Hello!
I'm relatively new to RC and it's community. when i was younger i had a Nitro powered buggy and i loved it. I was looking to get back into by the end of the year with a nice RC Rally car, but have now idea what to get. I am a Subaru Guy and would love to have a Rally car to go with my real car . I am looking for reliability, AWD, and easy to get replacement parts (my Buggy died because i couldn't get a replacement part). i found two car's in my research, the Kyosho DRX Subaru Impreza One 1 and the Tamiya Subaru Impreza WRX STi - XV-01T. i also noticed the hood scoop is taken out in the rc models are there any reasons why, just curious??

thanks in advance for the help and dealing with my lack of knowledge lol

do you have a hobby shop in your area? consider what they stock for parts or if you have to order online consider pricing on shipping and turn around times.
Have a look through the build manuals for the kits and decide which one seems easier to read and understand and then beat up google which searches on that kit. The cheapest part of getting into this hobby is probably buying the car itself.
try googling-best rc rally car
I'm pretty sure you're going to find a big squid shootout among other relative results

is it better/cheaper to buy a kit or to buy RTR? is there a way to gauge how fast it will run if i buy thing separate? I'm not looking to race, just to have some fun. what other expenses are you referring to when you say "The cheapest part of getting into this hobby is probably buying the car itself."

how much would it take to turn the Nitro RS4 3 Evo+ into a rally car? i mainly just want to raise it and put different tires on it so i car drive it through grass and dirt without scraping and such

I have the electric version of the Kyosho. Solid vehicle. Size is good for most surfaces. Kyosho does have adaptors for using larger 1/8 wheels. Finding parts in the States is limited. But between eBay and AMainHobby I've been able to find parts.
Can't speak for how the nitro would run. Mines around 35-40mph. I've never seen and probably never will see a nitro version.

I would look at the hpi wr8.

I have 2 electric versions. I thought the nitro version had been discontinued. I'd be hesitant till after the new year with Hpi. RipMax is still digging out of the whole the previous owners left. And while RipMax did recently ship out a very large parts order.
With no aftermarket tires that truly fit the vehicle. Hpi is only source. And I know there have been very long delays in tires being available.
It's a very good vehicle. It's small by 1/8 standard. And it's size does limit where it can run.

After digging into some more reaserch I found the Nitro RS4 3 Evo+ which has a subi body. You said wait till next year for hpi. Why is that?

Hpi was just bought out by another company. Right now its a little difficult to get cars and some parts. I'm confident there stick around.!!

I might go with some traxxas cars then get the HPI if they are doing good latter then.

specifically the Traxxas Slayer Pro & Traxxas 55077-1 Jato 3.3

RipMax, the new owners of Hpi, have stated that it will be late December or early 2017 before they fully clean up the mess that Hpi was left in. Won't know what vehicles will stay in the lineup till then.

was HPI a good brand before? they seemed like a decent brand when i was looking at stuff

Yes. I've owned 15 vehicles from them. Almost all very good. The problem were with part support. When they released a new vehicle it took them almost a year to release parts for it. Was just once. Happened with almost every vehicle over past 6 years.

YEH but the HPI cars look so nice compare to other cars. And there fast!!

Agree. Kyosho close with the Subaru body. They are all fast. Thing is to find usable speed. It's great to be able to hit 60mph+. But can't really use it much.

Tamiya xv-01 has a Subaru STI hatchback. The body actually comes with a rear wing and a scoop, albeit a roof scoop, but I have seen people mount it on the hood.

This car is very scale looking.
It is more of an on road car capable of ripping some gravel, rather than say a buggy and rocks. So keep that in mind. It can reach something like 2.5cm (~inch) of ground clearance, if not a little more.

I too wanted a rally car, but in the end, I drive my car on the street 95% of the time. You can really set this thing up like a touring car. Which I learned a lot about suspension and differentials.

Parts for Tamiya are limited, but I think better availability than Kyosho. I try as much as possible to order form local-US, but sometimes ordering from overseas is needed for some parts/upgrades.

Nitro would be fun. But I think loud and messy for my neighborhood/workspace. I considered the HPI cars, but like all the other people have said, HPI as a company is still around, but very much in flux when it comes to support for their vehicles.

My pick was the xv-01, for scale, Touring car setup, and vast body selection (190mm/200mm) Tamiya and HPI bodies.

For all out ruckus, maybe the HPI and Kyoshos. They are more the size of short course trucks.