Thinking about getting back into the RC world. I'd be looking for a dune buggy type RC car that can go on & off road. Looking for something fast, no slow $40 stuff from Target.
Just for recreation, not trying to do competitions.

What are the go to cars that fit the bill and don't cost a fortune? I'm not trying to dump a bunch of money into this. I do that with my real cars

Define fortune.

Some of the stuff like Arrma and Axial aren't crazy.

https://www.towerhobbies.com/

https://www.amainhobbies.com/

You just linked hobby sites, not an actual car.

I'd go with either the brushed or brushless version of a Traxxas Bandit. Come in different styles and colors. A grip of parts support that arent expensive and easy to work on. They take abuse very well too.

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if you want to bash around off road I cannot recommend the losi tenacity enough. its a great off roader. its basically a 1/8 scale 4wd race buggy setup as a 1/10's scale dune buggy basher.

Watch FB marketplace or the like, there is always deals popping up.

Get an XMAXX

How does the Bandit handle grass?

Most 1/10 scale buggies aren't meant for grass really. If it's super short then it would be ok but you'll run the motor hot trying to get em through longer grass. You'd want a monster truck with 3 inch wheels or 1/8th scale.

Looks like they are out then :(

I'd be looking at an 1/8 Kraton or maybe, maybe a 1/10 Kraton.

I have Rustlers, three of them, and even their size isn't great for the grass. The tires are a bit too small, but the Kraton has larger tires.

The E-Revo would also work well.

I'd personally stick with Traxxas or Arrma if you aren't racing. They are built a little tougher and have much better LHS support.

Traxxas anything if you want durable and servicable.  My kid beats the living hell out of his MAXX and it just takes it.  I run with him with either my Rustler or Xmaxx.   Ive owned Armma stuff. too much metal, that tends to bend on heavy impacts

I have an embarrassing amount of RC stuff and have had everything from Traxxas. Trust me, buy an XMAXX.

Yea its expensive, but it all is. You're just gonna buy smaller scale and waste money on upgrades.

You can debate the XMAXX servo, but otherwise it needs nothing to be totally awesome. Always a crowd favorite and does it all in any environment.

I have 1 that is completely modded with all the M2C racing stuff and huge motor/esc. 1 that is bone stock, its ran by kids...ramp jumps....wrecked a million times....still runs perfect for a couple years now and I bought it used.  

Bought one for $800 that already had batts, mods, charger etc. Bought the bone stock one for $500 on FB marketplace. Well worth at that! I see them for sale used locally all the time for decent prices. You gonna wreck it anyway

I hate Traxxas for their battery connector BS, but parts support is solid.  I have a Stampede that is 20 years old and still has parts support.

I also have a brushless Stampede that is stupid amounts of fun.  Runs fine on grass, I am going to gear it down a bit as it is just too fast on anything smooth.

I don't mind the proprietary nature of some brands. Traxxas makes the charging aspect simpler and less fragile wires are there to be damaged. Not having to deal with balance boards, etc is convenient. The IC5 connector introduced by Spektrum is no different and their battery tech is fascinating.

It's easy enough to buy adapters if you insist on using a different charger and even easier to convert a vehicle that you don't want to use Traxxas batteries in.

I have a hard time recommending Traxxas for much of anything these days due to their lawsuit against Armma.  They sued Armma for the suspension design in the Armma Nero.  The Traxxas Revo & the Armma Nero both used inboard shock designs coming from IndyCar racing designs.  Traxxas managed to get a patent on the use of this design in RC cars and then sued Armma for it causing their bankruptcy. (This is all my layman understanding of it, someone correct me if I'm wrong)

Redcat Racing has less expensive stuff than Armma, but LHS is usually worse.

Look at the Armma Granite or Vortex in 4x2, 4x4, brushed or brushless flavors depending on your budget.  Their both similar size and capability, the Granite is a Monster Truck format, and the Vortex is a Stadium Truck format, but both are very similar in size, MT has a little better center clearance .

IC5 is backwards compatible with EC5 connectors I think.

