Bonsai Jubatas 141600 1/14 scale 4wd RC Car Review

The Bonsai 141600 (Jubatas) is a newly released car that at first glance looks similar to the popular WL toys 144001 in the now crowded 1/14 4WD RC Car class. Retail price before discount at time of writing is just under $90 which is also similar to these other cars. In this review I'll look through the specs plus how it actually performs and compares to the other cars and what I recommend.

First let's discuss the title image. I'm a little bit sick of Youtube thumbnails teasing a new product to be the greatest thing ever only to find out following a review that it is in fact not, nor was it ever likely to be. So I've chosen to break convention here and let you know straight up that this is not a great car for reasons I'll cover below. I'll also let you know what I do recommend instead because there are some really good and inexpensive options in this category

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Specifications, what's included and a closer look on the bench

2.4GHz digital proportional radio. This is standard for the class, 2.4GHz provides a stable and reliable connection without jitter. The controller is very basic with only steering trim and throttle dual rate. At least they have included the most useful 'feature' in throttle dual rate - it means you can limit the top speed on a continuous scale which is especially useful for learners.

Basic controller

Uses 4 x AA batteries

ADS (Active Differential System) 4WD, Center Direct Drive (CDD). Just jargon they have made up to say it has differentials front and real plus a direct drive prop shaft. These are just standard items for a car in this market. Nothing special at all - for example the HBX 16886 I reviewed recently here also has metal gears and a slipper clutch. Not mentioned in their list of features but the driveline is OK. Metal dogbones and cups are used front and rear. I'd have preferred CVDs in the front but it's not the end of the world. Nice to see they are using M4 rather than M3 hardware to hold the wheels on - same as 1/10 scale

Dogbones in the front but metal hardware at least. Hubs don't look too bad

35A ESC/receiver. Pretty standard for this category. Receiver is integrated with ESC which is cheaper to produce and simplifies the build. However, if something goes wrong or you need to upgrade you need to replace with a discrete servo, receiver and ESC - but this is no different to other similar cars in the category.

ESC/receiver unit. Soldered directly to the battery (which I quite like)

3.5kg industry standard servo. Good news? Unlike the smaller 17g servo used in other cars of this size, Bonsai have opted to use full 1/10 scale servo here. This means you have plenty of options to choose from if you want to upgrade later down the track. Downside 1? It uses a 5 pin plug meaning any servo upgrade would need to be accompanied by a receiver and ESC. Downside 2? The stock servo is RIDICULOUSLY slow. Once I get to my review below I'll let you know how it impacts driving but I'll give you a hint - it's not pretty.

Love that they have gone with a full size servo...

... but hate that the one they chose is so slow

Fusion Energy Power Control System. If this Chinese RC car maker has cracked the secret in Fusion then they deserve a sale if not to dominate at the Nobel Prize Science award. Sadly I don't think there really is a fusion unit on board :(

Marketing rubbish of the highest degree

Opportunity missed

15c 850mah 2s battery. The claimed c-rating and capacity sounds honest here. the c-rating is low because it is a Li-ion pack (twin 18500 to be precise). They are claiming 10+ minutes which is similar to what I have found and fairly common for brushed cars of this size. Sadly they have chosen to use the Tamiya mini connector; these were bad in the 90's and are worse now because of the leaps and bound that batteries have come along mean they just cannot supply enough current. It should hold together for the stock system but any upgrades will quickly need a change of plugs to deans t-plug, xt30 or similar. Also included is a regular USB charger which is the usual. If you do plan on sticking around in the hobby I'd strongly recommend an upgrade to a hobby grade charger. They aren't that expensive, are much safer and will make your batteries last longer

2s 850 mah battery is what is says on the specs, 2s 1500mah is what it says on the pack. The former sounds about right

Plenty of room if you want to use a bigger battery like the stock 124019 2s 2200mah battery - just take the foam out at the rear

Mini Big Bore Shocks, Progressive Spring Design, Adjusted Shock Rates. More mumbo jumbo. No point in having a big bore shock unless it is oil dampened which these are not. You can adjust ride height with adjustable collars but as you'd expect, friction dampeners make for a bouncy ride. The one redeeming feature is that the length is a standard size meaning you could upgrade with the WL toys front shocks and WL toys rear shocks if you really wanted. Suspension arms don't actually look too bad and I'm actually a fan of plastic tie rods so long as the length is correct (they are).

