What to buy?

[CertifiedMike]

Let me ask this before I answer...
This is a car for you and your son, correct?
Also a noob?
How old is he?
A car for each may be a fair solution depending on budget.
Also, an important thing to consider and a thing I recommend... do you want to buy a kit or RTR?
Kits are great because you KNOW your buggy when it does simething funky. No mystery. I'm also a mechanic and I really love being able to wrench on my rigs.
You can pick your own gear to install and not buy 'smart' packages or other 'just ok' electronics.
You're almost def going to replace servos in any rtr too. Kits win again.
RTR isn't terrible. R/C cars generally aren't any big mystery to work on.
I recommend monster trucks for beginners because they are a bit slower and can run over the things that you would have crashed into with a buggy. A bit more forgiving generally.
Arrma Gorgon is a great beginner truck. It can be slowed to 50% throttke out of the box and is fun as heck to drive.
At full throttle, box stock with 2200 lipo it does wheelies and is a bombproof blast!!! They are CHEAP!!!!
You can buy one as rtr and 1 as kit too.
They are a perfect budget beginner option.
Tekno is prob the best kit you can buy out there if your budget is a bit bigger.
Rival MT10 is another popular one I feel good about recommending if you go this route.
Good luck!!!

 

[Alwaysonauto]

I'll show you what this Grandpa bought on his limited budget.
My son let me try his Haibox truck out on his driveway and it was a kick to drive so I decided to get one of my own to race him with and his twin boys.
I had it off the grass of the backyard yesterday for the first time. I got the brushless motor one as I didn't want to find myself upgrading because it was 'slow'. No problem in that regard, trust me.
My son then said he found another truck that was a better handling truck than the 'box. It leaned into the turns more like a 'real' truck. That would be the ARRMA Mojave. I trusted his judgement again and bought a brushless version of that too. It does handle better, but that's because of the 'nannies' the controller has (GYRO). It is wicked fast on a 3s battery. I tried it on our newly repaved city street last week. I ran it yesterday afternoon along with the 'box.
It does handle better and the gyro was noticeable to this rookie driver. Both trucks took a beating and came back for more. The Mohave is tougher IMO simply because it's reinforced underneath. I'm looking forward to becoming a better driver this coming year as the track will be available to me pretty much as often as I want to use it I think.

Granted I have very limited use of either of these trucks but I think I can recommend them based on my experience so far.

 

[Doom!]

Mojave is a great truck! I have the 6s and it is seriously tough.

 

[Austin1ne]

My son recommended the

ARRMA RC Truck KRATON 4X4 8S BLX 1/5 Speed Monster Truck Black, RTR. I think this is a bit pricey to start out with. So do I just bite the bullet or go with something more reasonable in price. Like a Traxxas​

It is a nice car

 

[MrBeanCar]

I too have this question. First, the terrain: in the park there is a knoll which is covered with exposed tree roots, perfect for a crawler. The slope up to that area is pretty steep, and it is surrounded by a large, flat, grassy area.
I have a 1/12 FMS Landrover, and it is close to perfect for going over the roots. But, it's too slow for the other stuff. I also have a 1/10 Traxxas Rustler, 2wd. It is perfect for the other stuff, but really can't handle the roots. Mostly due to 2wd but also as it's a bit low.
What I would like is something that can handle both, ie, a hybrid between true crawler and the Rustler, whatever that class is

 

[RetroThutmose]

200 acre farm. Snow, sand, grass. I have it all.

Go big.

 

[Rc is Expensive.]

Kraton 6s or Notorious 6s. or the 4s versions. Traxxas Maxx is also great