What’s the ideal battery for this car? Lipo 2S 70C? This is my first car RC (but have a few multirotors) so I don’t know much about the hobby yet.
Erik D.”
Cubby- Yo yo to the yo Erik, you have officially made the front page of BigSquidRC, hit Brian up for a killer sticker pack.
What is the ideal battery for the Carisma Porsche 959? On the low end of the spectrum I would say its a pack that meets your runtime requirements and has enough current that the brushless system doesn’t cog. On the upper end of the spectrum, it would be a pack like we used in our review, a TrakPower 2S 70C 6800. While not cheap, the TrakPower gave the Porsche nearly 30 minutes of runtime, tons of power, and never come close to getting hot. We can definitely recommend that pack first hand for the Carisma. Oh btw, the Porsche is set-up for a 2S pack, its battery tray doesn’t leave extra room for a “normal sized” 3S.
As far as other packs go, people tend to pay wayyyy too much attention to those mysterious “C” ratings. We’ve seen time and time again lower “C” packs outperform higher “C” packs, but that isn’t something you will know for sure unless you buy both and test them. The best rule of thumb I can give you is to only buy packs that you’ve seen tested by a reputable source. That is really the only way of knowing what you are plunking your hard earned cash down on.
“you know its strange ive been in this hobby for close to 30 years my first truck was a mauri big bear with a 6 volt NiCad. seeing these “new” losi universals kinda makes me sigh a little. these were all the rage until mip came out with the cvd which at the time were leaps and bounds beyond the universal, so is the cvd obsolete? its strange to see this hobby come full circle. ive seen the aluminum chassis get upgraded to carbon fiber, then to composite and it appears were back to aluminum. every 4×4 1/10 scale still shares the same layout as the xx4 which is almost 20 years old. well theres my rant of the day.
Jeremie H.”
Cubby- So Jeremie, are CVDs dead? LOL, no, they are not dead. But ya, I totally get your point on how everything goes out of fashion, then years later is promoted as the latest hot thing. You mention driveshafts and chassis materials, but it’s true for a million of other things.
I will make a comment about driveshafts in the rc world though. In one of our G+ live shows several months ago someone asked the question “What makes CVDs so much better than dogbones?”. So what is the biggest upside? CVDs don’t go flying out of your car at 40 mph to never be found again like dogbones do, LOL. Seriously, if you are a super uber competitor that runs on the same track week after week you can notice a difference in driveshafts. If you are a Joe Blow like you and me, you really only need two things- 1. long wear, and 2. CVD or universals that don’t get lost when a camber link comes off.
So there ya have it for this week folks, shoot me your snotty answers, unreadable gibberish, and moronic manifestos to Cubby at BigSquidRC.com. If your letter hits the big time you’ll get something free, no kidding!
The bash world has been abuzz since news broke that Carisma was hitting the states, and at the front of that buzz was one car in particular, the Porsche 959 Rally. We got our hands on one and have been driving it like we stole for a few weeks now. To boil it down- is the Carisma Porsche a solid bash machine that is worth your hard earned cash? Click the “Read More” to find out…
Primary Competition: Other rally cars like the HPI WR8 Flux and Traxxas 1/10 Rally.
What’s Needed To Complete: It comes with four AA cells for the transmitter, all you need is a pack for the car and a charger.
Build Quality: We didn’t find any issues with how the car was built. Everything was in proper order- proper oil was in the shocks, we didn’t find any binding, and the pinion/spur mesh was spot on.
Test Drivers: “Iron” Mike, “Hawaiian” Chris, Tim “The Pro” Mohr, Ashley “The Model”, and yours truly.
Test Venues: Minnie Ha Ha Park in Fenton Missouri, Glidden Park and RC Outlaws in Collinsville Illinois.
Set-up Notes: We ran the car bone stock. For power we used a TrakPower 2S 6800mAh LiPo and a TrakPower VR-1 handled the charging duties.
Turning: The Carisma was very predictable and easy to drive in corners. Turn-in was typically solid, and with its 3 differentials, you could really pound the gas at the apex and shoot out of a corner. One thing the Carisma didn’t like was turning in a small radius. The stock servo arm was slightly too short, this didn’t allow the front tires to reach their maximum throw.
Jumping: Consider the Porsche is basically an on-road car, it jumped relatively well. The short suspension travel, long overhangs, and relatively low top end held back its jumping ability, but it still jumped much better than expected. Small to medium sized jumps are not out of question, and while the car blows immediately through its suspension when landing, the chassis is tough enough to take the punishment.
Bumps/Whoops: Considering it’s a low slung rally type car, the Porsche held its down. No, it can’t handle bumps like a dedicated off-roader can, but you can pretty much slam through rough areas without losing much speed or getting too far out of control.
