RGT Intruder: An Important Release!

RGT Intruder: An Important Release!

Heard of RGT?

Before we get to the RGT Intruder EX86020 (available here), I think some context would be helpful. Previously a lesser-known manufacturer, Chinese company RGT have been making quite a splash with their 1/10 trail rig releases over 2022 and 2023.

For instance, you may have already seen our recent comparison article, “Which RGT is best for you?”. In this one, I compared three of their best and biggest recent releases: Rescuer, Challenger and Pro Runner. I’ve also looked at the Tracer, Pioneer, and the 136100 range either here or on the channel – and all have their merits.

3 RGT Models - Rear

What’s the Big Deal?

So, what’s the fuss about the RGT Intruder? Isn’t it just another car? Well, no: for a start, it’s their first big release for 2024. Secondly, it looks the same as the RGT Rescuer EX86190, which will inevitably lead to comparisons with the older, larger model. We’ll see below that this apparent similarity is only cosmetic in nature – but more on that in a moment.

I see it as an important next step after their successful, more ‘standard’ models. Their previous SWB (Short Wheel Base) models have been underwhelming, or, if finished beautifully as with the 136100v3, weaker than it should have been. (Both my 136100v2 and v3 have a broken front axle and both were the CVD joints not standing up to crawling). But now, folks are starting to pay attention.

RGT Rescuer EX86190 on Grass

The Big Reason

RGT has proven they can make great vehicles. They’ve shown how their own designs are working – obvious IP infringement aside with the bodies and often the tire treads. And they’ve shown that they can make a decently durable model that performs well AND has parts and upgrade availability. That’s actually quite a big deal.

As these models draw new potential customers to consider the brand, their newest model releases matter all the more. From where I’m watching, the RGT Intruder EX86020 is possibly their most important release. This is their first high-level scale model RC crawler that doesn’t have the extra bells and whistles that many folks disparage. It has a gorgeous body. The price suggests quality. The running gear is solid (U-joints in those front axles, for example). And it’s all 1/10 scale kit.

In short, this model needs to be good. Better than good. Newcomers to RGT are watching this one!

RGT Intruder Chassis Top-Down

What’s It Like?

The first thing that jumped out to me was that gorgeous body. I made a post on my YT community page that said something like, “Gosh, this car just looks amazing from any angle” – and it really does!

There are a bunch of extras they throw in so you can add more lights, mount a larger battery tray, add some scale extras and have a play with suspension mount points and so on. There’s a lot of good here, though the main ‘feature’ of this model is its appearance. I mean, just look at it!

RGT Intruder External Sides
RGT Intruder Included Parts

Body Issues

There’s only one issue with the body: it is not licensed. This has been the case for all of their crawlers, to my knowledge. Toyota may not be pleased, and I don’t condone the practice. Unlicenced bodies are a problem for the hobby, as are cloned parts. I really need to do a blog post on just this topic, as there are a few things to unpack here. But the car is pretty and the colour choices are all quite good.

This model comes with some extra plastics for both the cabin and the exterior of the body, like a rear-view mirror, extra spotlight cases, wipers, and so on. You need to fit these yourself. The folding side-mirrors come installed though, as do the door handles and the rear pillar air vents. If you do nothing with the extras after you unbox it, the car is still very complete. I also appreciate the captured body pins – you won’t lose these during a battery change on the trail!

RGT Intruder Captured Body Clips

RGT Intruder Interior

Well, it has one. My original RGT Rescuer did not have one (see? Even I’m comparing this car to the Rescuer! It’s inevitable!), though now the EX86190 does ship with an interior. I bought mine separately. The interior in the Intruder here is the same as the one I bought. This is a good thing, as it helps keep RGT’s costs down. It’s attractive, functional, and being polycarbonate, about as light as it could be. Good!

There are no lights in the cabin, but there are lights on all corners, controlled by a central module that’s attached to the underside of the body’s mold piece. It connects to the LED port on the all-in-one Receiver/ESC/Light Controller on the chassis. I’ll get to that further down.

