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WL TOYS 144010 BRushless RC Car Review + Must do tuning: All you need to know

20/4/2022

27 Comments

 
The WL Toys 144010 is a brushless 4WD 1/14 scale RC Car. It comes ready to run (RTR) meaning that everything except 4 x AA batteries for your transmitter is included. My tests have shown this car to be extremely quick and I will share all of that information and more in this review. In addition to this I have also added a section for tuning tips and other RC cars to consider in this category.
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WL Toys is a Chinese-based manufacturer of RC cars that has been really popular over the last 2-3 years because of the great balance of price, speed and handling. The 144010 I am reviewing here is based on the same car that was released back then but has had 5-6 rounds of iterations with multiple improvements since that have culminated in a very well rounded car. This latest iteration includes all of those improvements and the latest brushless power system from WL Toys making it extremely quick as well. In fact I'd go so far as to say that you cannot buy faster for cheaper. Below I will break down the main systems of the car and will then give you quantified tests results plus my own opinion and finally my recommendations. Grab yourself a drink or bite to eat and let's get started.
What's in the box?
This is a RTR (ready to run) car but only the bare minimum is included to hit a price point. Like price sensitive buyers I quite like this approach - it means I'm paying only for the parts I want.
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2.4GHz Transmitter 
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The Brushless 4wd 144010 RC Car with 2s 1500mah lipo battery installed
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.Manual, wheel and nut spanner, 2s USB charger
A closer look at the car
For this section I will go more into the technical detail for the key systems for this car - electronics, motor and drive train, suspension, steering, chassis/body and wheels.
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Electronics - I consider this to be the transmitter, receiver and ESC. You notice immediately that the transmitter has a gloss blue wheels that signifies this is the higher power model with better range, something you'll see me confirm in the test section - a good start. This signal is then received by the standalone receiver with 3-wire plugs meaning all electronics are discrete and easily replaceable or upgradable. Note the extra two servo ports are reverse versions of channels 1 (steering) and 2 (throttle) which makes this useful for use in other vehicles. The ESC is a Surpass hobby 60 brushless unit which is about for this car. It runs 2s stock but is capable of 3s although I would only run on 3s for speed runs and sparingly. The ESC uses 3.5mm bullet connectors for the motor and a t-plug (Deans) for the battery. Speaking of the battery it is a 2s 1500mah lipo which performs well based on past experiences. The included USB charger will charge your battery but is a bare minimum and I tend to recommend a better charger such as the ISDT 608AC as I reviewed here.