On-Road: Finally we make it to the Porsche’s forte, on-road. The 959 is pretty much an animal on pavement. It has more than enough power to get around a parking lot quickly, and it soaks up small rocks and road joints without issue. More importantly, it loves being driven hard. The harder you drive it the better it tends to respond, and its chassis gives you plenty of fair warning when you are reaching the edge of cohesion.
Grass: With stock tires the 959 doesn’t get around well in grass. It has the power, it has 4wd, but the street tread tires simply spin in the green stuff. If you plan on driving the Porsche in grass, absolutely plan on changing out the tires.
Tires: The stock street treads work well on pavement. They are molded from a medium compound, which offers decent grip and reasonable life. The stock inserts are a bit on the soft side, but worked fine for us.
Power: While the Porsche comes with a brushless power system, it isn’t crazy fast. It certainly has good low-end power and a decent mid-range, but it is geared conservatively. The car tops out at 26 mph on the top end, which will feel plenty of fast to noobs and is more than enough speed for small areas, but there is a lot more power to be had by gearing up. On the upside, the conservative gearing does help keep motor temps down and gives the Carisma a ridiculously long 29 minute runtime.
Radio: The 2.4GHz radio system worked well for us, it had long range and never glitched. The general ergonomics of the transmitter were fine, but we would rather see a foam covered wheel instead of just plastic, and the trigger recesses into the grip at WFO, something that some testers never noticed, but drove others insane.
Broken Parts: Straight up, we beat the Porsche like a rented mule from day one and we broke very few parts. Early on during the review a screw fell out of the front hub carrier, and it kept falling out, but that wasn’t caused by a hit, it was stripped out during assembly. Also, the body cracked earlier than expected from small hits. The body was molded from thinner polycarbonate than we would liked to have seen. As far as breakage from actual torture testing, the Porsche held up like a champ. We went huge off big wood ramps, slammed it full speed into railroad ties and slabs of pavement, with zero broken parts. Seriously, after dozens of full speed slams into solid objects, we had broken no parts. Finally, we were able to rip a shock shaft out of the shock end and tweak the rear two body mounts, but considering the beating we put on the Porsche, it held up like a champ.
The Carisma comes stock with HT60 connectors. We’ve never tested them, so we can’t really say if they are good or bad. We didn’t cut off the stock connector, instead we made an adapter to our preferred Traxxas units. On the upside, the Porsche comes with spare connectors, making it easy to make up an adapter or to start the transition over to the HT60s.
Some people just don’t like the looks of a Porsche 959, but even those who don’t still marveled at how detailed and how good looking the Carisma was. I don’t know if we’ve ever tested a car that could stop people dead in their tracks like the Porsche did.
The battery tray is set-up to hold packs on their sides, this makes using different sized packs a pain.
The Carisma continues the trend of using small body clips. I can kinda see the point on the Porsche, as large pins would detract from its ultra-scale looks, but still, those small pins are a PITA to use on a daily basis.
We put the Carisma to some serious water testing and it never missed a beat. Feel free to dive straight into the nearest mud hole instead of avoiding it.
We realize that not everyone reads our daily news, so for those of you who don’t, Carisma is available here in the states via Falcon Hobby Supply.
During day in and day out use, the Carisma fired right up. It did what a good bash machine should do- simply work without complaint.
Best Mod Under $5: A longer arm on the servo, 25 spline, any brand, it just needs to be an 1/8″ longer than the stocker.
Best Mod Over $5: If you plan on running in grass and dirt, more aggressive aftermarket tires.
Summary:
A = Outstanding/Best in Class, B = Above Average, C = Average, D = Below Average, F = Horrific
Time To Bash: B The Carisma takes very little set-up to get going. Put the supplied AA cells in the transmitter, put a charged pack in the car, then you are ready to bash.
Workability: B A common layout is used on the Porsche making it easy to wrench on. However, we would much rather have seen hex hardware used instead of the supplied Phillips screws.
Car Show Rating: A The Carisma is arguably the best looking car we’ve ever reviewed. From its realistic windshield wipers and door handles to its immaculate paint and stickering, it sets the bar really, really, high for other companies to shoot for.
Bash-A-Bility: B Yes, we did manage to break the Carisma, but it took some serious abuse to do so. Overall it is one tough car.
Fun Factor: B The Carisma is a blast drifting, spinning, and jumping on pavement.
Handling: B The Porsche drives as well, or better, than the other rally cars we have tested.
Value: A Affordable price, hard to break, and gorgeous looks put the Carisma on top of this category.
Parts Availability: D While parts are available, there simply aren’t many different places to get them from.
BigSquid Rating: B The Carisma Porsche 959 is affordable, tough, and one of the best looking cars that money can buy. We highly recommend the Carisma 959 to you.
Check out the video below of some of the torture testing we did to this vehicle!