RGT Intruder Front View
RGT Intruder Body Underside

Wheels and Tires

There’s the promise of performance, with vented tires (including foams), and they’re about as large as could reasonably fit under this scale of body. They’d be 43” tires in real life – and on this kind of vehicle, even something like 35” tires are BIG. So, RGT have pushed the performance there as far as they dare. It’s a compromise, scale vs capability, and I think it was the right move to max the diameter out.

They’re glued 4.31″ tires on plastic 1.9″ wheels. However, I do think the tire carcass is too stiff for the weight of this car. The foams feel about right, but the rubber in the tires is either too thick or too rigid, and to my feel, they don’t bend enough around rocks. Traction is lost that the car really needs. We’ll get to this shortly.

RGT Intruder Wheels & Tires

Chassis and Links

This is a talking point: the rails are 3mm CNC-milled aluminum with a stunning finish. They are really pretty! And the chassis is very stiff, too, thanks to the generous plastic-fiber cross bracing from nose to tail. The shock hoops are part of the rails and even the panhard mount is finished in the same lovely material. Full marks for that.

Links and geometry are also well designed. There’s full movement for both axles, no binding, and plenty of room for everything to move as it needs to. And the car isn’t heavy. These are all great things, too. Honestly, we’re off to a very solid start at this point.

Oh, those links are 6mm stainless steel with stainless steel ball ends, too. It’s so premium. Not everyone will appreciate how nice this is, but as an RC guy with ALL the cars and a lot of experience at this point, I want to emphasize just how high the quality is on this vehicle. RGT have not cut corners on chassis and links.

RGT Intruder Shock Hoops
RGT Intruder Underside

Suspension

The coil-over shocks are also very nice. Aluminum body, thumb-screw adjustable pre-load, appropriately plush springs and intelligently mounted. I like these.

However, my unit arrived with empty shocks. Not everyone will notice this, and not everyone will care, but you want some oil in your shocks. It limits how bouncy they are, which limits how much the wheel reacts to changes in terrain at high or low speed. I’d recommend 30 wt. oil, give or take. Worth doing.

The shocks move well and the car is in good shape with this setup. Just don’t forget the oil like my car’s assembler did!

RGT Intruder Adjustable Alloy Shocks

Straight Axles

No portals here. But the best thing about these straight axles is how tough they are. I love seeing steel universal joints on front steering axles in a crawler. It’s really the only way to go for performance and strength. Yes, they’re not as smooth as CVDs and similar, but the extra steering angle the unis afford you make the trade-off well worth it.

The housings themselves aren’t particularly scale, but the size is small and they are attractive. It’s a high-pinion position like Axial’s AR45 axles and the gears are helical cut (or spiral? Can’t quite tell from the photos). Either way, they’ll be strong, and with the default tooth count of 30/8, overdriving/underdriving using the diff gears for better crawling and steering should be a straightforward undertaking. (I’m confident these will fit, though I haven’t tested them yet!)

RGT Intruder Rear Axle and Links
RGT Intruder Front Axle and Links

Radio & AIO Rx/ESC/Lights

After a couple of vehicles with the new FlySky MGXX-BS radio systems, this is my first one with the middle-spec option, the MG6-BS. It’s a 6-channel radio (4x AAs) and an AIO (All-In-One) receiver, 60A ESC and light controller with discrete light hub for body-mounting. The radio is comfortable in the hand, all plastic, and with two stand-out features/design elements:

  1. Channel 5 is a spring-loaded thumb dial that returns to center. What a perfect controller for a winch! (The chassis and bull-bar have a mount point and fairlead respectively for exactly that, too!); and,
  2. A set of DIP switches on the radio that give you control over drive mode (Fwd/Brk/Rev and Fwd/Rev); LiPO/NiMH; Drag Brake (0%, 25%, 50%, 100% – though it’s weak even at 100%); and all the channel reverse options.

It’s a good system. Be aware the light kit is a cut-down version that gives you headlights or no headlights, and indicators and reverse being always enabled based on steering and throttle inputs respectively.

