We've had an assortment of $10-$50 Chinese Crap cars.  The boy wants a RC Lamborghini for Xmas.  We live rural so a buggy or truck seems more suited to where he would be able to run it.  The local pawn shop has 2 sides to the store, guns and hobbies, and we don't split up when we go in.  It looks like $200 is the starting point?  I was never really into RC heavily as a kid, Cox .049 for planes and the RC10 for cars was cutting edge.  If he sticks with it we can always upgrade later, but I'm willing to go around $200 if that means source able replacement parts.

We went through this on drones and ended up with a Traxxas from the Pawn/Hobby shop.  Bonus was swappable batteries.  I think the only original part on the drone is the batteries, controller, and circuit board.  The frame was replaced, motors, props, etc from crashes.

Brands, models, suggestions?  Thanks!!

Grasshopper is the best entry level one made. Has been around for over 30 years and was my first over 30 years ago. Yes a build kit yet that adds to is.

ETA: can probably find a RTR (ready to run) one as well. Although kits are fun allows you to play with them.

Traxxas probably has the best parts support these days...

I go my 4yr old the Traxxas Bigfoot Monster Truck and he loves it... Traxxas has the generic version not licensed by Bigffot/Ford for approx 200...

Link to Bigfoot

Bigfoot is good.   If your not running in high grass. You can go with the traxxas bandit.  (2wd night). Stampede  or most any traxxas will be good and easy to get parts for

Traxxas Slash 2wd RTR should be everyone's first car. Bulletproof and available in different trims. 2wd will teach him how to drive. Parts are everywhere.

Once he gets into it, then go for the big scale monster trucks, 1/8 scale buggies, truggies, scalers,etc.

I bought a Traxxas Slash 2WD with an extra battery pack and 110V Charger for $250 out the door.  Seemed like it would be big enough tires and clearance to run through the grass.  The boy likes speed, so I was not sure how the BigFoot would go over.  I'm sure I will end up taking the tractor and making a track in the back eventually.  Thanks for the help. - JP

I have a beater Traxxas Stampede that has been solid.

My 6yo seems to prefer to abuse the Grasshopper.  YMMV.

At that price, I assume you got the brushed model? Not sure if Traxxas still does it, but they used to have an upgrade service where you could get a discount on motor/esc upgrades. At the least, get a 2s lipo battery (5,000 mah +/-) and a lipo charger. You'll get about 45 min run time and charges only take about an hour(or less). The stock battery may only give you 15 min and the trickle chargers are torture. Also, the nimh batteries decline in performance as they discharge. Lipos run 100% performance until you hit the cut-off.

The VXL system (their 3s-capable brushless setup) is great. It may be called something else now. It's what I started my 4 year old with (on training mode), and it never failed to impress me. With a 3s lipo, it'll flip over backwards at any speed and make for some spectacular crashes. Once he got good enough, I put it on regular mode, and every once in a while, I'd let him run a 3s pack through it. He's 7 now and is pretty damn good with a 4s 1/8 ebuggy.

Interesting to note that even though I bought two VXL Slash 2wds 3 years ago, mine has essentially been replaced a few times over. Not an original part left. My son is still on the same motor, and the truck is mostly stock. It's pretty beat though, and nowadays it only gets used as a loaner if one of his friends comes over.

Brushless Tacon.  I have the Thriller (stadium truck), but they have a buggy, monster truck, rally car, and truggy version also.  It is basically a cheaper Losi mini 8.

I came to second the Traxxas Slash 2WD. I'd recommend just buying the truck without the battery/charger as the battery is "small (3000 MHA NiMH)" and the charger is worthless as it won't even fully charge the small battery. It also has a training model which cuts the throttle to 50% output. Eventually you can turn off training mode and even upgrade to a brushless motor in the future.

Parts are everywhere and if you know how to use a screwdriver you can basically take the whole thing apart and put it back together.

I got a Slash 2wd for my son and I liked it so much I got one for myself so we can race them. It’s a gateway drug though because now I want a Slash Ultimate and an X Maxx.

Wow!  I didn't know the Grasshopper was still on the market!  Actually that was my son's first RC car.  He is in
his early 40's now, was about 10 or so when he got the Grasshopper.

It was durable, well made, and even 30 years ago had a lot of accessories available, shocks, tires, etc.

At that time Traxxas was very new on the market, and early ones more "toy" grade.  Soon they became very
well made and performing.  So that is a good brand, too.

Running on grass is a matter of a lot of ground clearance and wide, large diameter tires, but that really sucks
up the battery and not much fun.  Running on dirt is cool... and a dirt track can be set up quickly.  And later you
can rake it down and let the grass grow back.

He tried racing with one of the Associated road cars, but you had to have a very flat surface, such as a tennis
court.  It was just not convenient.

You son would be happier with something like the Grasshopper, or other similar dirt track cars.

this

The Traxxas PowerUp program is still in operation.

I sold two brushless powerup's today. $170 and you old Traxxas brushed or brushless ESC and motor.

Dead ones are OK. We send a box of dead ones to Traxxas about once every two months.

PowerUp is also available for the Traxxas 3.3 engine and all radio systems TX & RX no servos

Traxxas has the best parts support in the industry.

Be sure to also check out Arrma.Arrma Rc. Several options.

My first was a Stampede back in ‘99 (11 years old) - definitely an awesome vehicle. I still remember upgrading to NiMH and getting a Chameleon Pro 19T motor. Super impressive specs in those days. Was definitely a gateway for me, ended up with 23 vehicles at one point, but the Stampede (and later the E-Maxx which I bought the day it released) were my two fondest looking back. I plan on getting a Rustler 4x4 for my daughter next year and will likely end up with an X-Maxx myself.

Careful with buying Arrma vehicles.

Arrma was a line of vehicles marketed by Hobbico  / Great Planes Dist.  Hobbico went bankrupt and got bought by Horizon Hobby. The Arrma vehicles compete with the existing Horizon vehicles lines so expect to see Arrma slowly disappear.

In my experience with Horizon they are not the best in service and support of their products.

Presently the best cars and best support in parts advice and general support are Traxxas.

HPI is under new US ownership and management and the vehicles and parts are returning. They are good cars also.

Arrma isn't going anywhere. They are more popular now than they ever have been and continually update current models along with new product.

They fit right in with the rest of the Horizon owned brands.

Parts are readily available and all the hobby shops I frequent carry their line.

HHmm. I have found lots of support for Arrma products and I have needed it a lot less than I have for Traxxas.

Looks like the outdoor recommendations are covered, so I'll take you in a different direction.  MiniZ.  These are 1/32 RC cars, with a hobby class radio.  Ten or twelve different chips, means him and his friend can race up to a dozen cars, with individual frequencies.  You can get outdoor tires, but the nice part if these are indoor cars, hitting speeds of 24mph out of the box.  You can make an track out of the 2x2 inexpensive floor mats from Home Depot.  As he gets older, he might really diver in and can customize his cars.  There are plenty models available, and they run on AA batteries, though rechargeables make more sense.

Anyway, they start at @ $150, but that's the car and a hobby class radio.

Our family did he Traxxas, etc. and it is a hoot. The MiniZ gave us an indoor option, as well as being user friendly for friends to join in.  I bought some new cars, but found some new sets on eBay.  I bought the Mach V because...well, why not the Mach V!

I bought a couple of Wltoy K989s last year, they are 4WD and 1/28th scale.  An absolute hoot.  I think they were less than $50 each and have survived well, except we finally broke a $2 shock tower.

We race them outside and in the shop in the winter.  I built a track from 3/4" PVC and added a few ramps.  Just hilarious.