Is there a hotter class than 4wd Short Course Truck right now? It seems that when we go bashing they are everywhere, and for good reason, they look good and can typically take a pretty hard beating. One of the newest trucks to enter the category is the Carisma M40DT Desert Truck. The M40DT comes with the brushless power and scale detailing that everyone is looking for now days, and it does it at a very affordable price point. After driving the truck for weeks (like escaped mental patients) what did we learn? Click the “Read More” to find out…
What’s Needed To Complete: The Carisma comes with four AA cells for the transmitter but you will need to supply a battery for the truck and a charger.
Build Quality: We didn’t find any issues with the build quality on the Carisma. The shocks were properly filled and not leaking, pinion/spur mesh was good, and we didn’t find a bunch of excessive flash on any of the plastic parts.
Test Drivers: “Hawaiian” Chris, Sam “The Noob”, Daniel “The Engineer”, Ashley “The Model”, Tim “Pro Driver Guy” Mohr, “Iron” Mike, and yours truly. Yes, we had plenty of input on this truck. LOL
Test Venues: Glidden Park and RC Outlaws in Collinsville Illinois, Minnie Ha Ha Park in Fenton Missouri, City Park in Arnold Missouri, and Dirtburners in St Louis Missouri.
Set-up Notes: We ran the Carisma exactly how it came out of the box. We soldered up an XT60 to Traxxas battery adapter, ran a TrakPower 2S 6800mAh LiPo for juice and used a TrakPower VR-1 for charging.
Turning: The geometry on the Desert Truck definitely yields a planted front end, but not so much that it makes the truck hard to drive. On high traction surfaces the truck never pushed, on loose surfaces the front generally goes where pointed. On other vehicles with some oversteer the rear can be uncontrollable, but not on the Carisma. The rear rotates quickly, but doesn’t just snap around.
Jumping: The Carisma jumps well like most 4wds do, we just wish it had a bit more rpm on top to help pull the nose up during endos. The Carisma handles rough jump faces well enough and in the air it immediately responds to trigger input. It is damped a bit light for hard landings, but overall a decent jumping truck.
Bumps/Whoops: For a 10th scaler the Carisma has about a 3″ shorter wheelbase, and is about 1.5″ more narrow, than other SCTs. The tires on the Desert Truck are also about 3/4″ smaller in diameter. The smaller form factor helps make the truck more nimble in small areas, but when blasting through rough spots and over dirt clods it tends to get bounced around more than others in its class.
On-Road: The pin tires on the Desert Truck get good traction on-road, while its low cg keeps it from rolling over. We found the truck to be quite capable and plenty of fun to drive on pavement.
Grass: We found the Carisma got around quite well in grass. The stock tires got decent grip, and the 4wd system just kept on pulling. The Carisma even made it through some fairly deep leaves without needing to be marshalled.
Tires: The medium sized knobbies on the tires found traction on most surfaces. While they might not have excelled on any one surface, they worked better than expected everywhere, and wear was longer than expected.
Power: The Carisma has good yank. Our noobie testers were very impressed with its power, yet it didn’t have so much that they were constantly getting in trouble. For our more experienced drivers, the Carisma had snappy power off the bottom, was very strong through the mid-range, but topped out fairly early with a 26 mph top end. Also of note, we experienced no cogging at all from the power system.
Radio: The included radio is a solid working unit. We found it had great range and never glitched during our rather extensive testing. On the ergonomics side of things, there were very few complaints, although some of our testers were not fans of the trigger (that recesses into the grip at WFO) or the plastic steering wheel.
Broken Parts: Very early during testing, like the part where all we do is drive around in circles to get some pictures, we ended up breaking the stock servo saver arm. The spring on the servo saver is stiffer than the plastic arm, so it broke during the first pack. We popped on a Kimbrough unit and were back to driving. On the second pack the truck came to a halt and would no longer move. After some inspection we found the stock slipper had backed off, so we tightened it back up and were back to full tilt boogie. After that- the truck proved to be a tank. We handed the truck off to several noobies and told them to try and break it and the Carisma proved very durable. Eventually, during some extreme testing, we ended up breaking a shock shaft end and breaking the tabs off the front body mounts. Overall, the Desert Truck lived up to Carisma’s rep of being able to take a hard beating.
Misc Notes:
About that slipper clutch that backed off, it was located on the pinion gear. Yes, you read that right, there is a small slipper set-up on the pinion gear. We ended up tightening it all the way down and experienced no more issues after that. Of note- for all you guys that have vehicles that don’t have a slipper, the Carisma unit should bolt right on to pretty much any standard 540 motor shaft.
The Desert Truck comes with a pair of wheels on the back of the body. The tires are glued to the wheels, but they don’t come with any foam inside, thus making them unusable for driving. We would have liked to have seen foam in them. Also, the spare wheels slide over the rear body posts, so every time you remove the body you have to remove the tires.