Close up of the friction shocks standard

Arms are actually pretty solid and are from a nice plastic. They even have droop screws holes shown in the front here and also in the rear.

Heavy Duty Pre-glued Tyres. Actually they tyres are OK. At 75mm diameter they are 4-5mm bigger than the stock 144001/124019 tyres and so offer more ground clearance. The wheel design looks strong but there are no inner foams because the tyres are a pretty hard compound. I do like the tread pattern though and I like they way they grip on concrete - hard wearing and predictable. Offroad they are passable and not much more. If you want a good off-road tyre then check out this article on my favourite tyres in this size

Comparison of the 144001 tyres and the Bonsai 141600 tyres

What the 141600 wheels look like on the 144001. Anyone else sick of these numbers??!

So as not to waste your time we'll go through the rest of the "features" in quickfire:

• Fully upgradable design. Probably some truth in this. As mention above you could change out the shocks, motor, ESC, receiver, servo and likely many other parts. But to what end?
• Upgradable Front & Rear Toe in plates. Actually, adjustable toe for the rear is handy as we found with the adjustment guide for the 144001 but not a big feature.
• Build in Sway Bar System for upgrades. Straight up wrong - there is no sway bar on this car (front or rear)
• Narrow Chassis. How is this even a feature?
• High Strength Composite Center Gears. Plastic.
• Heavy Duty Shock Shafts,Steel Drive Trains. Standard for the category. 
• Servo Saver Steering System. Every car in this category and lower categories has a servo saver
• Metal Pinion Gears. No car in this category has anything else.
• 40+KM(30+MPH) speed. Wrong, I measured 29-30km/h at best but to be fair, the other manufacturers grossly overstate their top speed too.
• High Grade Steel through the Car, Pre-printed body. This is not a feature!! The body is quite cool though, looks similar to the cab-forward LC racing EMB-1 body. FYI it's a decent fit on the 144001 that would allow more ESC space but you would need to drill new mounting holes.

The colour is bright but I quite like the look. The spoiler is actually quite good - made from a nice flexible plastic

Body fits quite well on a 144001 but it is quite a thin polycarbonate.

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Review of the actual car running
I'll break this section into performance (power) handling and durability

Performance. Top speed of the car it not actually bad for a brushed 390 - I got 29km/hr which is a fraction faster than the HBX 16886 spectre which has a similar motor, esc and battery. Clearly this is well short of the claimed 40km/h but as I mentioned earlier is unfortunately typical for these types of cars. Power delivery is smooth as is typical of brushed motors and acceleration is relatively brisk but obviously no match to a brushless motor. I would have no confidence in this car to run a 3s battery whatsoever.

Battery life was just over 10 minutes which is in the middle ground. By comparison the WL toys 144001 gets around 8 minutes while the HBX 16886 Spectre I reviewed here gets around 15 minutes. Still well below the HBX 16889 though at around 20 minutes although the small brushless motor in this car is super efficient.

Handling. I don't mind a car that does 30km/h so long as it handles well. Sadly this one doesn't. Surprisingly it's not the friction dampers that let it down badly because the overall suspension geometry that has been borrowed from the LC Racing EMB-1 / WL Toys 144001 means that it is reasonably good. What does let it down is the (lack of) steering speed - it is abysmal. The steering takes so long to respond to your commands that in small spaces especially it can be practically undriveable. It's a real shame because they made a great move in going for a full sized servo but it's hard to believe it is just so slow. IF (and that is a big "IF") you can look past the steering such as when you drive in a larger spot, the rest of the car handles surprisingly well. Friction dampers are helped by a decent spring rate and the appropriately sized 390 motor makes it light with a really good weight split front and rear. To top it off the tyres grip predictably on concrete surfaces with a nice balance of under and over steer.

