Originally Posted by
performula
Buying used isn’t always what it’s cracked up to be. The car is built and you’ll probably just add electronics and go - never really going over the car. Unless you see the car/truck with your eyes people do not give an accurate description of what they’re selling. What you think is a 7 on a scale 1-10 someone else might rate a 9. You might not get everything that was in the kit - servo horns, tools (cheap or not it gets you going), optional rear ends (XRay), etc. These little nuances add up with traffic to the LHS, waiting on multiple online orders (shipping adds up), and so on.
Unless it’s the original owner, and/or you can see it, or it’s a superb deal - I would pass on preowned. You might be inheriting someone else’s headache. The XQ2S with sway bars costs $172.98 + tax whereas a used Xray is $350 + for a hobby or scale you might not stick to.
You may have to replace a few things, but it's still cheaper than a new XRAY and you still end up with an XRAY. As for the car being built, so what? I strip the cars down and rebuild them when I buy them. If you might not stick to it, it's even more of a reason to buy used as the depreciation has already hit. A $350 used T4 is still worth $350 if you decide you don't want to run it. How much is a XQ2S worth used?