Overall its less gittery. The first two times I ran my old one I broke a knuckle (soft impacts), and the chassis was cracked wihtin two weeks. I drive hard, but almost always on a carpet track with foam walls. Ive got 5 Zs all older then the first FL I bought, I drive them more, and none of them have sustained any thing other than body damage. This one hasnt broken anything yet in two trips onto the track. The plastic looks a lot stronger, but I guess only time will tell.
My initial observations of things that are definatly better:
1. The electronics much smoother, throttle and servo.
2. The parts fit together much better. On my first one it was impossible to get a good gear mesh because the motor clip and pod wouldnt fit together properly. The mesh on this one was perfect out of the box.
3. Speed is noticaby stronger. Even after adding a couple of different motors to my previous one I gave up on it, because the speed was just not there. Id say this one is comprable to my dads new mr02 right out of the box, stock for stock.
4. The tires that come on it are better than the previous, and even stickier than kyoshos stock tires. I wish the front ones were a little less sticky because it gets ton of oversteer. Id rather have a little push and dial it out with suspension and driving style.
Now dont go buying 5 of these thinking they are on the same level as kyosho. :P
I have noticed a few things allready that I havent experienced with any of the Zs Ive bought:
1. The diff is so stiff, its almost like its locked. 2 Friends of mine got them at the same time and theres arent as bad, but still no where near as smooth as a K stock diff. This teamed with the super sticky front tires is making this sucker a hard one to control.
This was my first indicator that QC was not going to be perfect.
2. This was my second indicator. The first time I took the car onto the track it wouldnt start
It had turns, but the motor wouldnt turn. Frustrated, I took it home and began checking things. The negative motor wire screw wasnt tight at all. Tightened it and thought I fixed the problem. It ran for about 5 minutes and quit. Then I checked the motor wires again. The solder onto the motor was barely noticable, and the negative wire was hanging on by one strand of wire. The posotive wasnt much better. After soldering them on properly, I took it for its first run at the track.
3. fangel in another thread allready stated that the "servo saver" is the same design it was in the first run. Those didnt have servo savers at all. They had a piece of plastic that was the same shape as the K saver. It is shaped like it, but its all one piece, doesnt give on impact, and should be replaced immediatly if you plan on running the car at all.
The issues Ive had with this car, I had with the other. Some of the issues I had with the other car, I dont think Im going to have (or havnet had) with this one. I still think its a good buy, and a lot better than any Xmod. The Tx is worth the price of the RTR which is why I have another in the first place.
I plan to write a formal review when I get a chance to, and it will detail all my fidnings up to that point. Id lke to track test, change out the servo saver, and tune it a little before posting anything too difinitive. Within a couple of weeks I should have a LOT of info posted about this chassis.