The biggest drawback is that Reverse is WEAK. Slow and underpowered, it seems to have been a cost-saving choice, as you need less MOSFETs in the ESC for reverse for this outcome. Saved FlySky a buck or two, though you miss it on the trail. Apart from this one drawback, I like the whole system.

RGT Intruder MG6-BS Radio
RGT Intruder FlySky 2A-BS AIO
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Our Test Course

If you’re not familiar with how we test RC rock crawlers, we have a course that challenges any 4x4 RC crawler in many ways:

  • Approach and departure angle: these  are challenged on Problems 2 and 3;
  • Side-hill ability: tested on Problems 1, 3 and 5;
  • Breakover (skid clearance): tested on Problems 4 and 6;
  •  Suspension articulation and centre of gravity: challenged on problems 2 and 5; and lastly,
  • A punishing ascent on problem 6 tests all of balance, break-over, articulation, tire traction and approach and departure angles.

Put together, we have a gnarly, challenging set of problems that challenge all crawlers. If a rig can conquer 3 or more of them, chances are you have a reasonably high-performance rock crawler. There are some machines that can claim all success on all six in stock form – but not many!

Driving Woes

I tested it on my 6-Problem course. Bad news first: that slow and underpowered reverse is a big enough drawback to be quite noticeable. I also found the steering servo to be slow and it faded under heavy crawling within a few minutes (though it didn’t fail outright).

The motor and gearing is too fast for crawling and too slow for trail driving. There’s no second speed here, so unlike the Rescuer (there’s that comparison again!!), you’re stuck with your gearing, battery and motor choice. This feels just like comparing the TRX4m to the FCX24 with its 2-speed, actually!

The tires are too stiff. The suspension moves like it should, though being filled with oil would have helped. The car is top-heavy and it tips over easily.

RGT Intruder 25kg MG Servo

Driving Wins

On the bright side, this car looks magnificent on the trail. It looks amazing on the rocks. It moves nicely, with plenty of scale body roll without being too much. It’s quiet, and very pleasant to watch it work over the ground.

Without upgrades, in stock form, this will be a frustrating car to drive if you’re going beyond basic obstacles. The waterproofing is a nice touch, as are the lights, but that capability limitation will make itself known regularly.

With upgrades, though? Yeah, I think this could easily become one of my favorite cars. I’ll get back to you on that, as I’m planning on doing all of the upgrades I list below. The car drives okay. Could be better. 4/10.

RGT Intruder Rear-Right

Value Proposition

So, did they pull it off? Is the car worth the asking price? For a bigger, established brand name, the price is good. Although, newer names have been creeping in with very durable and very capable options in recent times – just look at the Ecto if you’re not convinced (review here)!

I think this car represents real potential for the owner who loves the Landcruiser body and has plans to improve it. As a stand-alone crawler, it’s not as good as a similarly priced rig from Element, such as the Sendero HD. But as a scale crawler with potential to go ultra-scale at low speeds, it leaves the more expensive TRX4 and Axial CJ7 in its dust. But those crawlers will be better on the trail with their second speeds, and better on the rocks, with their better tires and overall performance. So, what to do here? Buy it if you love the body, but be prepared to upgrade as you’re able.

RGT Intruder Unclipped Brush Bars

Upgrades?

Open your wallet for this one. I try to be reserved in my upgrade recommendations usually, but this rig really wants a list of things. Ready?

Wheels & Tires

First, the tires need to go. They aren’t great. And since they’re glued, go with a weighted beadlock wheel too. I’m quite partial to the Boom Racing Hustlers – check them out (and I even found some period-correct steel ‘Sunraisia’ style beadlocks that go *perfectly* with this car)!

Also, you’ll want to install wheel wells (I’ll design some soon to download and print).

Electronics

The slow, weak servo needs replacing. Try my favorite budget crawler servo and you can even run it directly off the 2S battery (signal and ground wires to receiver, positive wire to battery connector, via a switch if you want). Or, my fave 7.4v brushless all-rounder is this guy.

While we’re on electronics, the AIO Rx/ESC and motor combo is sufficiently lacklustre that you’ll eventually throw your hands up and slap in a Fusion system instead.

