BEHIND THE
WHEEL
1/10 SCALE | NITRO | RTR
Type ❯❯ 4WD nitro touring car RTR
Price ❯❯ $310 (price varies with dealer)
Top Speed ❯❯ 54mph
Requires ❯❯ 12 AA batteries (for radio) ❯❯ one 6-cell
rechargeable NiMH (for RotoStart) ❯❯ fuel
hpiracing.com
QUICK SPECS
HPI NITRO RS4
RTR 3 EVO+
’CUDA AAR
DRIVE TIME TEST SPOT HOME DEPOT PARKING LOT
MUSCLECARS NEVER HAD IT
SO GOOD
With several years of refinement to the RS4
chassis, the HPI ’Cuda handles far better than
any real musclecar ever did. Of course, which
musclecar ever had the benefits of 4WD and
a fully independent suspension at all four cor-
ners? Like the original AAR, this car has stag-
gered tire widths—26mm in front and 31mm
in back. Not only does this give it a more
accurate look, but it also helps neutralize the
handling for less experienced drivers. The
Vintage tire compound and tread aren’t the
grippiest, so the RS4 can be coaxed into
amusing sideways action. If you ease it into
turns, the prevailing characteristic is a moderate push. If you pitch it in a little harder to get
the suspension to transfer some weight and
then feed in throttle, you can do some cool
powerslides. Jerk the wheel too hard and mat
the throttle, and you can force a spin, but you
have to work at it. If you crank the steering all
the way over and mash the throttle from a
stop, you can even get it to do donuts!
Overall, the handling is very confidence-inspiring for beginners. Add in a fairly generous ride height and relatively soft springs
around the oil-filled dampers, and you’ve got
a car born for parking lot heroics.
THERE IS NO REPLACEMENT
FOR DISPLACEMENT
HPI respects that time-honored musclecar
maxim. In the case of the RS4 Evo+, the “+”
represents a significant bump in cubes—the
T3.0 is fully 20 percent bigger than the T- 15
from the previous Evo, with corresponding
increases in power and torque. This engine is
based on the burly G3.0 from HPI’s racing
