Who better to review the new Team Yokomo 4wd, 1:10 buggy, than one of the people who steers them best, Chris Sturdy.
Yokomo YZ-4 Review!!!
Quality…One word that describes this buggy, The quality of this kit in my honest opinion is second to none.
The Build
The build was perfect, everything went together so nicely. The fit and finish is perfect and feels amazing. As you can tell this buggy is a whole lot different to the Bmax4III. I’ll point out some of the major changes. Lets start with the biggest change and one that a lot of people seem to think makes this buggy worse than the Bmax4III….Yes the belts. But it really isn’t what you think. The way Yokomo have designed the drive train it still has great acceleration and does not feel at all like there is a slight delay with the belts at all. On track the Drive line feels amazing, super smooth through the power range while without loosing any acceleration. The belts are very heavy duty as well and nothing like what i have used before.
Next is the steering assembly. Very different to the Bmax4III, similar design to the YZ-2, In fact it uses the same Bell crank parts. This eliminate the servo saver which on the Bmax4III had a habit of coming loose at the wrong time. This assembly also has 4 extra bearings to its predecessor when using the alloy assembly on the YZ-4. The kit comes with plastic parts (insert Oh No its Plastic jokes here) that are insanely tough and feel very rigid. The same can be said about the plastic suspension mount parts for the rear arms and the plastic shock towers, they feel very ridgid and by no means feel cheap. Keep in mind how much it costs to make a mould to produce plastic parts before you go saying that plastic parts are cheap especially this high quality. I opted for the alloy suspension mounts as that’s what Yokomo sent me otherwise i would have just used all the plastic parts that came in the kit. One more addition to this buggy is the use of a front clicker pulley. I recommend this for stock as it works similar to a one-way diff in the front of a TC car. The clicker takes drive off the front of the car entering corners allowing the brakes to pivot the car more like a 2wd buggy. For modified I suggest taking the spring out all together.
One negative with this buggy is that due to the belt drive train, is it is harder to remove the gearboxes compared the the BMAX4III but by no means is it difficult, its just abit more work. There is so much more i I could write about new additions to the buggy but would make this article A LOT longer.
Here is a full list of all the Option parts that i recommend getting for adjustability:
- Z2-300RF – Rear suspension mount (Front side)
- Z4-300SRR – Rear suspension mount (Back side, for S4 arm)
- Z4-300FU – Aluminum Front Upper Arm Mount (L / R)
- Z4-412 – Anti-roll bar set x2
The Drive
The drive was honestly surprising, I didn’t really know what to expect but was honestly surprised with how easy the buggy was to drive. So much easier to turn corners than the Bmax4III and consistent from entry to exit. The buggy hugged the apex’s on low speed corners and didnt slide when I got on the power too early. We actually spent most of the day trying to get rid of a bit of the rear grip the buggy had. A the end of the day we took the wheels off the YZ-4 and put them straight on the Bmax4III and ran the Bmax4III once. After spending all day driving the YZ-4 I realised how much more edgy the Bmax4III was. I have spent alot of time getting the Bmax4III as good as it was for that track and after 3.5 Hrs testing the YZ-4, the YZ-4 was already slightly faster but so much more consistent and we have only scratched the surface with the setup if even that! All up I think if you thought the YZ-4 wasn’t going to work on dirt all I have to say is…THINK AGAIN!
I would also like to Thank Team Yokomo for their continued support, I’m honoured to be able to represent them!
Aussie RC 