Quick note: I checked the ESC setting with my Racerstar programming card as reviewed here. Low volatge cutoff is set to 3.1v, start mode (punch) is set to strong, brake force 100%, reverse speed 25% and Neutral range 9%
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The newer transmitter with blue wheel is meant to have improved range
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The surpass ESC has a fan to keep things cool. The receiver is a discrete unit meaning any of the electronics can be replaced or upgraded individually.
Motor and drive train. This was the biggest question for me - would they use the 3400kv motor and 27t pinion from the Eachine EAT14? This made for a poor driving experience due to cogging. Or would they use the vastly improved 4300kv motor and 19t pinion from the 124017 V2? I'm pleased to say the latter. If none of that made sense to you then the motor and drive ratio they have specced this car still favours top speed over torque and long battery life but unlike earlier iterations of this car (see my EACHINE EAT14 review here) that it is not at the expense of driveability. The 19t metal pinion drives a well made plastic spur that sends power to the front and rear via a simple and efficient solid drive shaft, This delivers power to front and rear metal diffs via metal crown gears. Internal diff gears are metal and are shimmed for improved longevity. Metal diff cups drive CVD driveshafts in the front and dogbones in the rear to metal outdrives which spin the wheel with a standard 12mm hex which makes for great wheel compatibility. All rotating mounts have ball bearings from smoothness and efficiency.​
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Motor is a 2845 4300kv which I consider a good size for this car tending on the large side. The included heatsink does a good job of keeping things cool
This car runs the 19t pinion gear which helps give the car a big top speed but without cogging. The motor mount is now to me and I will look at this more closely in future articles.
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CVD driveshafts in the front
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Dogbone driveshafts in the rear
Suspension. This WL Toys series of cars have always been known for the excellent shock absorbers but sadly have also been know for poor assembly, notably too much or too little shock fluid. I'm pleased to report then that my car had the perfect amount from factory which is consistent with the more recent WL toys cars I've reviewed, namely the 124019, EAT14 and 144002. If yours happens to have too much or to little fluid then I have a hand guide here on how to resolve shock absorber fluid level. All suspension and steering linkages are adjustable tierods which is good for tuning your setup. Suspension arms have proven to be reasonably tough and it's good to note that hinge pins (a weak point on previous cars) have been toughened here by swapping the pin for at M2.5mm through bolt and nylock nut. Suspension is definitely a strong point here and leads to very good handling.
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Large oil filled shocks (front shown here) and adjustable tie rods for toe and camber
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M2.5 bolts are used for hinge pins which addresses a weak point from previous versions of this car
Check out how well those dampeners work - no bounce at all.
Steering. Steering all starts with the servo which is a 17g 3 wire model on this car and it is the fastest I have ever seen on a stock car. Don't believe me? Take a look at the video below on the right. From there all linkages are adjustable and there are even ball bearings on the swivelling pieces making steering movements smooth and precise. This systems has seen no changes over the years because it has always been excellent.
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The servo included is only a simply plastic geared unit but it is strong enough for this car and very quick
See just how fast the servo is above
Chassis and Body. The chassis is made of thick aluminium and based on my extensive experience with this range of cars has never seen real damage other the chips and scratches on the underside. The body is the same classic design from the original 144001 but with a palette swap which, in my opinion is the best that WL toys have ever released. These bodies tend to be pretty tough although the spoilers can get damaged with enough knocks. This plastic replacement from the LC Racing EMB-TG is a robust bolt on replacement option.
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Colour design from the original 144001
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New colours especially for the 144010
Wheels and tyres. Tyres are the of the new, more agressive pattern and are coupled with a medium soft rubber compound. The offer excellent grip on light off road. Grip is decent on asphalt and concrete as well but like most tyres on high powered cars like these can wear quickly. I'm not a fan of the writing on the rims but I know from experience that they are extremely durable. As mentioned earlier these wheels use a 12mm hex and so you have many other wheel options if you wish. Some of my favourites are the Remo P6973 (reviewed here) and the 1822 (reviewed here).
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Stock tyres hook up pretty well in the dirt
Performance Review
In this section I'll share the results of driving the car which I've been at fairly solidly for the last 3 weeks since it arrived. I'll break it into sections of power, handling, durability and battery life to make it easier to navigate
Power and speed. This little RC Car is deceptively fast. On a smooth surface I managed 71km/h completely stock. That is just crazy for a car at this price. Sure, this car is specced with a focus on top speed but even then achieving this is just crazy. Acceleration is pretty good because the brushless motor is physically quite large for this car which means that even with the fast gearing it has enough pull to get the nose up.

It's not something I would recommend but for bragging rights this car will actually be able to hit 100km/h on a 3s battery on an otherwise stock car. Something like this CNHL 3s 2200mah would be perfect for this.
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How about that top speed! Measured with my SKYRC GSM020
Here is where i did my speed pass
Handling. As mentioned in the overview this car has excellent suspension. The brushless motor is very light too and makes for very even weight distribution. All this adds up for a very predictable ride for both on an offroad. Since all of the suspension components are highly adjustable, it means that you can tune it for however your wish to run - onroad speed run, onroad bashing, offroad bashing, carpet track, dirt track. Even if you don't change anything it has good general handling, certainly better than anything else I've seen in this price range.
Durability. I'm not a hard basher, I don't enjoying trying to destroy my car at skateparks or off ridiculously high jumps, it's not my thing. I do enjoy offoad, grass driving and onroad though to give you an idea of where my opinion comes from. The car itself is well refined but simply because of the massive top speed you can expect to see breakages with this car. There is not a particular weak spot that needs attention, maybe the front hub carriers which are discussed here . I would never recommend this car to a first timer for this reason but it truly does reward a more experienced driver.
Battery life. I typically got around 10-15 minutes from fully charged battery to low voltage cutout on the ESC but this will vary greatly on how you drive and the surface you drive on. For example driving in grass will kill your battery faster than on smoother surfaces. This is certainly an improvement over the brushed version of this car that was so wildly popular but that is not necessarily high praise. If you want to skip forward to the tuning tips sections I'll discuss how to improve battery life further there.
Driving feel. Although I mentioned above that the handling on this car is very good I must make mention that I didn't like the throttle response. To be very clear there is no cogging - the 19t "V2" pinion takes care of that but there is a noticeable delay on throttle response even with receiver bound correctly, ESC tuned for maximum punch and minimum throttle dead zone (stock was 9%, I reduced to 6%). Now, this is not a big deal for speed runs and bashing but it is a little frustrating for precise control such as racing or drifting. Unfortunately this is just a consequence of building to a cost.
My Conclusions
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The WL Toys 144010 is a very fast car out of the box, in fact you cannot get a faster car for cheaper. This car is based on the outstanding LC Racing EMB-1 and has been through no less than 6 rounds of improvements. However, making a small car go this fast can have its drawbacks; namely durability and battery life. This is somewhat offset by the excellent handling though, which should help you avoid getting in to too much trouble. It is for this reason that I don't really recommend the WL Toys 144010 to absolute beginners nor to those that are wanting a rough basher out of the box- this just won't hold up given the speeds it is capable of. However if you are a little more confident of your driving and want something crazy quick out of the box then this may well be the car for you. Furthermore, if you like to tinker then there is probably no car on the market Chinese or otherwise that can be customised like this... speed runner, offroader, on road basher or even drifter - just so many options. 

