Kyosho Ultima RB7.5 1/10 2WD Electric Off-Road Buggy Kit

I’ve been a huge fan of Kyosho and Japanese products since the 1980s. I own many of the retor kits and the pan cars as well as I currently own the MP10e 1/8 scale buggy and absolutely love that buggy—it's well-built, easy to work on, and reflects the quality I’ve come to expect from Kyosho. I picked up this new buggy specifically for indoor carpet racing, assuming it would be just as well-designed as other modern buggies. Unfortunately, it’s been a letdown. The front end is built as expected and feels solid. However, the servo placement is a bit odd, and the instructions are confusing. There are several small mistakes in the directions that take time to sort out. None of the plastic parts on the sprue are numbered or labeled, so you end up searching repeatedly to find the right pieces. While the instructions sometimes reference part numbers, there are no corresponding numbers on the actual sprues. The rod ends are not a standard size like those in other kits, which means you can’t use your usual tools to build out the turnbuckles. The rear suspension is especially problematic. The camber blocks and adjustment system are poorly designed. You have to disassemble the entire rear end just to make adjustments. Using the default settings, the arms bind against the chassis plate, which is very unusual. It took me over an hour of taking everything apart, double-checking the build, and experimenting with different adjustment options to get it working. There are no limiters or adjusters to control arm travel—the arms just hit the chassis and stop. The gearbox is a small 3-gear unit that feels stiff when assembled. It might loosen up over time, but it doesn’t spin freely out of the box. I’ve probably been spoiled by the smooth gearboxes in kits like the RC10B7. The rest of the car seems okay, but it still feels dated despite being a brand-new release. At this point, I’m not sure what I’ll do with it once it’s built. I’m curious to see how it performs on the track, but the design choices and complexity of setup might limit how much use it actually gets.

Love this car. It went together very well. If you are looking for a 2WD buggy that is just easier to hold on to, this is a great car imo. I run it on a clay track. The car out of the box did seem to have a push in which I was not fond of but the car was really easy to drive. What I did to help correct it is I moved the bottom shock eyelets to the middle hole to allow the arms to come down a bit more, moved the battery to the furthest position forward and that really helped. It has a lot more traction now in the front. The only real weak spot of this car so far seems to be the tie rods. If you come off dirty off of a jump they can break. It might be good to possibly run a set of titanium versions, that's what I am going to try. The wing can also be a bit fragile if you get into a wreck so be careful of that. Overall though the quality is very good on this car. The plastics are amazing, the shocks are the best imo. I think that this is a great car for a clay surface in particular and for someone who wants an easy car to drive. That seems to be a Kyosho signature in my experience. So ya wonderful car. The real only downside is the fact that it doesn't have an easy access diff if that is important to you. I find that Kyosho is kind of slow to make changes and they tend to hone and refine what they already have over a longer period of time. However, this is also what makes this car so great. I can't describe it but it has this very polished feel in the way it drives. The Infernos have that 'feel' too and although it doesn't completely blow you away and the car isn't super progressive, it makes it a better overall car. It gets the basics down and does them extremely well imo. I don't know if it's on the lightening pace of some of the other cars (I think it might be with the right set up), but as an overall car all things considered, build quality, ease to drive etc, I think it may be the best car in the world.. It is like the Mercedes-Benz E Class wagon of 1/10 scale 2wd buggies. It just seems to combine the most desirable attributes you want overall out of a car, and it wraps that up into a seamless package. It's not the most crazy look at me car but as an overall package it is conceived brilliantly imo and is just an incredible piece of engineering. A lot of these 2wd buggies do tend to look similar, but it's the execution of this car that stands out to me.

Coming back into the RC scene after 25 years, my go-to was Kyosho (and Tamiya) since that's where I left off. Was quite disappointed that their TF road racing chassis is no more, found this Ultima RB7.5 which looks pretty modern. The build was okay but can be better if they label the parts in the tree, especially for all those plastic washer/spacers. Tamiya does this much better, even Team Associated did it better than Kyosho. Speaking of plastic spacers, this kit while commanding flagship price, uses a LOT of them. I had to clean/light sand every one of them because plastic parts tolerance is bad. The RC10SC7 I got has no plastic spacers and they are of similar price. The other problem is with wear and tear of those parts. Not to mention they are missing washers (metal) in 2 of the bags and I have to source it from another kit. And... you thought there will be sway bar with all those mounting points? Nope, you need to get that as optional and they are all plastic mount and end links. (UBW002, UBW003) The end result drives pretty easy, but with all those corner cutting plastic spacers and washers in every pivot point (longevity issue?), the lack of sway bar in stock form to control lean... There are all other fantastic 2WD buggy kits around with similar price (RC10B7.1 comes to mind), this one is surely a let down.

Nice upgrade from the RB 7. Classic Kyosho instructions that can confuse those new to RC. Parts are top of the line and fit perfectly. No sanding required. One of the few cars out there that can still be converted to rear motor.