What are the best driving Tamiya cars?

[Black Phoenix]

What cars just drive well?

For example: in my opinion a cc01 is cool but no really a well performing driver. A tt02b drives well in my opinion. 

Share your opinions on cars that are good drivers and ones that are not.

[njmlondon]

Wow what a question…

XV01 is something unique and ultra enjoyable

Personally I love the M06, an onroad buggy, respect the RWD, slow in, brake in a straight line, fast out and enjoy.

959, unbelievably smooth and fast and beautiful to behold, until it breaks a suspension arm.

Not Tamiya, but the Kyosho Scorpion/ Tomahawk are so rewarding, again at scale speeds.

I’m not a racer though so imagine there are far more talented cars but these all feel right to me, feel like they should if that makes sense.

 

[MadAnt]

53 minutes ago, Black Phoenix said:

What cars just drive well?

For example: in my opinion a cc01 is cool but no really a well performing driver. A tt02b drives well in my opinion. 

Share your opinions on cars that are good drivers and ones that are not.

It depends on the environment.

[markbt73]

2WD: the Wild One and FAV drive a lot better than you'd guess. Very stable and very neutral. The Fox is a good one, too. The Falcon and all its descendants are pretty good as well. DT02. Hornet Evo, at least after you put wide DT02 rear suspension on it.

4WD: all the Dragon cars are pretty good. Boomerang and Bigwig have the best steering of the 1st generation 4WD buggy platform. And I am a big fan of anything and everything on the Manta Ray/TA01/02 platform.

[alvinlwh]

4 hours ago, Black Phoenix said:

For example: in my opinion a cc01 is cool but no really a well performing driver. A tt02b drives well in my opinion. 

Those 2 are of different classes so cannot be compared directly. A TT-02B will be poor compared to most real 4WD buggies. 

[Snappy1]

New releases, TD2 and TD4

Vintage    Dyna Storm, Top Force Evo , I also have a soft spot for the Egress and Vanquish

[Thommo]

My on-road experience is very limited but for me it’s any DB-01

[Torhaantje]

My humble opinion is all of the Tamiya's, as long as they are used like they were meant to be used and appreciated for what they are.

Best regards, 

Rick

[Thommo]

Best driving or best driving experience….  Can of worms open

[skom25]

If you like Rally Cars, XV-01 is really nice.

Unfortunately (at least for me) it is like love/hate relationship, nothing between.

You will love or just hate how it handles. It is like crazy small dog, which wants to play all time. If you like this, I can recommend to buy it. It is also really nice straight from the box.

18 hours ago, Black Phoenix said:

A tt02b drives well in my opinion.

My opinion is bit different. I think it is worst car I had. It is so "neutral", that there is not even single thing which will encourage you to run it again.

DT-02/3 are nice, but a lot of understeer kills driving experience a bit. It was quite fun on long track on basketball outdoor court, but not very fun on rather tight, technical course.

[Re-Bugged]

A car that drives well for me encompass’s how it looks and the feeling it gives while it’s doing what it’s doing to my inputs in its intended environment.

Out the box the XV-02RS Pro was exactly what I was looking for ticking all the boxes above.

The XM-01 Pro is great to for smaller spaces that the XV-02 can’t stretch it’s legs properly.
I’ve never had an XV-01 came close a few times just to experience a on road belt drive, as the only other belt drive car I have is a Kyosho Javelin, and that is just magic.

A TT02R is close behind it but that took a fair bit of sorting out to get it how I wanted.

Probably my least favourite runner is an M05. I’ve spent a bit of time on it changing parts to make it more akin to a Ver2,  but I just don’t feel like I’ve connected with it. I personally prefer the M08. My driving style seems to be more suited to rear wheel drive.

Off road the BBX is very nice, very similar although not quite as nimble as a Kyosho Turbo Scorpion, is still a pleasure to run.

 

[Howards]

I like my cars to be super quick and oversteery / sideways - others mileage may vary.
 

TT01e is really good on tarmac out of the box with a moderate motor. 

XV-01 is a riot 

DB01 / TD4 / TD2 for a modern racing vibe 

anything DF01 and Astute like for vintage fast buggies 

TRF201 is still excellent anywhere. 

[Hypoxic]

For a 2WD buggy, I’ll second the Wild One. Build it with a softer than stock front suspension (Tamiya #250 shock oil) combined with its higher ground clearance, I prefer it over my DT03 and DT04 in my sandy/rocky conditions. They say the best equipment is that which you use the most. That will be my Wild One, second only to my Lunch Box.

