Wanted to find out YOUR personal ranking of top 5 RC car brands.  Feel free to split them up in terms of just electrics and fuel ones, but not in terms of buggy vs truggy etc.  Also, I am looking only for brands, not specific models.

The reason I am asking for this is, I was not aware that Team Associated was a very good brand... all I heard earlier was HPI, Traxxas and a bit of Kyosho and TT.

Competitive Buggy: Mostly Kits only
1. Mugen Seiki
2. Kyosho
3. Losi
4. Team Durango
5. Team Associated
6. Hot Bodies

Best RTR Buggy:
1. Losi
2. Team Associated
3. Hongnor Jammin
4. Kyosho
5. Gs Racing
6. Thunder Tiger

All the above brands have Truggy also.. I don't have heart to leave out some brands, They are all great value for money..

Nitro-
CEN
HPI
Traxxas
AE
TTr(for value for money)

Electric 3 only
HPI
traxxas
AE

HPI Traxxas are equal but hpi is a bit tougher and traxxas a bit better in engines

What is AE ?

Associated electronics

I think Traxxas will be No1 in electronics.

@anwar: difficult to rate overall brand. each has its own very good models and not so great ones.
            A 1-1 comparison may be possible.

Just my 2 cents
Cheers

For racing,as far as my knowledge goes,(from what I have read)
1)Kyosho
2)Losi
3)Team XRAY
4)Team Associated
5)Team Durango
6)Hot Bodies
(I left out Mugen Seiki because I could not understand if it beat Kyosho or not nor do I know how to compare it to the others.But it should be very close to the top brands)

For bashing,
1)HPI
2)traxxas
HPI is slightly stronger than traxxas and traxxas is purely ready to run.Perfect for beginners.

+1 for Jayanth.Would like to add,'stock electronics'.Their motors,ESCs and 2.4 GHz radios are fairly good.Others with RTRs are pretty much crap.Only comparable stuff would be with Losi,due to their partnership with Spektrum.I think they give a DX3s with their advanced RTRs.

I was looking just a top 5 list, not necessarily accurate rankings.  The list is useful, as I did not know many of these are high quality ones, even though I had heard the names before.

Usually,kits are known to have a far higher quality than RTRs or BNDs(Bind and Drive).

@abovethelimit(Murli):  Any reason why HPI is not on the list of good RTR buggies?(I have read that the Vorza Flux is quite good)

Team Associated or AE is the company with the most number of World Championship titles. One of the first companies in the field. AE RC10 is the car that many offroad platforms were based on and is a piece of RC car history. AE is now owned by TT. Kyosho comes next. But that doesnt make them the best brands in RC.

Race cars are completely different animals compared to the cars we buy. At times, manufacturers put the prototype parts on the kit versions and RTRs. I have seen that first hand at the Worlds.

I would rank specific cars rather than brands. Each car/brands has its merits.

For example, Traxxas is great in RTR market. They offer good value on the RTR package. Apart from the Slash class race scene, they dont even figure. Traxxas created the Slash class, but was beaten soon by Jammin SCRT, Associated SC10, Kyosho Ultima SC.

HPI having acquired HotBodies now have many cars with race DNA. They are absolute kings in the 1/5 scale class car with old companies like FG, Carlson etc way behind. Some of their RTRs like Savage 4.6 and Vorza are best in the class.

Kyosho's race kits are really high end, but their RTRs are classic examples of cost cutting. Imagine philips screws on RC cars. Associated RTR cars have TT engines, radios and others components. Their Monster truck line are rebranded TTs, S50, S28 and Hammer 18.

Losi makes some high quality cars. Their RTR twins, 8B & 8T are the best race ready kits you can buy with great radio and starter box. Mugen and Xray are also high quality kits with major focus on racers than bashers or casual hobbyists.

+1 Ajo sir..
I think that the Phoenix BX2 is basically an RC10T4 ..
I think TT just re brands the model, as soon as the next generation comes out..

Phoenix st II is RC10T4
Phoenix bx II is RC10B4

@jayanth....HPI'S electronics are much better than traxxas. Traxxas has only decent electronics in erevo and emaxx which are from castles. While hpi has flux system in almost all of their vehicles which is a lot better than velinion thanks to better bearings and wattage....

No offence to HPI - They make better monster trucks than buggies in my Opinion.. Haven't read much reviews abt HPI Buggy or Truggy. Since HPI owns Hot Bodies(HB), HB is in the top 5 list.. Love the quality on HB.. My opinions were based from a racing point of view..

true murli, HPI is known for petrol car and Savage platform.
however their recent releases like pulse 4.6, vorza flux, etc are real challenge to other buggiers

The TT Phoenix range is just a copy of the RC10. They just look same, thats it. They are no where close to the quality of the RC10. As far as I know the RC10 is still made in the US.

HPI is famous for the Savage and Baja range, but the association with HotBodies has given them a great advantage in designing cars like the Vorza which carries a lot of cues from the D8.

Many popular cars including the Baja was designed by Akira Kogawa, a ex Kyosho guy. Thats why the Baja 5B looks like many vintage Kyoshos.

HPI also has a decent race history. The racer with the highest number of World championship titles (14 Wins) a guy called Masami Hirosaka won first on a HPI make motor called Una or something. Atsushi Hara has taken them to the next level.

Pulse 4.6 is no where close to HB and i wasn't impressed by it at all.. Vorza flux is a great Ebuggy..Had an up-close look at it during our race. As Ajo said, huge influence of HB on it.. If i get to drive the impulse for a couple of laps and see how it handles then my opinion may vary based on exp. Any car that survives the way i drive on the track is a good car for me.. I push the car to its limits..

@ajo.> T4 ....what can i say about it. It can handle a mamba maxx  with a 3s, do i need to say anything more?  Phoenix is designed for only about  18000-20000 rpm

@murli : What i think of pulse is that its the most powerful buggy in indian market and quite fast too.  tried it with rcracinghobbies and it was awesome

Traxxrc1 - Eb4 S3, Team Associated, Hobao Hyper 8.5 all comes with 4.6cc engine.. What matters is build quality and see if it can last for atleast 30 mins racing.. Consistency is more important than power..

So if you are a guy who will be bashing most of the time,traxxas or HPI is for you.

If you race more,AE(Team Associated),Kyosho,Mugen,HB(Hot Bodies )are for you.

If you plan on doing both equally,try Traxxas or HPI.

If you won a lottery,go out and buy a Kyosho MP9,XRAY 808E or something like that if you are a serious racer.(with a Tekin RX8 and a conversion kit when needed)

This is what I have understood from reading stuff on the internet.Am I correct?

@Ajo:I was watching a touring car race where Masami Hirosaka was racing.Is he into Touring car racing only or does he do both on-road and off-road racing?I know Atsushi Hara is known to be an all-rounder.

One more good guy HB had was a guy called Andy Moore for touring car races.

I think Masami is into onroad only. He used to race for AE and Yokomo. Not sure now. Last time, I read on him, heard he has his own company.

Hara is an all rounder. Has wins in both classes. I spoke with him briefly at Pattaya. Could not speak much because of the language issue.