I cut them all off and run XT60 or XT90 on stuff so I don't have to worry about what battery has what for what car.

There is zero need for proprietary connectors, it is just dumb.  Then Traxxas sued a number of people for making adaptors for their overpriced connectors.

Traxxas has sued a number of companies over the years.  I don't care if they want to sue another idiot company like HK, then they sued a number of smaller companies making components to fix issues with OEM parts.

Traxxas has always made good stuff, but they went full retard.

I used to do quite a bit of RC cars/trucks. If you really want to enjoy it, first stay away from the big box store versions. Nearly impossible to get parts for. What's your budget? What type of terrain are you able to drive on? Do you like electric or gas?

No different than Trijicon, yet we seem to worship at the alter of the red triangle.

I don't see any open sourced connector providing the convenience that Traxxas is able to provide.

To charge my 2S helicopter battery, I have to plug it into an adapter that splits out balance leads. I then have to plug one end of that adapter into a balance board. I plug the other end into another adapter to convert it from a mini connector to an XT60 that my charger will accept. Then I plug the balance board into the charger.

That is five connections, instead of one. FIVE. That's idiotic. Even a "simple" battery to charge is three: battery into charger, battery into balance board, balance board into charger.

Why not just, you know, integrate that into a single connector? Two companies have done it and frankly arguing that the connector is pricey is kinda silly since it's way cheaper than balance boards, and since when has any convenience item been cheap?

To each their own I guess. I plan on converting over to IC5 connectors in the next year. Spektrum batteries don't need to be discharged to storage voltage and that's another convenience I'm willing to pay extra for.

You probably want a basher buggy if you’re gonna do it recreationally. I have an older Team Associated B6.4 and it’s great but it’s fragile as it’s a race buggy. Check the username though and imagine all the parts I’ve had to buy.

My arrma has been light-years ahead of any of my Traxxas trucks for durability.

I've had slashes, slayers, rustlers, erevos, maxx trucks and my arrma Mojave 6s is a beast. I beat the crap out of it and I've had a servo die and a screw pop out of a lower arm. Arrma warrantied both. My neighbors sledge is constantly broken. The arrma runs circles around it for durability. We broke both arms on the front right, the battery tray latches, ejected the batteries which are now trash, I have to fix the wiring on the ECM since that was damaged by the batteries ejecting and a blow up shock with bent rod. That was from hitting a 18" tall jump and landing slightly wonky in gravel. Same jump at a higher speed with my arrma going full lawn dart and doing the nitro circus barrel rolls is fine. Did that a dozen times or so before the battery was flat. Also hit the tire of a travel trailer at WOT that day. Arrma is fine. The Mojave 6s is serious durable.

I used to blow up diffs in my E-Revo every time I took it out. Broke the chassis in half 3 times. Broke almost every part in a slash. Even broke the chassis in half. My slayer is an eslayer and was my SCT race truck. Was a pro model wide wheelbase until I broke all of the arms on a bad landing on the track. All I had was narrow arms so it's that now. Rustler, lots of broken arms, one broken chassis. Maxx, broken arms and diffs all the time. Even my Axial Yeti has held up better than Traxxas!

I'm looking to sell off most of my remaining Traxxas stuff. Just constantly broken.

I run the OLD Traxxas plugs back when those and deans were king. I might go EC5 eventually.

Half grass half asphalt. Looking for 4x4 electric

This was my first hobby grade thing. The older version anyways. I loved the thing.

If you like gas powered stuff, look at rovan.
1/5 scale baja 5b, and runs off of what is pretty much a chainsaw engine.

Parts all over the place, even amazon.

Iirc i paid like $430 shipped for mine several years back.
I have been fully enjoying it, beating on it relentlessly.

Uses a walbro carb, so that's also easy to deal with.

Also compatible with the old and new HPI baja 5b parts, places like daves rc shop carry the higher end stuff.

Only downside is it's stupid loud, or maybe it's an upside?!

A lot of it has to do with driving style and ability. You sound like you really send your stuff.

They all have their good and bad