You’ll want a radio system too, in that case – buy a receiver for any other radio you have, or consider the ever-reliable FlySky GT5.

Banggood sells really cheap 6-ch receivers so you can use this handset for up to 20 models, which is handy.

Lights & Accessories

Lastly, lights: use a Y-splitter for the light control module on the throttle channel and hope for the best (I will try to make an Arduino-based adapter for this to piggy-back off throttle and steering channels soon).

Down the track, you may consider a servo winch – the car is certainly ready for one! And perhaps also some scale accessories and you’ll be sorted!

RGT Intruder 35T 550 motor

Bottom Line

It’s a worthy body on a basic car. With upgrades, it’ll be a SWB beast! Without em, it’ll be a bit frustrating to drive. Pick obstacles appropriate to its capability and you’ll enjoy yourself. Just keep the limitations in mind if you’ve got your heart set on this gorgeous model.

My thanks to Banggood for providing RC-TNT with this model to review. I’d have purchased it myself if they hadn’t, because, just look at it! But they made the investment and have my thanks. Grab your own RGT Intruder EX86020 from Banggood here.

RGT Intruder Rear Left
Craig Veness

Craig Veness

RC-TNT

Craig has been into radio control since the 90s and into RC crawling since about 2010, when a Losi MRC started the obsession! Now it's all rocks this and crawl that and upgrade all the things! ...You know how it is, right? Welcome home 🙂

A note on affiliate links: we were provided with this car by the manufacturer for review purposes. The Amazon and AsiaTees links in the above article are affiliate links, which means we may be paid a small commission if you choose to click on them to make a purchase. As always, we make effort to ensure that no review is impacted by this – we still report on bugs and issues encountered during product testing, and our fixes or solutions if found. Thank you for reading and happy RC-ing!

More RGT Articles…

RGT 136100V3 Rock Cruiser RC-4 V3

RGT 136100V3 Rock Cruiser RC-4 V3

What’s New About the RGT 136100V3?

This is the successor to the budget performer, the RGT 136100 V2 Rock Cruiser. The Rock Cruiser V3 (or 136100 RC-4 V3, or 136100V3) may have a confusing name, but it is still a recognizable evolution of the V2 under the lid. The same chassis and running gear are present, but this is a very different vehicle.

In short, the body is the immediately-obvious update. The body is unlicensed, but it’s easily recognizable. Also, there are a bunch of new plastic pieces adorning the exterior. The lights have gotten a trick overhaul too. There’s a functional spare wheel, a higher turn motor and better suspension. But even all that notwithstanding, the new version brings something special that is largely new to the entire hobby, not just this model family!

RGT 136100V3

It’s All in One, Jim!

The headline change to this model is the integrated ESC, receiver and light controller. There’s a radio transmitter to match and combined, the RGT 136100V3 delivers a very slick driver experience.

The magic is the result of a collaboration between HobbyWing and FlySky. The former specialises in motors and speed controllers, whilst the latter is known for their radio systems. HobbyWing has integrated a FlySky radio system with a 40A brushed ESC that also has a wide range of light control and LED output ports, plus 4 useable channels. It’s quite an impressive device. More on this in a moment.

What’s in the Box?

There’s a 1500mAh NiMH 6-cell battery and a 100v-250v 500mAh wall charger, both with Deans/T-connectors. The battery is secured by hook & loop straps in the vehicle when shipped. There’s a radio transmitter that needs 4x AA batteries – you have to supply those yourself, but that’s the only thing you need to add to get it running. There’s a manual that unfolds into a large sheet of paper. It has exploded parts diagrams on one side and radio and lighting system how-to on the other. There’s also a small bag with front & rear wipers and hubcaps & screws for the beadlock wheels – an optional aesthetic decision for the owner. Lastly, there’s a sticker sheet – the same as the one included with the 136100V2.

