A couple weeks ago we did our first review of an IMEX RC vehicle and this week we are doing our very first Rlaarlo review! Rlaarlo (pronounced Ray-La-Low) is relatively new on the rc scene, but have already made a big splash with their scale crawlers and monster trucks. For the last few weeks we’ve been testing their 1/12 XTS-P12 RTR Rally Car to see how it stacks up. The XTS-P12 was designed to have a highly scale realistic look, while also being highly capable, on-road or off. Scroll on down to get the scoop folks!
From: Rlaarlo
Direct Link: Rlaarlo 1/12 XTS-P12 Rally Car
Review By: Cubby
Pictures By: T-Money
Specs-
RTR or Kit: RTR
Age: 14+
2wd or 4wd: 4wd
Shaft or Belt: Shaft
Electric or Gas: Electric
Scale: 1/12
Width (measured by BSRC): 6.35″
Wheelbase (measured by BSRC): 8.75″
Motor: 3,600kV brushless
Speed Controller: 45 amp brushless
Low Voltage Cut-off: Yes
Radio: 2.4GHz
Differential: Front and rear gear diffs
Driveshafts: Dogbones
Shocks: Oil filled, aluminum bodies and caps
Screws: Hex
Battery: 3S LiPo w/ charger for car, Li-ion for transmitter w/ charger
Part Number: #XTS-P12
Top Speed (measured by BSRC on 3S stock LiPo): 33 MPH
Street Price: $189
What’s In The Box- You get everything you need to run the truck right inside the box, and we mean everything! You get a rechargeable battery for the car, as well as a rechargeable battery for the transmitter, with both coming with the needed charging equipment. All you’ll need to do is charge the batteries and put some livery on the body before your first drive.
Build Quality- Upon inspection of our test unit, we only found one issue, the ESC power button had come loose while in transit from the Rlaarlo factory to the Big Squid offices. A new piece of double sided sticky tape later, we were ready to rip.
Test Drivers- For a testing crew I did some wheeling, our pro driver T-Money was on hand for pictures and to push the car to its limits, plus we had Iron Mikeee on hand to test durability. 🙂
Test Venues- We tested on local streets, plus we hit up a local park for some dirt and grass testing.
Set-up Notes- We tested the Rlaarlo bone stock. The car includes a 3S LiPo battery and charger, but we opted to use a Hitec RDX2 Mini to handle the charging duties.
Turning: Guess what folks, the Rlaarlo has a lot of steering. On nearly any surface, the car had a fairly planted front end, with the rear being fairly loose while cornering. The car also has a bit of sway to it, and has relatively softly tuned suspension, which helps to make the car drive in a more realistic manner. We had a blast drifting the XTS-P12 around corners, both on dirt, and pavement. Set-up on a rally car is really hard, as you have to attempt to tune for both high-bite and loose surfaces, but in our opinion, the stock set-up works well for general bashing. By the way, our test car rarely traction rolled, a testament to the stock set-up from the factory.
Jumping: Big brushless power and 4wd help the XTS-P12 jump really well. Our test car didn’t do anything crazy once up in the air, in fact it seemed fairly easy to jump and land properly. Now, it is a rally car, meaning it doesn’t have a lot of suspension travel for big hucks, but if you keep the jumping more scale realistic, it does a solid job.
Bumps/Whoops: Hey, it’s a 12th scale rally car, so it doesn’t go through the whoops like a monster truck could. However, for a rally car, it held its own and didn’t seem to get too out of shape in the rough. Rally cars have limited suspension travel, but the XTS-P12 does a decent job for the platform.
On-Road: The XTS-P12 is a decent on-road car. It’s got solid power and turns well, thus making it a lot of fun to drive on pavement. The stock tires are a medium’ish compound, which don’t yield a ton of mechanical grip, but on our hot testing days, allowed them to survive pack after pack of bashing. All our testing was done on hot days, which would have quickly killed soft tires, so it was good to see a slighly harder compound used for better wear characteristics on this RTR.