You won’t find any high-zoot carbon fiber or aluminum under the hood, everything is plastic, and in this application it works great. Even the motor mount is plastic, but the use of plastic helps to keep the truck durable and at a price point that nearly anyone can afford.
The Carisma is geared conservatively. This helps keep motor/speedo temps reasonable and gives it a whopping 27 minutes of runtime.
Do yourself a favor and lose the stock body pins the first time you take off the body. Seriously, you will thank me for it. Pop on larger units that are a whole lot more finger friendly.
We found the Carisma to be very waterproof. We fully submerged the truck multiple times without issue.
As mentioned above, the Desert Truck is slightly smaller than a “normal” tenth scale truck. For general bashing this was not a big deal, our noobs were having a blast with the truck and didn’t care it was slightly smaller. However, as one progresses in the hobby the different size will keep you from just bolting on a standard sized SCT body or wheels/tires.
One of our testers, Daniel “The Engineer”, stated several times he thought the Carisma was the funnest truck he had ever driven. He doesn’t get to drive rc cars that often, so the snappy (but not excessive) power kept him interested, while being able to drive the truck without fear of it breaking really put a smile on his face.
On that same note, even our model Ashley, who had never driven a hobby grade rc car before, kept commenting on how fun the Carisma was. Even though she was as green of a noobie as you could ever find, she was wheeling it quite well before the first pack was through, and having a total blast doing so.
Best Mod Under $5: We recommend popping on a Kimbrough servo saver first thing.
Best Mod Over $5: The Desert Truck looks good the way it is, but for some extra cash the Carisma #15154 LED Light Module adds to its scale appearance.
Summary:
A = Outstanding/Best in Class, B = Above Average, C = Average, D = Below Average, F = Horrific
Time To Bash: B Charge a pack up, pop in some AAs, and you are ready to hit the track. It is very quick and easy to get the Carisma going.
Workability: B The layout on the Carisma is easy to spin wrenches on, however we would rather have seen hex hardware on the truck.
Car Show Rating: B We received a lot of comments on how good the truck looked, and our bash crew agreed that it was easy on the eyes. The body comes shot partially with flat 909 black, while the other parts are shot with glossy black, making for a cool look. The bumpers and light buckets looked good, as did the stock wheels. The stock knobby tires aren’t bad looking, but we would rather have seen scale type tires to match the overall appearance of the truck.
Bash-A-Bility: B While we experienced a couple of small issues right out of the gate, we beat the truck like a red headed step child for the vast majority of testing with very little breakage.
Fun Factor: A The Carisma received a rare “A” in this category due to the enthusiastic response it received from the people driving it. In fact, we could barely pry the transmitter away from most of the people who got a chance to drive it. The Desert Truck had a nice blend of power and handling that made it a blast to drive for a wide variety of drivers.
Handling: C While the Desert Truck doesn’t really excel in any one handling category, it is easy to drive and doesn’t do anything massively wrong. It has plenty of steering when you need it and has enough power and ground clearance to get over most of the rough spots at the local park.
Value: A The 4wd brushless Carisma comes in at $229 and for those hard earned dollars you get a whole lot of fun in return, arguably more than any other truck in its class.
Parts Availability: D The Carisma does have one strike against it, parts availability. Parts are available for the truck, but not like a Traxxas that can be found at nearly every hobby shop, or even like an Associated or Losi where there are parts available at hundreds of different shops. Given time there will be more Carisma dealers here in the states, but for now places to get parts is quite limited.
BigSquid Rating: B If you are looking for a truck to bash around in your backyard or down at the local park, the Carisma M40DT is a great choice. It has the cool scale look that everyone is after, it’s a blast to drive, and we found it could take a legit beating.
Image may be NSFW. Clik here to view.
We talk about it every day around the office, parts support. Bashers are notoriously hard on trucks, breaking parts isn’t the exception to the rule, it is expected.
Today Carisma has announced their new on-line store. Carisma’s new on-line store is intended to supplement local hobby shops by offering another source of parts support for all you Carisma owners. If your local hobby shop hasn’t picked up Carisma yet, or if they don’t have the part you need in stock, the Carisma on-line store can come in handy to get your car or truck back up and running as quickly as possible.
Image may be NSFW. Clik here to view.
Since we reviewed the Carisma M40DT it has become one of our “go to” bash machines. Recently we were out driving the Carisma but ended up running out of daylight, needless to say that was an absolute bummer. Why should the fun stop at sundown?
The good folks over at Carisma make a nifty LED Light Kit made specifically for the M40DT that helps keep the fun going when the sun goes down. We installed the kit on our M40DT and took some notes & pictures to show how easy it is to put on your truck.