Definitely a great car to add to the list of available options. Keep reading to see more of my tuning recommendations and alternative cars if this isn't your cup of tea.

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I ordered my WL Toys 144010 Brushless 4WD 1/14 scale RC Buggy from Banggood here. If you use this link and the code BGeffaa5 you will get 8% off this car at time of writing. Buying this or any other item through this link will support the work I do here.
Tuning Tips
Having written over 40 articles on this range of WL Toys RC cars I'm in a fairly handy position to make some recommendations on free tuning tips and cheap upgrades that are worthwhile.
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Fix the wheel alignment - $0. The wheels don't point straight from the factory and so correcting the camber (front and rear) and toe in on the front can improve your top speed and handling for zero spend. See this guide here on how best to adjust the tierods.
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Add more resistance to diffs - $0 if you have grease lying around. The diffs on the 144010 are shimmed so are better out of the factory but filling the diffs with thick grease or 10,000 weight or greater diff fluid with improve traction by stopping your car from "open-diffing". See this guide here on how to grease your diffs.
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Control ground clearance - $0 if you have M3 screws lying around. Controlling the maximum extension for your suspension arms will improve your handling, especially on road. See this guide on how to add droop screws to control suspension extension.
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Increase run time 50% $15-$20. The stock battery is 2s 1500mah. If you remove the front battery guide and reinstall in the front most position you can cleaning fit the larger 2s 2200mah battery from the longer wheelbase WL Toys models. This will give you a 50% run time increase over the stock battery.
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Tune your ESC - $10-$12. Default ESC settings have been customised for this car as mentioned earlier in this article: Low volatge cutoff is set to 3.1v, start mode (punch) is set to strong, brake force 100%, reverse speed 25% and Neutral range 9%. These settings are good but if you wish to alter (I recommend decreasing neutral range to 6%) then picking up a cheap racerstar programming card is a good idea. See my article on the programming card here to understand more about these settings.
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Reduce body roll $10-$15. If you plan on more on-road driving or even taking this car to the track then reducing body roll is a big help. Luckily the LC racing anti-roll bar is a direct bolt on for the 144010. See this anti-roll bar install guide on where to buy and how to install.
For my own car I already had the programming card and did the free tuning as above. I considered changing the Esc for something like this Hobbywing 10BL120 but will probably keep as it. If anything I might change to a 15t pinion as per this guide. This is because I have a preference for stronger acceleration and better battery life over top end speed but that is probably just me. TLDR: do the basic tuning and run it as is!
Alternatives cars to consider
The 144010 is super fast but not very durable out of the box. Here are some other cars to consider.
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WL Toys 144001
This is the same car but with a cheaper brushed motor and 2 in 1 ESC/receiver. Not quite as fast and poorer battery life but a fair bit cheaper. Unless you are really tight on money I'd go for the 144010 brushless
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WL Toys 124017 V2
Same as the 144010 but a slightly longer wheel base and larger 2200mah battery. Good option but quite a but not as good value
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HBX 16889a Pro
Quite a but slower at 40km/h but still a good speed for what is essentially an indestructible 1/16 scale brushless truck. Massive battery life of approx, 15 minutes. The Flyhal FC600 is the same truck in truggy shape. Better for beginners but not as fast.
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144001 with custom brushless upgrade
Do the work yourself and spec the gear how you want it. I suggest starting with the drop in brushless upgrade here for a smooth and efficient performer. Good option if you like to tinker but not as fast as the 144010
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LC Racing EMB-1
The Original car the 144010 was based on. Better, higher quality all around but nearly double the price. Not quite as fast but better balanced. If Banggood out of stock then I recommend Real Toys Store on Aliexpress here. Lovely car but quite a bit more expensive.
If you are looking for a discount on this car, I will post any coupon codes or flash sales for it over here on my coupons and discounts page. Remember buying from any of these links supports my page without any cost to you and is appreciated especially since I don't ask for money via patreon and the like. If you want to get involved in this discussion, feel free to join the QuadifyRC Facebook Group Here or like my page below.
27 Comments
Dubesinhower
22/4/2022 06:26:21 am

