MRRC Cobra Coupe
First impressions are that the unusual finish on the car really detracts. I'm going to clearcoat it as soon as I can. The shade of red is very close to the only one of these cars I ever saw a color photo of, but I don't recall a gold racing stripe. Maybe there was one. That was a long time ago. Looking further, the Sebring chassis is a welcome sight. I have a motor swap in mind that will make this car a real smoothie. It will need a little weight to run on wood, so be ready. Also be ready for silly pricing. For this kind of money, I demand much better detailing. The body mounting screws at the rear rest on a thin plastic trestle that looks and feels like it will snap off fast. The front screw has a filler washer that goes in the chassis and is almost impossible to install. It must be hard for the manufacturer, too, because mine came from a sealed box stripped beyond usefullness. Its easy to fix, but I shouldn't have to for any new car, much less one that costs this much.
Cheetah
First of all, the color is dead on, and it isn't an easy color to get. That red/orange has stumped many a modeler. Its even difficult to get a photo correct. The wheels are well, perfect. I wish I could get my hands on a stack of them sold as spares, because I have a lot of projects that would benefit from these.
The Cheetah has the oddest body mount I've ever seen, and there have been some lulus over the decades. The four expected screws are joined by one horizontal screw that lives under a license plate panel at the rear. Extreme care is required to safely dismount that panel which is held tightly by a thumb catch, the kind that is used for battery compartments. Looking inside the body, it is clear that this body was designed to have lights, although this particular livery didn't have headlights and they are covered.
AC Cobra 289
If I could have picked the color it would have been this shade of red. And the wheels are very nicely done, as are the scale tires. The exterior is painted, so the interior of the body shell is a different shade of red. The temptation must have been to put fat tires all around, but that wouldn't have been prototypical. These may be a touch narrow, but that little bit can be overcome with aftermarket tires on the stock wheels. I'm sure that will be a popular tuning option.
Again, the body shows it is intended to have lights, and once again, no lights.
Okay, enough of the praise. Here's some more info. Carrera made a bad decision last year to delete lights from all non-digital cars, so most of the cars they make have no lights, although they do have lenses, body interior shading, and mounts for the lights they don't have. If you aren't interested in the new gimic, you don't get the lights that belong in the car. That's a big negative, and there's a lot more of it coming. Yes, they have had tons of complaints already, don't waste your emails. They apparently could care less about the customers who built their success, which is everybody who bought pre-digital.
Both cars have an excellent independent front end, similar but far better than the ones on Fly cars years ago. These are nicely mounted, no wobble, no problem. Its like they were proving that it could be done well, after we all came up with many ways to solve the Fly foible for all those years.
The brakes on newer Carreras are far better than in previous years. It doesn't appear that the gearing is changed at all, the cars are as smooth as Carrera cars are famous for, but the brakes are much better. Our consensus is that the motors have changed, though the markings on the motors are identical. Maybe the timing or magnets that Carrera specified for the motor have changed, but it still says E200 on the can. There is a distinct difference. For the most contrast, run a Charger Daytona or the Bentley Speed 8 around the track a few laps, then run one of these cars. Big difference. You will find any number of cars out there with much better brakes, but still, this is a major improvement. The Cheetah is downright nimble and an absolute blast to run.
Both cars need a little weight to compensate for the magnets that most of us don't care about, and I suspect that when some of our amazing tiremakers have replacements for the stock rubber, these cars will be a hot topic of conversation the world over.
Now to the big point, limited to slot car stuff. As world financial troubles have effected so many manufacturers, and opportunists the world over have taken advantage of the situation to do more harm than good, many cars have simply become bad investments. Prices have become silly on some cars, quality has fallen in some old friends' products. Some have simply vanished altogether. The manufacturers who have held the line on pricing and maintained quality standards are, not surprisingly, the best sellers and the most popular on the forums. Carrera has allowed a modest increase in pricing, not bad at all, and slightly improved quality. Unless you liked having the lights that belong in the cars.
In short, the Carreras are bargains, and run great, however irritating the attitude. The MRRC is a great car on a trusted chassis, but pricey.
