I couldn't find a topic about diecast Camaro concepts, so I made a new one. I just bought the Hot Wheels one and 2 out of the 3 different Jada/Dubs/BigTimeMuscle ones I found. Got them all at Target yesterday. The one I didn't buy was a silver one the same size as the red one. The Jada ones are both R/C cars.

In my personal opinion, the Hot Wheels and smaller Jada ones kind of suck in a way. The cars look really unusual/bad in comparison with the larger one because they don't have side mirrors. I guess the side mirrors make a huge difference.

Review of the large Camaro R/C car:

Well, this toy is pretty cool looking. It wasn't very expensive, I think only $20, so I guess if my review sounds sour, all I can say is you get what you pay for.

First off, the scale is 1:16 according to the bottom of the car. It is significantly larger than my 1:18 scale 2002 Camaro SS model. Second, the sculpt of the car is VERY good. The paint quality/finish leaves me disappointed however. It is very smooth and nice overall, but straight out of the package I noticed 1 bad wrinkled blemish above the passenger-rear wheel as well as a scratch on the nose and what I can only describe as a rash on an area of the roof. The Chevy emblem on the nose as well as the exhaust tips are poorly painted. The wheels look only slightly too large. I don't remember what size the gigantic wheels were on the concept (20s?) but these appear to only be 22s or 23s at worst, so they aren't awful.

As far as how it does as an R/C car I'm very disappointed. While it is expensive enough to have fully functional steering, drive, and reverse (not the cheap kind that doesn't turn and goes into reverse for steering) it isn't very good at being an R/C car. The tires are a rubberized plastic and have a gorgeous tread carved in them, but they offer zero grip. The car just peels out and skids on the hard wooden floor. Part of the reason it just peels out and skids is because the darn thing has binary controls--either the electric motor is on or it is off; there is no in between. It's like putting the pedal to the metal every single time which is really lame. I really would have appreciated a slow speed because it is difficult to keep the car from ramming into stuff (and you can actually hear the gears stripping in its transmission everytime you hit the "gas" which sucks a LOT).

It's ability to steer is just as bad. It is also binary so there is no correcting your path if you veer off course; it just ends up trying to turn on a dime everytime but doesn't have the traction to do so. Since the tires offer such poor traction, steering isn't good at all honestly. It may just be my opinion, but such large wheels on the car seem to limit its ability to steer as well. The car has the front wheels positioned significantly too far into its wheel-wells so that the wheels can turn properly.

The car drives alright on carpet, but you can still hear the gears stripping and the steering works just as bad on carpet. One good thing though, it has the ground clearance to drive on just regular 'ole carpet just fine.

Overall, I don't know what I rate it. I would recommend it as far as how it looks. It looks really good. If you were real picky and wanted to display it as a model I'm sure you could offset the front wheels the 1/12 to 1/16 inch they are too far in, but that is only if you are really picky. But I wouldn't recommend it if you enjoy driving R/C cars. It sucks as a toy IMO. I don't have the parts or ability to, but if I could, I would love to put a decent motor in it or a better control that would be pressure sensitive. The binary controls really suck.

If any of you electrical geniuses can figure out how to rig up 4 LEDs for the taillamps and 4 for the headlights and fogs let me know... that would make this car pretty awesome. I'd love to wire those up if I knew how (Christmas lights are on sale right now and you might notice in the first pic I posted, I managed to find a set of very small LED xmas lights at Target as well, they would work perfect if I knew how to wire them up).

 

I went to this diecast store a little ways from my house and found a bunch of cool stuff. My g/f bought me both the Jada Toys silver and red 1/18 scale Camaro concept cars. I bought these two as well, the Dodge Challenger concept and the GT500



.

 

The silver R/C looks awesome. I'm not a fan of the huge wheels though. The concept car's wheels are big enough. Too bad it doesn't drive as good as it looks.

If one doesn't appear under the Christmas Tree, I might have to pick up a Concept Camaro along with a Dodge Challenger!

 

I'm not going to do a full review of the little red one I bought or take cool pics of it but... here's a short review.

Looks great, would be better with side mirrors. The paint job has the same problems as the larger silver one -- paint has imperfections that a brand like Maisto or Hot Wheels wouldn't let slide.

As far as how it drives... awful. No traction whatsoever on the wood floor. The tires are very skinny and it just burns rubber and acts erratically. In fact, the control doesn't work very well. Sometimes it reacts funny, like turns the wrong direction when I turn the opposite way. Really buggy and lame. It has a multichannel ability to go on 4 different frequencies, but none of them make a difference for me. So it looks good, but based on how badly it is controlled, you'll wreck its good looks in a matter of minutes unless you're on a basketball court without walls.

Can't drive on carpet either, it is too low. I don't suggest this one at all. Get the big 1:16 scale one, at least it is pretty entertaining on the carpet.

 

Brangeta:

Concerning the small red R/C version you have - is that the one that is about 7 to 7.5 inches long? If it is, I also bought that car, but mine came with mirrors. And it was facing the left side of the box, not the right. The remote control was on the left side too. The mirrors are made of some kind of flexible material so they won't break off easily.

I've also seen an even smaller R/C version at Target - about 4, maybe 4.5 inches long - silver in color.

I need to order one of the 1/18th diecast (non-R/C) cars - they look nice. Gotta get one of the chrome too!

 

That's weird Linuxguy, I haven't seen the one you're talking about. My red one is approximately 5 inches long and definitely without mirrors :-\.

 

2000GTP

SACRILEGE!! ......for shame...for shame

Your picture posting privileges are indefinitely suspended.

 

Oh. Sounds like you have the red version of the small one I saw at Target (which I spoke of above). I just measured my "medium" (that's what I'll call it now) sized red R/C - it is definitely 7.5 inches. And come to think of it, looking at this tape measure now, the little silver one at Target probably was 5 inches.

I made my post above rather late at night - so now that I think about it more, the 5 inch version was arranged in it's box just as your red one is shown - car on the left, pointing right, and controller on the right. And even though your picture doesn't show much of the controller, I can tell from the control sticks that it is the same controller that the 5 inch car I saw had. That particular controller has thicker looking control sticks than the 7.5 inch version's controller. The 7.5 inch-er's controller is styled like a real R/C car controller. Also, The 7.5 inch version uses 3 AA batteries, where as the 5 inch uses 3 AAA batteries.

Just thought I'd clear that up so folks would know about the different sizes available.

 

Sorry, but I'm a big diecast collector in general and believe it or not, that is the first Ford in my collection. I have mostly GM and some Mopar in there. Plus, I can't post pics yet of the two Camaros because I won't have them in my possesion for two more days.

 

And to re-assert my loyalty to GM and the 5th gen, here are a couple 5th gen Hot Wheels I picked up from K-Mart a few weeks back.

 

^HOLY ****!!!!! YOU BOUGHT 12!!!!!

I picked up 2, one to play with, and one to collect. HAHA!


Xmods should make one. They have some really nice sets, and are more than just simple R/C cars.

 

lol I just bought 8 finally god it took me for ever to find the concept and the 3rd gen has anyone found the other 3 in the camaro seires?

 

.......yeah, I've been known to pick up a Mustang or two myself. Never anything bigger than 1/64th though.

That GT500 looks interesting, wonder if they have it in blue?

.......Wait, what the hell am I saying!??

 

I STILL havent seen a ONE at any of my local stores.

<--- Pissed.

 

I just picked upthe 1/24 scale in red. I also found a Hot Wheels in silver and a 3rd gen with side pipes. If you don't likre the car you can always get the model kit and fix it.
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