten minutes ago
But as far as tuning goes it depends on the engine. For me I only have to tune it once every month or so. But then again I don't go for performance more just something that runs easy and doesn't stall out or anything. I know that I love the sound of nitro and wouldn't give it up.