In terms of upgrading a servo this is a tough ask since it used a 5-wire plug. The most obvious upgrade is the WL Toys 104001 stock servo of which I have a spare but even then the plug size is different!! Something I might try changing just to prove a point. I made a note in the 104001 review that the steering was slow but even this servo would be an improvement over the one in the Bonsai 141600

The stock servo from the 104001 is the same size and also uses a 5-pin system (outboard PW controller) and should be slightly faster than this one.

If you did go down this track through you'd need change the plug

Durability. Actually durability is looking good so far. The car isn't fast so it can't get in to too much trouble and even when it does, it's predominantly plastic design means it's pretty light. Furthermore the plastic seems to be fairly well fit for purpose - similar to the slightly flexible plastic used in the HBX cars that has just the right amount of flex to help absorb impact. Time will tell whether spare parts will become available for this car but this is a real necessity if a manufacture expect their product to have a decent life cycle. 

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Comparisons to other cars
It's probably clear from above that I don't much like this car. Even if you look past the horrible steering servo, the spec of the rest of the car is fairly low. This might cut it in other categories but the 1/14 and 1/16 scale off-road category is extremely competitive with well designed and build offerings from WL toys and HBX at the lower end of the market and the class-leading LC racing EMB series at the top end. I've made a quick comparison of the cars that this competes with and why you might look to buy them instead. Of course if this car is substantially discounted it may be worth a look in - I'd think it's probably worth about $50-$60

WL Toys 144001 $80-100

• Oil shocks
• Large brushed motor approx 45km/h
• 8 minute battery life
• moderate durability

Buy this car if you want something fast out of the box albeit with poor battery life. Best option for upgrading as many parts available
Other variants:
144010 brushless model to be released October 2021

HBX 16889 $80-$100

• Friction shocks
• efficient brushless motor 45-50km.h
• ​20 minute battery life
• Very high durability

Buy this car if you want good speed and tremendous battery life. Only mod I woudl recommend is the oil shocks as per this review
Other variants:
16889 Pro just released August is basically  a 16889 with multiple improvements. Review out shortly.

HBX 16886 Spectre $75-100

• Oil shocks
• brushless 390 motor 27km/h
• 15 minute battery life
• high durability

Buy this car if you like the look and want good durability and reasonable handling but without the huge top speed of the two the the left.​
Other variants:
Brushless version out later in 2021

LC Racing EMB-1 $200+

• Oil Shocks
• Brushless 2838 motor 50km/h + top speed
• battery life varies
• Very high durability

Buy this car if you want the best in the category. LC racing Make faboulous cars that are fast, strong and handle beautifully. If you have the money then this is almost the perfect car.
Other variants
Truggy
Monster Truck - my review is here
Short Course Truck
​Desert Buggy

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Conclusions and recommendations
There is no doubt that I love my small scale RCs and this is an area I've build my expertise in for reviewing and upgrading. As above there are some great models but sadly the Bonsai 141600 is just not one of them. Sure you can upgrade the servo, and the shocks which are the worst things about this car but you still have a driveline that is not likely to hold as well to brushless power as the other cars I've listed. I think if you could upgrade the steering servo more easily to a faster unit this would be better as a little learner car for kids or as a step up from a toy grade care but as it is, the driving experience is just disappointing. My final recommendation is that you consider one of the other cars I've reviewed as above - there are a range of option at top and bottom end of budgets that often go on discount which have proven performance and parts support and tend to work well straight out of the box.

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My Bonsai 141600 was ordered from Banggood and got to me in New Zealand in about 2 weeks which was pretty good considering how far away we are. It may be worth considering a a lower price but considering the other cars around I don't think it is worth $85

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