RGT 136100V3 Unboxing

Running Gear

The gearbox is a basic, three-gear design. It’s the same design type as the center-mounted transmission you’ll find in the original SCX10 (and in many similar and cloned rigs in the following decade). While the box claims ‘Reverse Drive Transmission’, this is not accurate. The transmission outputs front and rear shafts in the same direction, so torque twist is moderately present in the 136100 V3. It isn’t hugely pronounced and is acceptable. Just worth noting the error in the claimed specs.

The motor is a 25-turn 390 brushed motor. The V2 had a 20-turn motor, which was too fast for the gearing and correspondingly hard on the battery. On the V3, this motor is more suitable for trail and rock driving and is a good match to the stock gearing. No complaints.

The drive shafts have the same steel universals and plastic shafts. They’re up to the task of driving this rig and should last the life of the model. Axles are also tough with steel gears and ball bearings throughout. We noted no slop at either end in the shafts and gears, so out of the box, this part of the vehicle is well-sorted.

RGT 136100V3 Transmission

Wheels & Tires

The Rock Cruiser V2 had white, plastic wheels and tires glued to the rims. While the design suited the body, this was clearly a cheap approach. It suited the budget truck quite well and we had impressive rock performance from the standard tires. For the price, it was most impressive.

The 136100 V3 comes with much higher quality wheels. They’re a 1.9” beadlock design with 6 screws around the outsides to keep them clamped onto the tire bead. The wheels are plastic but they’re attractive and amply strong, both in holding shape and keeping the bead secure. We had no problem with them during testing and they look great.

The tires are a scale-looking, all-terrain tread and the rubber is sticky and pliant on the rocks. Foams are appropriate to the vehicle weight and they really dress up the car. There’s a functional spare wheel on the rear. The donuts are a strength on this car, even given its higher price relative to the V2.

RGT 136100V3 Wheels

Steering

There’s a claimed maximum steering angle of 45°. However, we found that after extending the EPA (End Point Adjustment) on the radio to get that full range of steering, the front-left tire contacted the coil-over preload adjustment collar. When under articulation on the rocks, this had the result of winding the adjustment collar right down, compressing that front-left spring. This unbalanced the whole vehicle. To fix this, you’d either want to run a lick of tape around that adjustment collar or else back off the steering maximum left throw a tad.

The servo is a 6kg waterproof unit with nylon gears. It’s mounted on the axle, so while that isn’t as ‘scale’, the steering performance benefits from the more direct control over the steering arm. The 136100V3 has adjustable front caster angle and the front axles are universal joints rather than CVDs, which helps give that extra angle potential (CVDs max out at around 42° typically).

Our servo failed pretty much from the start of testing. We replaced it with a cheap 15KG waterproof metal geared unit and that was much better suited to this vehicle. Steering was precise and the sticky tires were not a problem for the heavier unit, even on tough rock problems.

RGT 136100V3 Steering

Suspension & Links

Link setup is 4-link at each end. Links are nickel-coated steel with stainless steel ball ends. Articulation is generous for the vehicle type without being excessive. Is the setup an accurate scale replica of the Jimny? No – the full-size vehicle uses a 3-link system at both ends. The real Jimny does have rigid axles and coils at both ends, but the panhard system delivers a better and safer on-road ride while the 4-link system in the RGT 136100V3 is arguably a logical sacrifice to scale detail in favour of better crawling ability.

The shocks themselves are plastic, oil-filled units and the coil-over springs are on the soft side with adjustable pre-load. It’s a plush system overall and it works well with this model. (There’s a pleasing amount of body roll, too – check out our video review at the end of this article to see that. It’s quite fun).

RGT 136100V3 Undercarriage

Body Mounting

The Jimny body attaches without visible body pins. This is a welcome trend in the hobby and we hope to see more of this! Still, not all systems are equal – some can be straightforward while others can be downright frustrating (I’m looking at you, SCX10 III Gladiator). On the RGT 136100V3, there are two pins through body posts underneath the front grille area and the body slips easily onto the chassis mounts.

In the rear is a hinge system that can be unscrewed to fully remove the body – but it opens right up on that hinge, so you should rarely need to do this. The only catch is that the light wires aren’t quite long enough (just an extra 3” or so would be good) to allow the body to fully hinge open. A minor criticism on an otherwise well-executed hidden mount system.