How To Install an LED Light Kit on the M40DT-
1. Get everything you’ll need together. You will need the Carisma M40DT Light Kit (#15154, $25), some CA glue, and a body reamer (or drill) to make a hole in the body. A couple of zip-ties can also come in handy to tidy things up.
2. Make a hole in the top of the body so you can run the lights to the roof mounted light buckets that came on the body.
3.. Slide the LEDs into the light buckets on the roof. Add a tiny dab of CA glue to keep them from ever popping out.
4. Mount the control box for the LED light kit. There is a spot perfect for this just above the servo and the box even comes with double sided tape on its bottom to make this step extra easy.
5. Plug the wires that are coming out of the control box into the receiver. The M40DT also makes this step easy because it has a pigtail coming out of its receiver specifically for this purpose.
6. Grab a zip tie and tidy up the wire bundle coming out of the receiver. This helps keep the wires out of harm’s way during hard bash sessions.
7. Slide the LEDs into the light buckets provided on the M40DT’s front bumper. Once again use a tiny dab of CA to keep them from coming loose.
8. Plug the wire harness from the LED lights into the LED control box.
9. Hit the “on” switch on the LED control box and take a look at your job well done. It took us less than 10 minutes to do the install, and that included the time spent taking notes and pictures. The kit uses 6 amber lights for the roof, 4 for the front bumper, and we found they did a decent job of lighting up the night for some after hours bashing.
You’ve just read what it takes to mount an LED light kit on the Carisma M40DT, check out This Link for more “how-to” articles right here on BigSquidRC.
Hi Cubby. First sorry for the english im live in Brazil. Lets see if you can help me again, i follow your advice and have many rcs and there are two that you help me choose when i was in doubt and im happy that i follow your advice when buy the scte and the vorza. But now i love the minis and after some months of hard work i have 600$ for rcs and was thinking of buying the carisma gt10dt and the gt16mt. But i was a little afraid, my summit 1/16 give me many problems and the losi mini 8ight of my brother when we do light bashing always break something. My summit now is just an onroad car.
So the question is this, are the two carisma minis really durable cars? I dont do 20% there you make in your videos but don’t have luck and always something breaks. Really worth buy these two minis?
Jonas T.”
Cubby- Yo hey Jonas, shoot us your snail mail address so we can get ya hooked up with a BigSquidRC sticker kit. They will instantly keep all your rc cars from breaking. (insert sarcasm tags here)
So… you are on the fence about cutting the check for a Carisma GT10DT and GT16MT. I was there for the review of both of those vehicles, and yes, they are quite durable. In fact, the GT16MT was the only test vehicle we’ve ever had here that I grew tired of trying to break. We slammed it full speed into every hard object we could find, jumped it off every roof in the neighborhood, and it was still able to drive away. For durability, I can very highly recommend it.
The GT10DT buggy was also fairly durable. It took quite a bit of slamming to get it to break. But… with you being in Brazil (where soccer madness is about to explode) you need to make sure you have easy access to parts. No matter how tough any vehicle may be, it will break at some point.
“Recomendations
I have been into RC’ing for quite some time:
(1) I have a 1994 Vintage Traxxas Nitro-Hawk and it is frustrating as H&*%L. (the small Image-12 engine is quite finicky)
(2) I wanna get into Electric – I love the stadium truck platform, I am (for some reason or another) steering toward the HPI E-Firestorm Flux
do you think this particular truck has an advantage or disadvantage over the Rustler
— or is there another RTR Stadium you would recommend over one of them..
I live in a great neighborhood for street running (city provided nice speed bumps for my pleasure) I also have decent access to Golf Course roads.
So speed (quick enough to confront a varmint or two) and light bashing (speed bumps and sand traps are calling my name) would be great,
Any input would be great,
–Thanks –
Carl D.”
Cubby- Yo hey Carl, somehow your email got forwarded to me from my ever increasing staff of interns, so it must be worth answering. Give me a second to read it…
Ok, so I didn’t actually read your email, but I did give it a light skimming. If I skimmed correctly you want to know what truck would I recommend, the HPI E-Firestorm Flux or a Traxxas Rustler VXL.
Btw, before I answer your question, I think I read something about a Nitro Hawk in your email? Hopefully you don’t own one, those things were a PITA to keep running properly.
So on to your question. To be perfectly blunt, I would recommend the HPI. Why? While it isn’t the latest in uber tech, it is a much more modern design than the Rustler. Because of that, it simply handles better, a lot better. Also, it’s a fairly tough truck. Yes, of course you can get it to break, but under “normal” use it can take some good hits without exploding like it just ran over an IED.
But…. and there is always a “but”, the Traxxas does have one outstanding feature- parts support. If you break something on the Rustler most decent hobby shops will have the parts in stock to get you going again.
