I have bought the team associated 1/24 (or as some say 1/28) scale SCT’s. The black fox body and the Lucas oil.
They take a long time to charge, they are not fast, and only have rear springs/shocks. They are incredibly light and wouldn’t be a bad start for $50.
I also have some Losi micro 1/24 scale whips. Very fast, durable and generally kind of killer. Problem is they don’t make them anymore and the parts are getting extremely hard to find ( esp tires and the steering linkage)
Just recently me, my brother and the kids got Carisma rally 1/24 cars. LHS said they are making a version 2.0 but most of the parts will v1. This story fits the fact these cars are not super available on the internet. Currently all the parts are plentiful, and actually really cheap $.
I wouldn’t take an ECX if you gave it to me. Pieces of shit. Breaks easy and parts are incredibly expensive given the car.
If that doesn’t convince you, I’d be happy to sell you some ECX torments cheap. Red or blue.
We have tracks in our basements. The TA’s ran about 10 (super high 9’s at peak) seconds and as nimi batteries they slowed as they died.
The losi’s got into the upper 7’s on 2s lipos
The carisma stock ran high 7’s on 1s and mid 6’s with optional ties and springs. The car on 2s is really too fast for our track, and you can upgrade the motor and drop in a 3s if you have the desire. 4 pinion and 2 or maybe 3 spur gear choices. I think you get a 2nd pinion with the car. 2s did make us slightly faster in a random lap but it gets squirrelly and turns are much more difficult with the additional speed.
My track is down at the moment, it will get back up in a month or two.
This is my brothers
This is a pic of us in process of building it