Hey what’s up gang? It seems like only yesterday I wrote the original “Drift Itch – Plastic fantastic“. Back then I focused on all plastic drift machines for under 150 bucks. Boy has a lot has changed since then! 6 years ago now…wow. Anyway…. Back then AWD cars were still the norm and RWD was in its very early stages of development. These days things have completely changed in this arena and I figured it was high time to do another installment of Plastic Fantastic and find the best low cost RWD drifters in 2021.
There have been several fits and starts relating to rear wheel drive drifting (RWD or 2WD) in the RC arena. The most annoying one has to be the once prevalent AWD chassis still clinging on in the used market tempting new drifters with used car pricing. These cars by modern RC Drift standards are ancient history and should be avoided unless you really know what you are getting into. I really do hope that I am able to reach some new-to-drift folks with this article and to warn you DON’T DO IT! Don’t buy that used AWD from that guy at the track. There are plenty of modern drift machines that can he had for the same dough as that super tempting blinged out used AWD car. I know I am shooting some people in the foot who still have some of these cars collecting dust in the classifieds. I myself still have a Yokomo DIB sitting on my shelf which I will probably never be able to get rid of; but it’s for the greater good I say! So enough with the blah blah, without further delay here is my list of low cost RWD drifters that you need to buy over that clapped out AWD you saw in the Facebook Classifieds.
Number 1: The MST RMX 2.0s – This one is easy. No car has made a splash when it hit the market like this little beauty. This was easily the first car to make RWD accessible. It had notable predecessors but nothing matched the RMX 2 in price, value and performance. This car worked like no other car straight out of the box. Superb steering geometry, first production high motor capable kit, and the first car that made “all plastic” sexy. At 200 bucks you could not scoff at the price either. MST knew they had a winner right away. It was nearly impossible to find them at first because word travels fast in this little community. Even now several years later this car continues to be a potent choice for your first drifter. MST made some great design decisions because rear motor continues to be the choice of most drifters today, and the RMX2 has that in spades. It is convertible into several configurations to meet your needs and is as common to see it in the hands of complete novices as it is in the hands of a seasoned veteran. Not many kits have that kind of pedigree. Pair that with a company that has great parts support and even makes a full line of aluminum and carbon upgrades and you have a car you can invest in for the long haul. This car has been, and continues to be one of my all time favorites.
Number 2: The Yokomo YD2s – As much as a love Yokomo I think they made some missteps early on in RWD. They were fairly quick to realize that they needed to get into RWD, but the early YD2’s just failed to excite like the RMX2 did. The E series cars seemed to be very carpet track oriented with little foresight into the changing preference in drifting surfaces. Concrete and epoxy tracks were a new thing for drift and since the high bite E series car would not be as competitive on slick surfaces they instead opted to make an entirely different car. That is where the “S” series comes in and when I started to get onboard the YD2 train.
Yokomo’s flurry of early YD2 kits and confusing product line made them hard for me to recommend initially. Heck I didn’t even know which model was for what, I just stayed away to avoid the confusion. If you contrast the uncertainty of what to buy in the Yokomo line and the singularity of the movement behind the RMX2, it’s hard to choose uncertainty. This only helped MST early on in my opinion. As things began to stabilize and I became more comfortable with their lineup I added a YD2 to my stable. I’m happy to report that Yokomo’s build quality remains extremely high and the car performs on par or better than other high end cars I have driven. The YD2S with its high motor and laydown transmission makes it their most capable kit on offer and that is why I am recommending it here. It is available in 3 trim levels to suite your budget and the base version comes in at just over 200 dollars. If you want something good, and aren’t into the RMX2 the YD2S is a great choice. I’m very happy with mine.
Number 3: The 3Racing Sakura D5S – I’ve stated before that 3Racing is the dark horse in this race. The Sakura D5S has recently taken the RC Drift world by storm. While most of the manufacturers keep their price points fairly similar 3Racing isn’t playing that game. The D5 is a stripped down scrappy offering from a company trying to be very aggressive with their pricing. In fact this car comes in at less than half of the the cost of the other cars on this list. (around 80 dollars before shipping). Combine the low cost and performance of the car and you have a contender for top 3 in the Plastic Fantastic category. The D5 almost doesn’t meet the plastic criteria for this list as its construction is largely glass fiber. The injection molding is kept to a bare minimum allowing this thing to be sold at an extremely low price. If the glass fiber construction isn’t your thing you can even upgrade to a fully carbon version and still come in cheaper than the other 2 chassis on this list. Of the 3 cars listed here the Sakura had the most production flaws. Expect to do some hand fitting to parts during assembly.
Build annoyances aside this is a great drift car. It works well out of the box but requires some love to get it fully dialed in. There is too much play in some of the suspension components, and the front shocks have the wrong springs on them but that is nitpicky stuff. There is no reason a beginner can’t fully enjoy driving this car with the stock setup. If you are on a super tight budget this might be the car for you!
Aaaaand there you have it! My picks for best drifters around 200 dollars. Did I miss a car that you think is better? Want to chime in on why I am wrong? Please set me straight in the comments 🙂 If you really want to help share this article with your buddies looking to get into RC Drift! Maybe give my FB page a like? Or just come back and see my stuff.
I appreciate you stopping by to check out my site. That’s all for now drifters, keep the shiny side up.
-Ev0l
