The King Motors Baja 5B clones RTR are in India. Jacks Hobbies is selling them, 40K for 23cc, 50K for 26cc and 60K for 29cc. For those who were waiting for the clones, you can check them out. Best to have a close look and decide.

http://jackshobbies.in/products_big.aspx?imgid=749



http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9-ZK9ffgAcI&feature=player_embedded#at=263

I still don't get the point of a gas powered car...
IMO, brushless has WAY more power at a smaller cost...
Just my 50 paise...

I guess you meant "glow" powered.

The electric versus glow/gas issue is always a question of usage time.  If one does not want to acquire many batteries, and then spend time charging them every time before use, then glow makes sense.  Glow maximizes usage time, and the noise factor etc adds a whole another dimension. The clean-up and maintenance aspects are the flip side.

The increasing cost to upgrade to higher spec batteries just does not make sense to me. I would prefer a nitro for better run time, sound, smoke etc. Electrics, only when I am lazy and to run on my street.

Savings on cost of running gasoline cars will cover the initial investment over a period of time. You can run 30-40 mins on a tank full (700ml). Works to about Rs. 34. Its like choosing a diesel car over petrol.

I definitely cannot afford the import HPI 5B or 5t. This sounds like a good option to me. However, the build quality is what concerns me. I personally spoke to Jack from Jack hobbies and he is ready to ship a 23cc buggy at 41k change with tons of spare parts. Is that good or bad?

Karthik, i personally feel that you should not go in for a clone, as you have rightly said so in your post that the quality is of concern. Its better to save up and buy the original instead of buying a clone to save a few thousand bucks and spending more than you have saved on the buying new parts!!

Quote from: meteor on January 22, 2010, 12:20:46 PM
to save a few thousand bucks and spending more than you have saved on the buying new parts!!

I am sure you are not aware of the current prices of clones and the original Baja in India. The difference is about 40K. Thats not small for atleast me......

@ Mail4ajo: I know the cost of the Baja is high in India, but its better to spend more and be peaceful, instead of worrying on warranty. My friend hand carried a Baja into Bangalore and ended up paying 18000 on duty  apart from the extra he paid to bring it in  The total cost 5000 lesser than India pricing for going through all the hassles. Another friend ordered from Tower, and Bangalore customs has it for 32 days  and ended up paying 40% duty on the value of the car.. Why go through the hassles is my point. I learnt from my friends mistakes and bought one from the Bangalore dealer. 

Quote from: meteor on January 22, 2010, 05:25:59 PM
@ Mail4ajo: I know the cost of the Baja is high in India, but its better to spend more and be peaceful, instead of worrying on warranty. My friend hand carried a Baja into Bangalore and ended up paying 18000 on duty   apart from the extra he paid to bring it in   The total cost 5000 lesser than India pricing for going through all the hassles. Another friend ordered from Tower, and Bangalore customs has it for 32 days   and ended up paying 40% duty on the value of the car.. Why go through the hassles is my point. I learnt from my friends mistakes and bought one from the Bangalore dealer.  

No need to import when you get the clone locally in Bangalore and Hyderabad. I have seen the clone and its not bad for the price. I wasnt happy with the plastics though.  When you break stuff, you can replace with the original HPI parts. Both engines are chinese anyway and copies of Zenoah. Infact I have the clone body on my SS kit. I paid about 2K for it. Its almost as equal in quality to the original which about 70$.

The warranty in India for HPI is only electronics and we know nothing usually goes wrong with electronics. HPI India doesnt have any written document on warranty and I feel its just an eyewash. They also claim no warranty after its run. Also the parts support is poor. Everyone knows that. I know people waiting for weeks to get the Baja spares.  One dealer keeps a spare Baja for stripping spares only. I get all my spares from DDM motors, US in flat 2 days.

I got my SS kit for about 62K will all duty paid from Singapore. 80K for the Baja 5B and 100K for 5T RTR is just insane.