That’s it for yet another week of ASK Cubby. You can attempt in vain to shoot me your questions at Cubby at BigSquidRC.com. Make it on our front page and we’ll shoot you a free sticker pack, get named as “Letter of the Week” and you’ll get a free BSRC t-shirt.
The first new model is the M40S Volkswagen Golf 24. This is a 1/10th scale 4wd RTR that comes on the durable M40S platform. Some of its features and specifications include-
* Street price $169
* Wheelbase- 10″
* Length- 14.7″
* Track width- 7.2″
* 540 brushed motor and 2.4GHz radio system
* Shaft 4wd with 3 differentials
* Comes with battery and charger
The second new model is the GTMK3 Touring Car. This is a 4wd 1/14th scale roller designed for big fun in small spaces. Some of its features and specifications include-
* Street price $99
* Wheelbase- 185mm
* Length- 310mm
* Track width- 135mm
* Threaded aluminum shocks
* Full bearing set
* FRP chassis, top deck, and towers
* Slipper and 2 ball differentials
* Belt driven
* Clean body and wing
The third new model here in the states is the GTB 4WD Race Buggy. The GTB has been quite dominant overseas in small scale racing and finally we get a chance to wheel them here. The GTB is 1/16th scale 4wd roller that comes without electronics. Some of its features and specs include-
* Street price- $139
* Wheelbase- 190mm
* Length- 275mm
* Track Width- 205mm
* Threaded aluminum shocks
* Clear cab forward body and wing
* FPR chassis and towers
* Belt driven with slipper clutch
* Front and rear ball diffs
Click Right Here to visit the official Carisma website, or Click Here to visit the Falcon Hobby website where you can order one of the new Carismas.
To read even more Carisma news check out This Link on BigSquidRC.
We got our hands on the new M40S Volkswagen Golf 24 from Cariama. It is a 1/10th scale 4wd RTR, and with a street price of $169, we are really looking forward to see how it does!
Now days it just isn’t enough to put out a solid car, it has to perform well and look exactly like its full scale equivalent. Today we’ll be taking a close look at the Carisma M40S Volkswagen Golf 24, an affordable ready-to-run that promises the precise scale looks everyone is after, as well a fun driving experience. Does it meet expectations? Hit the “Read More” to find out…
RTR or Kit: RTR
Age: 14+
2wd or 4wd: 4wd
Shaft or Belt: Shaft
Electric or Gas: Electric
Waterproof: No
Scale: 1/10
Length: 14.7″
Width: 7.2″
Wheelbase: 10″
Motor: Brushed, 540 19 turn
Speed Controller: Carisma MSC-04RB V2
Low Voltage Cut-off: No
Radio: Carisma CTX 2710
Differential: Two gear diffs
Slipper Clutch: No
Driveshafts: Bones
Shocks: Friction type, plastic bodies
Servo Saver: On servo output gear
Screws: Phillips
Spur/Pinion Pitch: 48 pitch
Bearings: Yes, full set
Tires: Carisma gravel spec
Battery: 6 cell 1400mAh NiMH
Part Number: #CIS70068
Top Speed (measured by BSRC): 18 mph on included battery
Runtime: 8 minutes on included battery
Street Price: $169
Primary Competition: Other 10th scale brushed rally cars.
What’s Needed To Complete: Absolutely nothing, everything you need comes right in the box.
Build Quality: Our car was ready to jam out of the box, we didn’t find any faults with the assembly quality.
Test Drivers: Iron Mike, Tim, Sam, Jake, and yours truly.
Test Venues: Letz Go Nutz off road park in Foley Missouri, Dirtburners rc track in St Louis Missouri, CostCo parking lot, baseball diamond in Arnold City Park in Arnold Missouri, and a local cul-de-sac.
Set-up Notes: We ran the Carisma bone stock with no changes. We did not use the included wall charger, instead opting for an iCharger 308. For power, our noobs used the included NiMH but our more experienced drivers used a MaxAmps 2S 6500 LiPo.
Turning: The Golf 24 has a lot of steering. Wherever the front wheels are pointed is exactly where the front end of the Golf is going to go. While the front is planted, the rear was not, it pretty much just slid around following the front around. This type of turning is great for drifting, in fact the Golf is easy (and a blast) to drift. The downside is corner speed, with very little rear traction it is hard to carry much speed through the corners.
Jumping: Is anything more fun to jump than a touring car? For kicks it is funny, but if you are looking to actually control a car up in the air, and land without it bouncing around like a beach ball, touring type cars just don’t cut it. The Golf was never designed to be jumped, you can jump it, but for serious airtime look elsewhere.
Bumps/Whoops: The Golf sits really low to the ground, has small tires, and has friction shocks. So yes, it performs just like you would expect it to over rough ground, it bounces like a hay wagon. If your thing is pounding whoop sections, the Golf is not for you.