Front Body Mount
RGT 136100V3 Body Hinge

Is It 1/8, 1/10 or 1/12? Yes. Also, No.

RGT’s own marketing material for the RC4 V3 claims they’ve “chosen an off-road vehicle with a relatively historical brand”. Growing up, I loved the Suzuki Sierra (aka. Samauri in other markets) and the new Jimny is a progressive step forward for safety and capability while still retaining that light-weight, short wheelbase design that made its predecessor so beloved for so many years.

However, the body itself is not branded. They appear to have used the design without licensing; we cannot confirm this, but the absence of any branding is telling. The reproduction is pretty good, though the wheelbase, tire & wheel size and overall dimensions are not aligned. Compared to the real 2021 Jimny, this model is roughly a 1/8 scale, though it’s similar in size to other 1/12 scale models. Here’s the thinking behind the 1/8 scale claim, despite this being sold as a 1/10 scale car:

RGT 136100V3 Scale

Light System

This is one of the party tricks the RGT 136100V3 has up its sleeve. While many model crawlers now come with at least basic white/red front/rear lights today, there aren’t as many with a proper light-control system. Indeed, the best light system we’ve found in recent times was in another RGT model, the Rescuer (EX86190) – see our review here for that one.

The light control system in this car is different to that of the Rescuer, however. The Rescuer had its own discrete light control unit, a separate ESC and separate radio receiver. On the RGT 136100V3, all three of these components have been combined into the HobbyWing/FlySky HW-711. That’s just one central hub for all electronics control, from light to motor to steering. This is actually pretty neat, though the execution is a little lacking.

The biggest drawback is the confusing number of wires and how they connect to the HW-711. Ours popped out during filming when the lid got bumped open harder than intended. We found reconnecting the right wires to the right ports was not as simple as you’d think. The wires all have their own numbers on them, yes, but there are multiple ‘1’, ‘2’ and ‘3’ wires and it wasn’t clear what went where, exactly. Further, there are a few spare ports on the HW-711 for future additional lights to be added (taillights and roof lights are vacant but possible to add – a good thing in itself). Finding what wire went where was not straightforward, but once everything is where it should be, there’s quite an array of possible lighting configurations you can eke from the system.

Trail Manners

The 25-turn, brushed 390 motor is an appropriate upgrade to the 20-turn motor of the 136100V2. The latter was too fast and drew excessive current, running the battery down too quickly. In the world of brushed motors, more turns means less speed and less power draw, and conversely more torque (to a point). In a 390 size motor, perhaps a 30-turn motor could be even better for crawling, but for trail driving, RGT has nailed it with a 25-turn. There is sufficient speed for walking on a trail behind the car, but enough low-speed control that it’s not as jumpy as the V2 was.

The plush suspension and accompanying body roll is pleasing to the eye. It soaks up the bumps. The motor is reasonably quiet and the car looks great on the trail. The tires are not particularly aggressive, but the all-terrain style of tread in combination with the sticky rubber compound is enough to give the rig plenty of grip.

The integrated ESC, receiver and light controller is waterproof! This is huge – the vehicle is wet-weather ready from out of the box. All told, the Rock Cruiser RC4 is an excellent little trail rig and is very easy to recommend for this purpose.

RGT 136100V3 Trail

Rock Performance

Things fall apart a little for the RGT 136100V3 when it comes to heavier-duty rock crawling. The 136100V2 was a rock-crawling powerhouse, if limited compared to larger 1/10 scale crawlers. For its size and especially its price, the V2 was truly impressive. (You can see our video review of that here).

The RGT 136100V3 is about double the price of the V2. That is, in Australia, as of May 2022 – it may be cheaper when you’re reading this or if you’re elsewhere in the world. It’s nicer in nearly every way than the V2, with the glaring and important exception of rock crawling ability. Where the V2 manages to claw its way over problems that challenge some 1/10 scale vehicles, the V3 tends to tumble or scrabble in vain. Steep climbs and side-hilling were both challenging to the V3. Its sticky tire compound made up for some of this and after we replaced the servo with a stronger unit, steering wasn’t an issue. But the rig really struggled more than we expected. It did manage to finish Problem 1 (out of 6 total) on our regular 1/10 scale test course. It’s good that it could do this, but it really should have at least been able to get Problem 5 finished as well.

