New Tamiya Buggy?

[sparky(2)]

Guys,

Tamiya seems to producing fewer new buggies and more "on road" cars.

Are many of you like me and are anticipating with utmost enthusiasm the next buggy to be released?

Nothing against the road cars - as they sure make some nice ones.

But for me, the buggies have a character and appeal that are unique.

Do you all know what I mean?

Regards,

Joe

[WillyChang]

Think Tamiya hasn't brought out anything new offroad for 5+ yrs now... [] unless you're counting the WildWilly2, everything else is a rehash.

[sparky(2)]

Willy I guess you're right. If I was at Tamiya and had any control I would change that. I mean, look how we go crazy over vintage buggies - what a market!!!

Not to mention, producing "like" vintage buggies might drive down the price of the real vintage ones as we would have more choices. Don't you think?

Just consider how popular the new Retro "real" automobiles are like PT Cruisers, T-Birds, Prowlers, etc.... Many of us want cars to look like the vintage ones we grew up with. I guess this is called Nostalgia.[]

Regards,

Joe

[BiggusDitchus]

buggies now (B3, xxx, fireblade etc) dont have any style they are designed for one reason only, they all look pretty much the same... bring back buggies with driver figures, who cares about weight its looks I want. I think racing would be much more fun just like the old days.

[sparky(2)]

Biggus Ditchus,

Right on Brother! New buggies have no real character or appeal - especially non - Tamiya vehicles. They all look the same and are only built for performance. While I understand this market - it's just not what I'm about.

I want buggies that have style and capture my imagination. I guess that's why we like Vintage so much - it's the only way to get these.[]

However, think back to how Tamiya started RC - they grew the RC business with Fun and Playful looking cars - I think it would be great if they re-created a TAMIYA Vintage Car Segment - where every few months they announce a new type of retro buggy and truck!

This way they maintain and support the latest trends for performance with existing lines but still satify us "vintage" guys. I think they would do quite well $$$$$$ Don't you think.

Cool ehh?

Regards,

Joe

[WillyChang]

Well, that's might be what they thought when they brought out the 'new' WildWilly2... but somehow it never caught on, disappointingly.

Then again, there's a distinct loss of 'character' on the 1:1 scene too... gee whiz, the Viper is already 10 yrs old and the 'new' one looks just like it.

Sign of the (RTR?) times?

Everything's becoming "lowest common denominator" bland, and soon all dinners will taste (?) like McDonalds. [xx(]

[sparky(2)]

Willy - I like your style brother. [8D]

For me it's vintage all the way!

Joe

[Edge(2)]

HAIL VINTAGE!!

I have no urge to build one of the newer buggies, slap a few pices of plastic together, spletter paint on the inside of a lexan body, charge up the battery....things moves like sh#t of a shovel but is as aesthetically pleasing as a McDonalds plain burger (without the wrapper).Surely Tamiya still has all the old moulds for the aluminium, I mean, could they possibly have spld the to someone?? (Maybe Roby)???!!

[loopjuice]

What we (I) need is a new buggy !! I mean the on-road stuff is OK but once you have a generic shell on it the thing looks like any other model, only bigger. The accuracy is amazing, and I do have a Toyota MRS, but I just love buggies ! The exposed wheels, wild names and amazing body shells, I mean come on Tamiya do it again ![]

[Shodog]

Back to reality now. I don't think tamiya will be bringing out any real cool buggies any time soon. What is their incentive? if they brought out a scale buggy, there is no way it could perform on the level of an associated B4 or a losi XX buggy. Racers wouldn't buy it. Us vintage collectors are only a small portion of the R/C buying population.

[loopjuice]

I know that a new buggy is sooo unlikely. The Baja Champ is on-road based, so what chance do we have !?

Shame, I reckon they could turn out a tidy little number for garden/club level use.

Or re-issue.....howzabout Avante 3001 !?

[Jimbo]

The Dyna Storm re-release is a good club level car if a bit on the expensive side. Cheapest I've seen it for is $199 fron Hong Kong

[ShenUK]

I know what you mean about the new type buggy's they look cheap and tacky the Vintage buggy's have a lot more style

as for the old moulds I was told tamiya broke the moulds after they discontinued the lines but that's only a rumour I don't know how true it is

[DJTheo]

Molds anyway wear out after a batch of some thousand pieces, but they have them all in CAD data, so they can make them anytime, possibly also what happended with the re-released bodies?

[wldnas]

Im totally with all you guys on this one!!

its a crying shame that Tamiya has aparently turned its back on the Off-Road buggy cars. most buggys made by other manufacturers all look the same... the design of competition buggies has reached its zenith and everyone is so happy with the status quo that no one has the dared to break the stale mate and make something with any originality.

I think the main reason that Tamiya has moved away from Buggies to On-road cars is that they never really had much success with their off-road cars in competions yet their On-road cars are enjoying quite a bit of success. The market for Off-road has passed us by and Touring,Rally and Super cars are what ppl want today.

BUT if any company can make an outragous, chunky, plastic, Realistic looking Buggy with a silly name then it has to be tamiya.

Dont pander to market trends, By daring, Be original, Be RETRO?

PLEEEEESE... Make my day!!

[DJTheo]

Dont worry, I deeply believe the time is coming closer, the market looking for a realistic bodied RC car is growing and growing and Tamiya knows that, they have good knowledge for example of the need for a new 3-speed, they are just waiting, as prices people willing to pay and market is rising, time is on their side;-)

I think they are showing signs of this message with the nice hard bodied re-releases XR-311, Lancia Rally, Ferrari 312, first you start with the small cards and you keep the aces for the end []

Just my humble 5 cents opinion []

[T-man]

Hi guys,

I asked Tamiya wether they would come with re-release of the Sand Scorcher, Rough Rider, F150 XLT etc. Here's their answer;

"Dear Sir,

Thank you for your e-mail.