On-Road: Here is the forte of the Carisma VW. The Golf is set-up for on-road use so that is where we spent most of our time driving it. The Golf is great fun to drift around the corners, but its friction shocks can make it hard to drive. For example, when testing the top speed we would hit a road joint and the rear of the car would bounce to the side. This required that the driver make a correction to the steering, which often lead to the car bouncing too much the other direction. If there were any bumps around, it was hard to drive the car in a straight line. This made the car hard to drive for noobs, but helped make it more interesting for the old timers, guys who actually enjoyed the challenge of driving a car where you never knew where it was going to bounce next.
Grass: Hey, the Carisma is basically a touring car, so no, it doesn’t perform well (read- doesn’t move at all) in grass. If you put 2 tires in the green stuff, count on being stuck.
Tires: We really liked the stock tires. On dirt they did a fine job of getting traction, just like they did on pavement. We found that they offered good grip just about everywhere, and even when abused they showed very little wear.
Power: The powerplant that comes in the Golf is very soft, perhaps one of the slowest we’ve tested in a tenth scale car. While it does have enough power to turn the tires over from a dead stop, the mid-range is soft and it signs off really early (18 mph). The soft power was great for our noobs but forced our other drivers to install a peppier LiPo pack.
Radio: The included 2.4GHz radio system performed fine for us, it had good range and we never experienced a glitch while using it. However, it does have a dated look and comes with a plastic wheel that is not foam covered.
Broken Parts: The Carisma Golf 24 took some solid abuse without breakage. Early in testing, while taking photos at a baseball diamond, a small rock got inside the motor and locked it up. We took the motor out, removed the rock, and were back up to full speed. We suffered no other issues during the normal part of our testing. During durability testing at the end of our review the Golf still held up well. The first full speed run into a railroad tie resulted in no damage at all. The second caused one of the shock bodies to crack and one of the drive bones to come shooting out. We popped the shock back together, put the bone back in, and were back up to full speed. We slammed it around some more without breakage, then decided to really try and finish it off. A two story roof jump was in order, so that’s what we did. The car landed upside down on pavement from two stories up and we managed to break all four body posts and a shock end, but that was it. Even after all the abuse the Carisma Golf still didn’t break anything to keep it from actually driving. Oh and, that pretty body that it comes with actually held up well. The rear view mirrors never got torn off, even the rear spoiler stayed on. There are a few cracks in the body, but for the amount of abuse it took, it held up better than expected.
We took the VW Golf 24 to a full on motocross track for some testing. It was fun on the smoother hard packed areas, but just wasn’t designed for the rough sections.
Carisma put a relatively high tech brushed motor into the Golf, one that you can easily change brushes and springs.
We found that the included high zoot motor ran quite hot. The motor mount is plastic leaving no place for all that heat to go.
While gorgeous, the body is quite thin. Luckily it held up better than expected.
Btw, everyone that laid eyes on the Golf 24 commented on how cool it looked, it truly was a head turner.
The front of the body hangs down quite low, while a diffuser on the rear means very little clearance in the back. If you do much off-roading you’ll want to look elsewhere in the Carisma catalog.
We found adjusting the pinion/spur mesh to be a real PITA on the Gold, in fact we resorted to forcing the motor around with a large screwdriver.
While a bit on the slow side, we found the stock servo did a fine job of pointing the wheels. We also never noticed the stock ESC, this tells us it was doing a fine job.
Yes, the Golf is slow with the included pack, but using a good LiPo really wakes up the power system. Using a LiPo yields significantly more rip out of the hole with a decent increase in top speed.
Best Mod Under $5: Oh, this is an easy one, put some oil in those friction shocks!
Best Mod Over $5: LiPo battery. A 2S LiPo instantly turns the Golf from mild to peppy.
Summary:
A = Outstanding/Best in Class, B = Above Average, C = Average, D = Below Average, F = Horrific
Time To Bash: B Pop in a pack and hit road, the Golf is easy to get driving with.
Workability: C While the layout is fairly standard, the hard to adjust pinion/spur mesh and Phillips screws bring this score down.
Car Show Rating: A The Carisma Golf 24 is the second best looking car we’ve ever reviewed (arguably behind the Carisma 959). The body is highly detailed, the mirrors/wing/diffuser are nice touches, and the wheel/tire combo is spot on. Kudos to Carisma, the Golf 24 is gorgeous.
Bash-A-Bility: B The Carisma took plenty of abuse with very little breakage.
Fun Factor: C The slow power system is great for noobs, but limits fun for the more experienced crowd.
Handling: C A bit of oversteer and friction shocks hurt the Carisma’s score in this category.
Value: B At $169, the Golf is solid for its price point.
Parts Availability: D While parts are available here in the states, you won’t find them at most hobby shops and at only a limited number of on-line stores.
