What reasonably priced RC car would be best for a 4 year old?
November 25, 2018 1:52 PM   Subscribe

Please help me find a suitable radio-controlled car for a 4 year old.

In addition to advice about how to look, what to look for or what to buy, I'd be grateful for advice on a general point. The recipient has expressed a wish for a "race car", but it occurs to me that things with that sort of look might be worse at handling difficult terrain than a truck or even monster truck design. Is there a bodywork design that is going to offer more fun for a small child who wants to have adventures? Is a "race car" design going to be so much less fun that it's worth looking at other options?
  • Recipient: a bright, manually dextrous 4-year-old who wants a radio-controlled car for Christmas.
  • Location: England
  • Budget: £50
  • Specifications: As tough, durable and weatherproof as possible - remembering how rough 4 year olds are on their toys. Easy controls.
Thank you.
posted by howfar to Shopping (6 answers total) 2 users marked this as a favorite
 
The danger with some of the cars available is that they're pretty fast, and a big lump of toy hurtling towards your child at 15mph could be scary.

The Nikko Vaporizr 2 looks very durable. It looks a bit 'raceing car-y' buy also has fairly big wheels, as well as being waterproof (and amphibious).
posted by pipeski at 2:14 PM on November 25, 2018 [1 favorite]


Where do they (or their parents) want to play with it? If indoors on hardwood floor, just about anything will work. Indoor on carpet and you'll need bigger wheels (but suspension doesn't really matter). Outdoors, and then your idea about "truck" gets much more relevant.

As pipeski says, I'd look at "RC toy cars" instead of more generally RC cars (which can get big, fast, and expensive). Helpfully, your price ceiling should make that distinction for you. I'm not sure what the current hotness is in RC toys (my interests go more towards the "big, heavy, and fast enough that someone could hurt themselves" end of the spectrum), but there has got to be a hundred alternatives on Amazon or Dealxtreme/Aliexpress/ebay.
posted by Alterscape at 2:33 PM on November 25, 2018


I got a Nikko Vaporizer for my 5yo last year and it's great. The thing is pretty durable and has been knocked around a fair bit while offroading. It works less well on hard smooth floors as the tyres are ridged for gripping softer ground (even if that's carpet). Controls are like tank controls- two joysticks, one for each side. This is a little tricky to start with but lets you do cool spins.
posted by EndsOfInvention at 2:37 PM on November 25, 2018


I picked up a couple of Micro racers..they came in a coke can type thing. They go like stink, are cheap, rechargeable and my young boys loved them. We also had a couple of stunt racers, but micro again, and again they loved. For a four year old, I highly recommend
so much fun

I also picked up a huge RC truck at Costco and some point for husband. Kids like it but it doesn't do much on one charge, and is slow.
posted by Ftsqg at 2:48 PM on November 25, 2018


Playmobil has a couple of RC vehicles that I would recommend you checking out. My 4 year old destroyed higher end RC stuff, and things designed to be toys will be more suitable for how a kid is going to use/abuse such a thing. (For example.)
posted by rozee at 6:09 PM on November 25, 2018


What about this one? It's quite big and seems just right for a 4 year old to me.
posted by DarlingBri at 6:41 AM on November 26, 2018 [1 favorite]


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