RGT 136100V3 Rocks
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Our Test Course

If you’re not familiar with how we test RC rock crawlers, we have a course that challenges any 4x4 RC crawler in many ways:

  • Approach and departure angle: these  are challenged on Problems 2 and 3;
  • Side-hill ability: tested on Problems 1, 3 and 5;
  • Breakover (skid clearance): tested on Problems 4 and 6;
  •  Suspension articulation and centre of gravity: challenged on problems 2 and 5; and lastly,
  • A punishing ascent on problem 6 tests all of balance, break-over, articulation, tire traction and approach and departure angles.

Put together, we have a gnarly, challenging set of problems that challenge all crawlers. If a rig can conquer 3 or more of them, chances are you have a reasonably high-performance rock crawler. There are some machines that can claim all success on all six in stock form – but not many!

RGT 136100V3 RR Qtr

Value for Money

Possibly the weakest point of the RGT 136100V3 is its value proposition. The V2 was a steal at A$200/USD$150, but the V3 sells for around A$320-A$380 (or around a little under USD$300). It is an improvement in many ways over the V2, it is true. It looks great, has interesting electronics and a tightly integrated radio and power and lighting system. The tires and wheels are very good and the suspension is well implemented.

It really struggles on the rocks and the steering is a glaring weakness. For some, this author included, these can be a deal-breaker on a “1/10 scale crawler” purchase. However, for others, this will still represent a good deal on a pretty and still quite capable little scale trail truck. It is certainly a reasonable machine at its price point – we just would have liked slightly more rock performance at this price, or else to see a lower asking price to better match its rock crawling ability. Let’s call it a matter of subjective preference, as both buying it and passing on this one are completely understandable decisions.

RGT 136100 V3 Headlights

The Verdict

Could it be better? Absolutely. Is it worth the money? Kinda-sorta. Do we regret buying ours? Nope.

Why? Because it’s still fun to drive. In our video review we discussed the concept of ‘smiles per mile’ as a reasonable measure of value. If a car looks great and handles in a pleasing way, even if it isn’t as capable as other crawlers on the rocks, well, the fun is still there. And if its enjoyable to drive, the purchase is probably justifiable.

We’re going to look into improving its abilities on the rocks in a future episode. We’ll also fix a few of the issues with the design, such as lengthening the lighting harness so the body can open the whole way. We’re going to achieve these things for $10 or less as there are a few optimisations to be found with just a few hand tools and some creative changes.

With all this in mind, the RGT 136100V3 is a fun vehicle with potential for better performance. It looks great on the trail and there are enough well-implemented changes over the V2 to reasonably justify the price. It isn’t for everyone, but if you’re into the Jimny and have a focus on trail over rock driving, this may just be a model for you. Check out our video review combo for more:

Where to Get It

Get yours here from AsiaTees, with global delivery options for wherever you are! (It also is available here in a Ford Bronco body).

The servo we’d recommend to improve steering is the jxServo WP5323LV. It’s a full-size unit that runs on 6v, so it’ll be a straight swap with the stock, nylon-geared 6KG unit.

(The above are affiliate links, which help support us at no extra cost to you – thank you for your support!!)

For more info on this vehicle, check out RGT’s website for this car here. If you’re in a country that has FTX brand more readily available than RGT, the FTX-equivalent model is the Outback Peso 3.0. Find the FTX site for this car here.

Lastly, in the videos we mentioned the RGT Pioneer EX86110. That’s a brilliant 1/10 performer. Read all about it in our review of that one here.

Craig Veness

Craig Veness

RC-TNT

Craig has been into radio control since the 90s and into RC crawling since about 2010, when a Losi MRC started the obsession! Now it’s all rocks this and crawl that and upgrade all the things! …You know how it is, right? Welcome home 🙂