I invested in my first Nitro car I think about 4 years ago. It was a virtual copy of the Exceed and redcat 1/10th scale. (it was 230 dollars) It's a D&A 8860, I drove the !@#$ out of that little buggy and I thought nothing could beat it! Until I had my first big wreck into a curb. I demolished the entire front end of the buggy. Had I had an HPI, Traxxas or Associated (what my HS stocks) I could have been up and running within the end of the day because they have at least 5 of every part to every car in stock. However, nothing for my cheaply made Chinese buggy (which I still thought was amazing). I went online to find the parts I needed, and presto! OUT OF BUSINESS!!! It took me two months to scavenge the parts from ebay, RCX and what I could fit from my HS. After I fixed it up and got in running again, what do you know! The pull starter snapped on the second day! Nothing at the hobby shop! I had to wait three more weeks for a .18 pull starter from RCX that was back ordered. I got that installed and ran it for a couple of months and then, my fuel tank cracked! (poor gluing!) two more weeks! Finally I had enough, and bought a Kyosho 2.0 DBX, another copy of the popular 1/10th scale buggy just much better made and parts were readily available at my HS (in small quantities) All in all, save your money, buy a Traxxas or some reliable reputable company that wont go anywhere anytime soon! Believe me! You have no idea how much easier and painless it is to work on a traxxas or an Hpi, because you can take it down to the HS and get parts right there! You can even ask them the best way to go about replacing it too and they should be happy to tell you! Overall, if you break a part or loose it, you can be up and running again within the day (depends when you need it). For example, I just crashed my Jato today at 7 EST, I threw it in the car and drove to the HS, I was in and out in 10 minutes (plus 10 minutes or so conversing with them), I took it home, took it apart and in 2 hours, I was ready to run again! As compared to Exceed, where you will talking to some deadbeat customer service rep on chat, and he is completely clueless as to what you need, after struggling to find what you need, you may find that the part is out of stock or on backorder, if your lucky, it is in stock, you finally order it, a day or two later you receive an order confirmation via email, 5-7 days later you finally receive the part, you now have to disassemble a car that may require special tools, or some screws or bolts may be so tight you cannot undo them without stripping them. Finally you are ready to go. about 9 or 10 days after I have made my trip to the hobby shop and have been running strong ever since, while you sit an look at your car that wont move! As you can see I have had quite a bit of experience with cheaply made RC products, and its frustrating! I know! It may be twice as expensize, however twice as fun, and may even in the long run be cheaper as you continue to order more and more parts and pay for ridiculous shipping charges, and you may even go through 3 or 4 of those cars before my Traxxas or HPI is finally starting to show some weaknesses and is almost ready for retirement. I still have my little D&A 8860 (a copy of redcat and exceed) its a hell of a time to drive and it brings back memories, but I guarantee you, everything on that buggy has been replaced at least once besides the chassis plate and the engine. So please I beg you! DO NOT ORDER FROM EXCEED OR REDCAT!
