Dispelling the Avante is fragile and horrible to drive myths

[GTodd]

I’ve owned an original Avante shelfer for years (2003) it has seen some light running just so I could see that beautiful body in motion but I was afraid to put it through its paces out of fear of braking hard to get parts. Not to mention that I’ve read for years that it was a pig that didn’t like to turn or jump.

I was waiting for the Egress Re-re but when we got the Black instead I jumped all over it with every intention to drive it. I finally have! My Avante Black is fitted with a 6.5 brushless Novak for motivation. It has proven to be very durable on my local 1/8 scale track that features flowing turns, single, double, and triple jumps. The Avante turns aggressively, and the steering response is right now. Sure the front end could use more suspension travel; an adjustment in driving style is all that is needed. FUN CAR!!!!!!!!! Would it win an A-main against a TRF 501, Lossi, or RC10. No but it would hold its own and look a lot better doing it.

[PaPeRo]

Where did you hear the Avante was horrible to drive? When I had mine back in the day it drove just like a AWD buggy. I personally thought it was too heavy for its size and the front almost lay down shocks didn't offer much in terms of high jumping ability. The front cast aluminum knuckles were pretty weak too and bent easily. I would've preferred flexible plastic ones at the time since machined knuckles were unheard of at that time. As for looks, I thought it looked pretty cool for the time but today it just looks weird to me. Even though it was my first Tamiya I've never had the urge to buy the re-re as it just doesn't appeal to me.

[GTodd]

All over this forum for years ive heard about the weight, that it understeered like a pig, and that it was fragile. Maybe the new material, big beefy knuckes, and the horse power available in new motors has made it's side effects less noticiable. I love the front one way, Im going to combine the older center ball dif to see if it changes it's characteristics at all.

[kyosho1]

My 1998 Avante was fragile to a certain extent.

Original front cast metal upright bent easily but corrected by reinforced ones later on.

Front gearbox especially the part facing the bumper can deform upon impact.

Front gearbox differential access hatch breaks around the screwhead.

Front cast metal rocker arm break easily upon impact.

Front stabilizer brackets deforms upon bumper impacts

Front stabilizer bars detach when front suspension arm "sweep back" (very frequent)

Front suspension aluminium threaded rod bends easily, corrected to a certain extent by titanium rods.

Rear suspension arm that attaches the upright gets deformed upon side impact.

Rear top gearbox cover crack around screwheads.

Rear shock tower is loose.

Otherwise the buggy is a blast to drive, fast & quiet.

[Theibault]

Funny seeing this after posting about my Avante a moment ago on favorite buggy to use. I love this car and it gets driven a lot. I have yet to break anything, the only damage is cosmetic scratches and paint chipping off the shell.

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[PaPeRo]

Here's a short review of the re-re.

[GTodd]

My 1998 Avante was fragile to a certain extent.

Original front cast metal upright bent easily but corrected by reinforced ones later on.

Front gearbox especially the part facing the bumper can deform upon impact.

Front gearbox differential access hatch breaks around the screwhead.

Front cast metal rocker arm break easily upon impact.

Front stabilizer brackets deforms upon bumper impacts

Front stabilizer bars detach when front suspension arm "sweep back" (very frequent)

Front suspension aluminium threaded rod bends easily, corrected to a certain extent by titanium rods.

Rear suspension arm that attaches the upright gets deformed upon side impact.

Rear top gearbox cover crack around screwheads.

Rear shock tower is loose.

Otherwise the buggy is a blast to drive, fast & quiet.

It looks like Tamiya was paying attention, did you email them or something? Most of those issues seem to have been resolved wilth better materials and redesigns such as the rear shock tower and knuckles.

[kyosho1]

I read fron magazines that the 1988 gearbox plastics were fiberglass reinforced type. So quite surprised they crack at stress points.

Tamiya certainly addressed the fragile parts. Improvements found in Avante 2001

[Grastens]

My Avante has held up very well over a short ownership period that included plenty of hard driving. If equipped with ball diffs, the gears do require periodic maintenance, and while I have had issues with slop as components wear down, they are not pronounced.

The car is sweet on the corners, with consistent behaviour in flat turns. I have yet to drive it on a proper track or even proper jumps, but the ones it did take were handled well.

My maintenance notes indicate that parts were only lost or broken on heavy impacts at near-top speed. Granted, track running is very different from bashing, but so far it has proven to be an excellent bashing car.