Does the brushless system from this car bolt on to the 144001?

Reply
Rcfreak
22/4/2022 10:55:28 am

It will do. Just swap the whole motor and motor mount together, and then the rest of the electronics.

Everything from fit fine.

Reply
Scott
22/4/2022 02:20:11 pm

Appreciate the excellent review (as always). I have a 144001 I specced out based on your recommendations but will be adding the 144010 to my collection anyway, just because. :D

Reply
QuadifyRC
23/4/2022 11:07:44 am

Cheers Scott, I like prefer my customs setup but it's hard to argue on the value with this guy

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Raoul
25/4/2022 12:46:41 am

Could you elaborate on why the 124017 v2 is less value then the 144010.

The cars are roughly the same price currently. The 124017 v2 is even a bit cheaper.

Reply
QuadifyRC
28/4/2022 02:05:30 pm

It's purely based on price. The retail of the 144010 is $128 presently as linked and then an additional 8% off with the coupon code mentioned makes it $118.

The 124017 I haven't seen less for $140 - $150 (certainly the V2 model anyway). As at 28-4-22 the 124017 V2 is $169 on makerfire, $140 on Banggood

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Raoul
28/4/2022 07:34:31 pm

Thank you for your clear answer.

Hope you will be reviewing the 104002 soon 😁

QuadifyRC
3/5/2022 04:11:44 pm

104002 is ordered but I've heard from WL toys that there is a delay on supply

Reply
Carlos
16/5/2022 05:36:09 am

Excellent review, the only thing I would like to know is: is there a way to fix the throttle lag?? Maybe changing esc? Motor? Receiver?

Thanks!

Reply
QuadifyRC
28/5/2022 09:34:48 pm

Thanks Carlos, it is the cheap ESC that is the culprit here. A nice hobbywing 60a would fix this right up

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NinjaKnight
14/6/2022 12:53:43 pm

Hi, Do you know if the transmitter from the 144001 works with the receiver included in this car. if so it would be a great cheap option for people wanting to convert their cars.

Reply
QuadifyRC
29/6/2022 05:07:29 pm

Yes it absolutely does, I've written about that here: https://www.quadifyrc.com/rccarreviews/wl-toys-144002-brushless-upgrade-cheap-and-easy-with-great-performance

Make a brushless upgrade much cheaper

Reply
Maui
4/11/2022 06:34:14 pm

Good day,
IMO, the ESC is not the problem. The problem is the 2nd gen controller, at least it is with some of these models. If the controller from a 144001 is bound to the 144010... the lag, and all other issues are gone.

The controller that came with the 144010 that I received was a total nightmare.
The vehicle would not respond, most times, until the throttle was pulled to the halfway point. At that point the vehicle responded at what seemed full throttle.

The vehicle did not always respond once underway, in that, once half throttle was applied, and the vehicle responded...control of the vehicle was lost. You could not turn, or stop the vehicle, it was out of control, but still being powered. Not a good situation.

Either the ESC was never programmed into the controller, or the controller was defective. Either way, once another, older model controller from a 144001 was bound to the 144010... all issues disappeared.

Do not get me wrong. I'm not bashing the 144010. It's a great vehicle. If it was not for the fear of receiving another with the same issues... I'd return it. But as long as it operates as it should with the 144001 controller, well, I can live with rebinding now and then.
Again, these are just my opinions, which really mean little in the big scheme of things.