BigSquid Rating: B- With the Carisma Golf 24 we have a tale of two cars- the uber scale looks on the outside, and the very base model chassis underneath. Is the chassis too basic to even consider buying the car? Absolutely not, some shock oil and a good LiPo are all it takes to get the Golf up to speed. To boil it down, the Golf can take a good bashing and will make your friends jealous with its hot scale look.
Saw our friends over at Carisma threw a little video together of their RC vehicles taking the Ice Bucket Challenge. It’s a great way to show off their water proofing at the very least! Enjoy the video.
Click Here to visit the official Carisma website, or Click Here to visit the Falcon Hobby website where you can order one of the new Carismas.
To read even more Carisma news check out This Link on BigSquidRC.
Image may be NSFW. Clik here to view.
One of the many new exhibitors at iHobby was The Jeric Group. While Bill Jeric has been a force in the hobby for many years, this was the first time he had a booth to help promote the Carisma, Tuning Haus, and Prime R/C products that he distributes. Of special interest to us was the Carisma M10SC and Subaru rally car that The Jeric Group will soon start importing to the states (picture #1 in the gallery below). If they are like the other vehicles in the Carisma line-up they should make great bashers.
If you are a hobby shop wanting more information on The Jeric Group, hit up their Official Website. For you consumers, please check out the official Carisma Website.
Want to see more booths from the show? Click Here for full iHobby coverage on BigSquidRC.
Image may be NSFW. Clik here to view.The fine folks over at Falcon Hobby Supply have a special running right now. By using the code “BigSquid12″ over on their website, you can save an instant 12% off your order. Why should you use Falcon Hobby Supply? For a few reasons actually, they are a supporter of your favorite website (hint, hint, BigSquidRC), they stock loads of surface and air products, plus they are centrally located in good old Springfield Illinois. Another good reason to use Falcon is the fact that they carry the Carisma line of rc products, one of our favorites for bashing. You can get a hold of them the old school way by calling toll free 855-603-2526, or go new school by hitting up THIS LINK to visit their official website.
Image may be NSFW. Clik here to view.The guys over at Carisma wanted us to let you know they are having a sale on their GT10DT. We reviewed the GT10DT about a year ago and it proved that it could take some serious bashing. It comes with brushless power, 4 wheel drive, and is waterproof for bashing on those rainy (or snowy!!) days. If you are looking for a smaller scale bash machine at a good price, hit up This Link over on the official Carisma Facebook Page to find out more details.
First seen at iHobby ’14, the new Carisma M40S Subaru WRX STI is now hitting the market. This latest offering from Carisma features one of the new school super detailed bodies, giving the car an ultra-realistic look. The body comes with rear view mirrors, lights, wipers, detailed grill, front splitters, and a rear diffuser. Also used to knock the scale realism out of the park is a hidden body mounting method, making it one of the first production cars to come with such a feature.
Under the hood the Subaru features a shaft driven 4wd system, a 540 sized brushed motor, and a 2.4GHz radio system. Oil filled shocks help soak up the bumps, while tough gear differentials put the power to the ground.
The Carisma Subaru has a street price of $199, its part number is #71468, and these are shipping right now. Hit up This Link to get more details.
Want to learn more about Carisma products? Check out This Link on BigSquidRC.
THE Carisma M40DT Desert Truck Brushless RTR Review Is there a hotter class than 4wd Short Course Truck right now? It seems that when we go bashing they are everywhere, and for good reason, they look good and can typically take a pretty hard beating. One of the newest trucks to enter the category is […]
We talk about it every day around the office, parts support. Bashers are notoriously hard on trucks, breaking parts isn’t the exception to the rule, it is expected. Today Carisma has announced their new on-line store. Carisma’s new on-line store is intended to supplement local hobby shops by offering another source of parts support for […]
If you only watch one rc video today, watch the one below. Featuring the M10DB Desert Buggy, the latest video from Carisma is well done with plenty of sand spewing bash action. The M10DB is a 2wd RTR with lots of scale detailing and a powerful brushless power system under the hood. The video below […]
More big news from the Nuremburg Toy Fair comes via Carisma with the announcement of their new racing division. Carisma Racing was formed to show the world that Carisma products can compete at the top levels of racing around the world. The first vehicle to come out of Carisma Racing is the 4XS 1/10th 4wd […]
As you can see in the picture above, our European correspondent Igor is having a great time at the Nuremburg Toy Fair. One of his latest discoveries is the new 1/24th scale GT24B from our friends at Carisma. The GT24B should be big news for small scale fans as it comes standard with 4wd and […]
To hype the upcoming release of their new DTM Series cars, Carisma has put together a video highlighting how cool they look while driving around a track. There will initially be 4 cars in the series, two Mercedes, an Audi, and a BMW, all of which are highly detailed and look nearly identical to the […]
