I don't see many Tamiya reviews here on road cars so I guess I better be the trailblazer.

I bought this Off-Road 1/10 scale just a couple of months back, and was pretty pleased with it. The detail on the body is very scale and looks amazing! It would seriously be worth the money just as a display piece!

Out of the box, it runs very well and handles most RC terrains with ease; but will not perform any better than it does on cement road. It comes very stock with the 540J motor, TEU-101BK ESC and Futaba radio.

But on my first run, after some driving through some grass and road, a couple of screws came loose off the suspension set-up and were lost. My brother's TL-01 (which is a Rally car) is made very solid and even after a couple of crashes hasn't lost any screws so I was surprised I lost some on my maiden run.

I ordered replacement Tamiya parts from HobbyCo in Sydney (all the guys that work in this store in the RC department are absolute douchebags btw) and confirmed that it would take over a month for these spares to arrive. While I waited for the screws to come in, I installed some Yeah Racing dampers and it ran... ok. I had to do some mods to make them fit right and after a night's worth of work they all ran ok.

The DF-01 is geared very high so on a steep incline the car will make a solid climb at speed and manage through short grass. The extra large wheels and soft tyres are pretty useful too.

So a couple months down the track I wouldn't recommend anyone to buy any package based on the DF-01. The reason being that (i) the wheel base is unusually large (>270mm) making finding an after market body difficult: you'll have to get a standard 200m body and make a lot of mods to the wheelbase to make them fit. (ii) My particular DF-01 had suspension parts breaking often and losing screws so it is particularly high upkeep... this may just be one dodgy car but it's an XB, not a standard RTR. (iii) This car does not perform well at off road, and is mediocre at on road. Even though Tamiya markets this as an off road car any buggy or Traxxas will run circles around it.

But if you're after a beginners RC car that's pretty simple and cheap (this model was just discontinued and there's plenty around on sale) maybe this is the one for you. You can always scrap the Chassis and recycle the electronics and wheels.

I found a bunch of videos on YouTube that show this RC in action. Like I said in my post, nothing special. If you want an off roader, get a Traxxas.

that it can't run offroad very well doesn't shock me. the real car is meant for onroad and dirt roads. rally. that rc one is more than likely made just for rally surfaces. dirt and onroad.

Originally Posted by jettrooper02

that it can't run offroad very well doesn't shock me. the real car is meant for onroad and dirt roads. rally. that rc one is more than likely made just for rally surfaces. dirt and onroad.

I tried it on a hard dirt road the other day and it doesn't do that surface well. Got smoked by buggies that cost 1/2 the price. Also being pretty tall I had plenty of rolls which was exciting if anything.

Great wheels my man!