Reply
QuadifyRC
28/11/2022 11:09:14 am

Hey Maui, firstly I receive your feedback in the way as it is intended and agree we are all just trying to make the most of these toys! Really interesting comment about the controller. I have so many of these spare at home I kinda want to go home on my lunch break and try. After trying this car and the new 104072 back to back it definitely seems there is less lag in the newer car so I wonder if some kind of revision was made? I need to do more testing.

Markus
29/6/2022 08:16:29 am

Hi,
My one arrived today.
Pretty fast!
I followed your recommendation for the 3s battery from CHNL and bought two of that, a 3s loader and the xt60 adatpter.
It will not fit cause the battery is to high.
Make I something wrong?
The wltoys 2200 mah from my 124018 fit.
Thanks for your help.

Reply
QuadifyRC
29/6/2022 05:09:10 pm

Hi Markus, I forgot about the dip in the tray of the 1/14 cars that stops this from fitting. I made a modified top brace without the dip to make it fit on a brushless 144001, I'll write it up in a new article

Reply
Cicy
27/7/2022 07:47:09 pm

You're fabulous on wltoys cars!!
I have a question:
Can the wltoys 144010 ESC firmware be updated?

Reply
QuadifyRC
29/7/2022 01:17:03 pm

Thanks and no, unfortunately it cannot although you can adjust some basic settings. If you want to improve the ESC you'd need to replace.

Reply
Kurt
8/8/2022 09:22:52 am

5 minutes into my first drive with one of these, no crashes and not near top speed, during a turn on pavement the outside rear upper link bolt stripped out of the plastic hub. Massive rollover, dog bone axles flew away never to be found. Bought aluminum uprights for $8, which the stock tie rod ball bolt threads into (but the stock lower pins did not - needed to drill out hole in aluminum) but now I'm wondering what the next weakest link is.
Wicked fast car but at least some fragile parts, and steering too quick for high speeds. Going to give to my 8yr old son and glue the throttle knob to ~20%...

Reply
Drieeedger
10/8/2022 01:50:22 am

Funny story. I grabbed this for my 7 year old son for his birthday a couple days ago. OK, maybe it was for me too, but 5 minutes into the first battery, he was driving straight on a grass field, when it just flipped through the air for no apparent reason. Lost a dog bone in the field after the rear tie rod end let loose. A pretty disappointed kid, so I ordered new ones on an inflated price from amazon to try and get it going quickly. hopefully driving again today but Im left wondering what other parts I need to get to have on standby the next time something goes wrong

Reply
QuadifyRC
10/8/2022 09:28:12 am

Hi Kurt. Shame about the crash, definitely not a car I'd recommend for the young fella unless he cannot change the throttle dual rate. 70km/h is really fast for a car this size so I can only recommend parts depending on how you usually drive (or crash). Here is one I turned into a truck, this setup was better suited to bashing. Good luck

Reply
Matt
14/9/2022 01:48:14 pm

Hi! Thank you for doing this! Great information you have provided! I was wondering if you can put a 14 tooth pinion on this one?

Reply
QuadifyRC
14/9/2022 03:16:28 pm

Hi Matt, no problem. Yes the 14t pinion from the SG1603 etc is 0.7mod 14t from memory albeit with a 2.3mm shaft so you'd need to bore it out. There is a new adjustable motor mount on Aliexpress that should allow this to work,

Reply
Matt
15/9/2022 12:45:56 pm

Oh darn, I meant the 15 tooth pinion like you did for your brushless upgrade on the 140001. So, the15 tooth from aliexpress that you linked and a 140001 motor plate would work with the stock brushless motor that comes with the 1400010? Thanks again for all your info. And do you have a link for the adjustable mount on Ali?

Nimma Sherpa
15/9/2022 03:20:11 pm

It's a little tricky but definitely achievable. You'll need to drill the smaller 144001 mount holes from 2.5mm to 3mm and bore the 2.3mm pinion out to 3.2mm. Check this article https://www.quadifyrc.com/rccarreviews/wl-toys-144001-brushless-2838-upgrade-easy-no-cut-option

Reply
Legend
8/12/2022 07:21:26 pm

Hi mate.

Many thanks for this amazing resource you have created for the 144010 car.

When you moved the battery guide forward to accommodate a longer (and larger capacity) battery, did you also replace the velcro strap?

I'm finding the one that comes with the car too short to hold the longer battery...

Reply
QuadifyRC
13/12/2022 05:36:18 pm

Hi there I think I may have used a spare I had lying around, I have heaps from my quadcopters.

Reply



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