Unfortunately, we do not have any plans to re-release these models at this time.

We will take your suggestion into consideration for our future release

plans and forward this message to our development section.

Thank you again and we hope you will enjoy our products continuously.

Pradignac Marc

International Division

Tamiya, Inc."

Guess we'll have to wait. [V]

[SJoerD]

I think with newer buggies (and this goes for onroads as well) it's a bit like: You'd better 'steal' a good design than making a (poor) origional one yourself... []

I think it's to bad... where did the cars (and I mean 1:1's as well) with their own image and style go? [] These days you look at 3 cars and if you cover then badge you won't notice the difference between them... [xx(] With RC it's probably even worse

I still wish I lived some decades ago, when they made the real cars. [|)] Even if that means 'no more computers...' Many ppl are surprised as it's mostly older guys who like classic cars more than modern ones... My friends don't understand me at that point either... [] []

Sjoerd

[Shodog]

Sjoerd when it comes to originality of 1:1 cars you must realize that car companies are under considerable constraints. Car have to get a certian amount of MPG. To do this, they must have a low drag coefficient, heavy use of light weigh materials E.g. plastic and must be able to seat the occupants comfortably and safely. It just so happens that many of the similar cars designs out there today do just that. That is why they look so similar. When you get down to it car designs are similar but different. Its like calling a Rough rider and a Super Champ the same.

I don't miss old cars. New cars today are more reliable, More powerful and handel better than any of the older muscle cars.

Jim

[Edge(2)]

Tman had a good idea writing to the Tamiya people requesting info on the re-release, and I am sure some of you have also done it....

Here's the point...

Why don't you publish the address to write to and we all send mails to the same people....every other day....put a little pressure on the people.

If any of you saw 'Sahwshank Redmeption', the continued badgering of written letters eventually got them what they wanted...

After all, "The pen is mightier than the sword"....not so??

[DJTheo]

I also got once a similar reply from Tamiya Japan that they take suggestions into considerations, but didn't even deny any re-releases.

quote:Car have to get a certian amount of MPG. To do this, they must have a low drag coefficient

id="quote">id="quote">

Jim, true but not really in USA, where half of the cars are SUVs or huge Pickups and Vans with a front surface and CW value of a house [][] and the other half uses a 40 year old V8 engine block, not really economic, ehh? [] About the car design Sjoerd it right, there was a big design crisis in 80-90s, all cars looked the same but manufactures understood it now and start again different, strange and retro designs, this didnt have to do much with low CW, but lack of courage to try new shapes...

[Stu.B]

Tamiya's ability to create a top line off road buggy cannot be questioned. If you look at the engineering talent deployed in their tourer that won no less than the world championship you just know that this could be transfered to off road. In fact it already has. Anyone who has ever seen an egress will know what I am talking about. The egress was so ahead of it's time. The egress had so much potential untapped. Why?, because tamiya lacks the motivation to make an of road challenger. Tamiya has and always will cater for the tastes of what is poular back home. In japan. Right now that is not off road. For the same reason Kyosho has ditched 1:10th off road.

[WillyChang]

quote:

Originally posted by Sjoerd

Many ppl are surprised as it's mostly older guys who like classic cars more than modern ones...

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id="quote">id="quote">

Surprised? No. That's my excuse for not joining the local classic/vintage car clubs - all too full of old fogies.

I mean, I've got nothing against old folk and retirees but these guys schedule their activities starting at SEVEN A.M.!!! [:0] C'mon now, that's being waaaay unsociable...

[WillyChang]

quote:

Originally posted by Stu.B

Tamiya has and always will cater for the tastes of what is poular back home. In japan. Right now that is not off road. For the same reason Kyosho has ditched 1:10th off road.

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id="quote">id="quote">

Touring cars are 'IT' at the moment, both in Japan and just about everywhere else in the world.

Even here in Oz, where the suburbanites have big backyards suitable for buggies, you'll find newcomers buying sedans and having to run them in the street. One of our 'better' offroad tracks in Melbourne got pretty rundown in the late 90s, and has since been paved over to make a giant paved TC track.

One thing to be said... offroad racing is great, but track maintenance is a pain. There is a lot more work involved, compared to sweeping the tarmac and spraying sugarwater.

[wldnas]

I've been thinking about this little problem at work today and as my mind wondered I came up with a rough idea for a new Tamiya Buggy...

making a design which harks back to the good old days of big chunky plastic parts and chassis, naming it after a kind of creature as with a lot of the early Tamiya Buggies and yet fitting it with an inovative type of suspension system which is common on real road cars and yet has never graced the RC scene.

I present to you the Gekko! a 2WD painted green (of course) with a rear wing slogan of "STICK THIS!" the car has a wide body with flowing wheel arches, inovation comes in the form of McPhearson Strut suspension all round!! and the top strut mounts are hindged in the middle on top of the chassis like a see-saw to to give dynamic anti-roll stability without the need for roll bars on the front, the rear suspension is even more unique thanks to a semi-floating gearbox.. I KID YOU NOT, its like the front only its hindged at the bottow so the whole thing tilts allowing for centre of gravity shifts on the super elevation of turns. the whole package will in effect tilt on turns.

ok I admit its just a foolish fantasy and my half baked tilting suspension theory will probably never work but its the sort of thing I'd want to see from Tamiya if they was to make a new buggy any time soon?