[chris.alex]

On 6/12/2025 at 10:07 PM, Black Phoenix said:

What cars just drive well?

XV02 + XM01 on-road / rally. 

DT02 + TD4 off-road. 

[TurnipJF]

For me, the best-driving car is the one that matches the running environment and my expectations. It isn't just about the car. For example, the F104 V2 Pro yields a brilliant drive on a carpet or smooth tarmac race track, but is a terrible car for bashing around in the back garden. The GF-01 on the other hand is the complete reverse - not much fun on a track unless taking part in some sort of novelty race, but a great backyard basher. Both are great-driving cars under the right conditions.

There is also the matter of expectations. For example, some people love having loads of adjustments to fiddle with. Others prefer a simple car with a versatile stock setup and fewer things to potentially mess up. Something like the TD4 would delight the former driver as it has loads of adjustability, but it might frustrate the latter driver as many of these adjustments can make the car handle abominably if one gets them wrong. By contrast, something like a stock TT-02B with minimal adjustments and a stock setup that works very well for what it is would be better-suited to the latter driver but frustratingly simple for the former.

If you tell us a bit more about where you run your cars and what you expect from them, perhaps we can make more focussed suggestions as to what would be the best-driving cars for you?

[Kowalski86]

On Road: XV-01, it's one of the only on-road RCs that drives and leans like a real car. A TT02S might be "better", but it's less fun to drive.

Off-Road: In my limited experience I like the Frogs handling, it's not necessarily "good" compared to any modern buggy, but for being a very old design it's not terrible. Objectively, I would say that the DT-03 handles nicely other than having a lot of understeer.

[Big Jon]

My current favorites are the TD4, XV-01 and M07. Each has the ability to make me feel like I know what I’m doing on the wheel.

The DF-03 drives surprisingly well in mostly stock trim, too. I own a fairly trick DB-01 that will probably never be driven, and if it is, will never be driven to its full potential. From what I understand, they’re extremely good.

There are very few Tamiyas that don’t drive well when the intent of the chassis is taken into consideration, although there are more than a few that have objectively poor performance. The T3-01, as an example, is not “high performance” by any standards, yet is tremendous fun to play with. 

Mid-level and above kits always drive well in my experience. Entry-level kits usually require at least a few hop-ups to provide the experience that I’m looking for; usually the “Big Three” is sufficient.

[MadAtComputer]

The lunchbox. 

[Wooders28]

Horses for courses....

The TRF 416 is good on tarmac, not that great on the sand dunes , where a Lunchbox would be better 🤷‍♂️

 

[manny]

The Xv-01 seems to be a popular choice.  I would agree if you're looking for a car that can be tuned to handle on different types of terrain.  But if you're looking for the absolute best Tamiya for off road, or on road, you're probably looking at something in the TRF range.

[MadAnt]

In my opinion, best driving does not equal best handling. I focus mostly on the enjoyment experience along with handling. A tightly setup racecar that handles like it's on rails on a race track will get beat up and physically destroyed on the asphalt environments I run on. Sure on paper the racecar may look better, but the cracks and pot holes in the road render it useless.

[skom25]

1 hour ago, MadAnt said:

In my opinion, best driving does not equal best handling. I focus mostly on the enjoyment experience along with handling. A tightly setup racecar that handles like it's on rails on a race track will get beat up and physically destroyed on the asphalt environments I run on. Sure on paper the racecar may look better, but the cracks and pot holes in the road render it useless.

This is why I think XV-01 is interesting.

Probably there are faster cars on asphalt/light offroad, but handling is really nice (until it starts to be annoying).

[JeffSpicoli]

I'm going to be curious to see how I like the TA08 once I get it and get it built.  We have fresh blacktop on our street.  All I've ever driven is offroad Tamiya and RC10.

When I was a teenager I set my Hornet up for street driving.   I put Proline waffles on it and a Kyosho 240ST in it and it was a rocket.   My friends would come over with 540 cars and try and drag race me lol.

I have the Golf V5 but it never really got any run time yet.  Now I'm getting it tuned up and ready for driving.  From what I recall it was a pretty good chassis to drive.  A little weird being front wheel drive but whatever.

I remember as a kid looking at those cement ovals in RC Car Action and being in awe.  They looked like real 1:1 race tracks.   Would love to drive on one of those but I am guessing those are really only in California here in the states.