WL Toys 1/28 RC CAR Review K979 P939 P929

I have a soft spot for small RC cars. Maybe it's because I just cannot get enough track time, so I like the idea of a car that I can pop in a man bag and whip out at any opportunity. Also I like the detail of the components. So I am always keen to try new ones.

Gearbest have a range of small 1/28 cars with the unexciting 'Small sturdy Car” series moniker. However we have been told that they pack a mighty punch so we were excited to get our hands on one to try out.

What’s inside the box

The rather compact box contains:

• The car
• A lithium 7.4v battery
• The controller
• Instructions
• The charger
• Not much. It is RTR (ready to run) after all.

Closer  look.

The chassis made from aluminium. It is a dual deck chassis, making the compact racer strong and rigid. It is a 1:28 scale car. The car measures up as: length=155mm X width=90mm X height=50mm. It is 4wd and it shaft driven. It has ball bearings for extra smooth running and universals for efficient amounts of power to all four wheels.

As it is small it has got friction dampers. But pushing the car up and down, it did feel sturdy; the tires did also act as a damper.

The wheels, being on a car as compact as this one, are quite small. On the model we got the rims are a bright white colour that really stands out compared to the colour scheme on the body shell. I’ll talk about the body shell later though.

The motor is a 130 sized brushed motor, on the box it says that it can go up to 30KM/H and believe me, it certainly does shift!

The charge time is one hour and thirty minutes. The 7.4v lithium battery lasts around 20-25 minutes.

The wheel controller included with this car takes 4 AA batteries and it quite big. But that might just be me. Even though it’s quite big. It is comfortable to hold. The button that turns on the controller is on the same side as the wheel on the lower left of the controller.

The car its self looks very nice, with a sleek, streamlined design. The red, black and silver on the body shell go very well together. The car has adjustable ground clearance. But its default is a very low profile 5.7mm. Which is fine if you ask me.

Track test

I was keen to see if this car was as quick as that box claims, and I was surprised when I pulled the trigger and the little car launched off into the distance. 

It is a spritely little car. It feels amazing to drive and you can power slide it with only a quick jab of the throttle. Sure, if you put time and effort into drifting the car, it would look quite spectacular. The smallest squeeze of the throttle at the correct time is all it takes for this little beast to launch into a power slide.

The car lasts about half an hour when the battery is fully charged. That is the only thing that I would change on this car. It might only be half an hour, but it will be the most fun half an hour you have had in a long time. The thing that uses up the most speed is probably the speed. It is probably not the 30KM/H it says on the box, but it is very fast for a car of its size. When I first squeezed the throttle, I was shocked about how fast it was. I still am now.

 The steering is very responsive and sharp. For example, if you are going fast, ease the throttle off a little bit and that should get you around some sharp corners. If you are going around a particularly sharp corner and want to hit the apex, don’t go full throttle or the car will understeer. Be careful to not go full throttle around things like hairpins or the car will start to drift out.

larger pebbles can make the car skip into the air

If you are driving this mini beast outside on  tarmac, it will cope. You can easily make an awesome track by weaving around large stones or other things you find laying around. However the main issue with an un-prepared surface and a small car is, of course, stones. The car is around the same ride height as a standard 1/10 but it is much lighter and smaller so larger ones will unsettle the car.

When playing around with the car, I found that it was very robust for such a small car. The parking lot in which I thrashed it around in was filled with stones and was perfect for testing the robust little car. 

When I accidentally crashed into a pretty big rock, the car did a (quite spectacular) flip in the air and rolled into a wall. I was prepared for the worst, but no! The little car stayed alive. I was actually surprised when I squeezed the throttle and it carried on going in a perfectly straight line. The second (and last) time I crashed, I hit a rock a little smaller than the last at full throttle and despite the spectacular flip in the air and the large amount off rolls, the car landed back on its wheels and just kept on going. I was amazed at how such a little car could take such huge impacts.

Overall

Like I said before, the car is very fun to drive and is not to be underestimated because of its size. I had a lot of fun bombing it around a home-made track in a car park.

Controlling the little beast was very easy and would be a lot of fun for everyone. I would recommend taking the car outside to a place with smooth concrete. Make your own track with your imagination, and race away!   

There are a range of different models of this car with different shells. Here are the links for them

Buy the Review Truggy P939 here

Buy the Red race car k979 here

Buy the Pick up Truck P929 here

Buy the Race car K979 here

Buy the Short course truck here