Grass: In short thin grass, we were able to get around fine with the XTS-P12. However, in “normal” grass, the low chassis height and street tires kept the car from getting around. If you mostly plan on driving in grass, we’d suggest looking at Rlaarlo’s monster truck line-up.
Tires: The stock tires have a very flat profile, which helps keep the car from traction rolling when corning at speed. They are also a medium’ish rubber compound to help them live on hot bash days. The tires have an on-road treading that worked well for us on pavement, but were definitely not the hot ticket on dirt or grass.
Power: The XTS-P12 comes stock with a 3,600kV brushless motor and 3S LiPo battery. This power system gives the 12th scaled rally car very good power. It’s a bit soft right off the bottom, but the mid-range and top-end have loads of yank. We felt like the car had more than enough power for 99% of normal users, with more than enough for even experienced drivers.
Radio: Oh yes, the stock radio actually gives us something to talk about! First up, we LOVE that the transmitter comes with a rechargeable battery! We hate having to dig around for AAs, but there is no need with the Rlaarlo. The transmitter also comes with one-handed thumb steering, a feature that the Big Squid RC Bash Crew originally worked in conjunction with a major manufacturer to get put on the DX5 Rugged. One handed thumb steering comes in handy when shooting video, or when the going gets super gnarly, so we were stoked to see it on the Rlaarlo. While the transmitter fit our hands relatively fine, we did wish it came with a base to make it easier/cleaner to sit the transmitter down while not in use.
Broken Parts: Ya know, there is a reason we keep Iron Mikee on staff. While other “normal” people can drive a car for days with no breakage, it seems one wrong look from Iron Mikeee can cause a car to snap in half on its own (LOL). So yes, 12.9 seconds after handing the controller over to Iron Mikeee, he slammed the rear of the car into a sign-post. He hit said sign-post at nearly full speed, and quite frankly, we were expecting much worse than just a stripped camber screw in one of the rear hubs. We installed a longer screw with a nut on the back and were back to bashing in minutes.
Misc Notes:
The stock body has some impressive parts. The light kit that it comes with is pretty gnarly, as it even includes an LED for the exhaust! The light buckets also look trick, as does the roof mounted air intake that is made from plastic, but has a carbon’ish look to it. The body also uses a hidden body mounting system to give the car an even more realistic look
Speaking of that hidden body mount system, at first glance we thought it might be hard to use, but after using the car for a few weeks we never ran into any issues with it.
What is the single biggest downside of the XTS-P12? In our minds it’s the stock drag brake. From the factory our car came with drag brake set fairly heavy. What this does is, if you hit the brakes, at all, the car wants to come to a complete stop. If you just let off the throttle and go to neutral, the car will still self-brake itself to a stop. Removing all the drag brake would make the car a lot easier to drive for experienced hobbyist, but the drag brake can actually be good for new drivers.
Aluminum shocks are standard, as are aluminum shock towers and motor mount. Nice to see at this price point.
Oh boy, our testing period was filled with hot weather. The lowest temperature that we tested in was 85 degress Fahrenheit, with the hottest test day being 95 degrees. Days that hot make it really hard for a power system to stay cool, and as we were driving the heck out of it for testing, we reminded ourselves to keep a close eye on motor temps to prevent any type of overheating.
Summary: Did we have fun with the Rlarrlo? Oh yes! Could we drive it WFO pinned and have it live? Well, our pro driver drove it absolutely pinned like he was racing it, and the car was no worse for wear afterwards. No, we didn’t go “Super Extreme” with the XTS-P12. Meaning, we didn’t do any roof jumps, nor did we throw it into any wood chippers (LOL). However, we did push it hard like a “normal” consumer would, and it held up well. We love the price point on the Rlaarlo, the body looks good, and it was a blast to drive for our bash crew. Yes, the BigSquidRC Bash Crew can absolutely recommend the Rlaarlo XTS-P12 for you! If have been looking to give a rally car a try, the XTS-P12 is a great way to get into rally car driving.
