Carisma SCA-1E Toyota Tacoma TRD Pro. Unboxing, in depth review and first drive. Part 1

After the fun of building and driving the Range Rover, I was pretty excited to see the announcement from Carisma that they were releasing the Tacoma. Perhaps I fell for the "Go Pro" catchphrase, imagining that they'd taken a good car and made it even better. I can reveal that this isn't really the case. I'm not saying it's bad but it's not quite what a lot of people had imagined and, unless someone is a big Toyota fan, they're likely to be a bit disappointed.
That's not to say that it's bad. There are a lot of good things to say about this truck and a lot of people will be very happy with it but, if they are already Carisma SCA-1E owners, they're going to be less than thrilled.
This a pair of long videos but for anyone really thinking about getting one of these, it's definitely worth the watch to find out more.
I also fix the bed-sag problem in the second part, so check that out!
Let me know what you think and stay tuned for more running videos.
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Thanks for watching!

[@barceloni1984]

I haven't gotten into a carisma yet, lots of axials and elements. They do look pretty good for trailing. I'm trying to convince the wife to get me the prairie wolf 🤘

[@rcpie]

The Prairie Wolf is an awesome body but I'd recommend a Range Rover kit. That way you get the mega-fun of the short wheelbase, the whisper-quiet of the gears if you've built and lubed them yourself, the excellent alloy shocks and you don't need to bother throwing away all the electronics before buying better ones. The radio gear is nice to use but the range is not very good. The servo is junk. The esc isn't the best, although the Arc2 that ships with newer models is excellent. The battery is hopeless. Having said all this, I've seen some amazing offers on Prairie Wolves. I'd still be going RR or the new Bulldog.

[@barceloni1984]

@@rcpie I mostly like it for the body. I have plenty of trucks, meaning lots of parts laying around. Electronics are already standing by, same with tires and battery. I thought of getting just the body and a trx4 sport kit or something, but I kinda want to try the sca-1e chassis. My local hobby shop had the carisma Tacoma. I didn't like the floppy bed, and I already have an element knightrunner 😁. I really want to scale out an adventure van. You just don't see many on the trails. Thanks for the review video, about to check out part 2. 👍🤘

[@rcpie]

@@barceloni1984 I built my Prairie Wolf body onto an Injora/Austar SCX10 chassis. Not the best but I figured it was never going to make the best crawler, so why compromise something really good. The body is at least 10 times better than the proline rock van, so if it's a van you want, it's the way to go. Good luck with the grill/lights set up though.. lots of good ideas but none of them quite link together. Frustration will lead to success but it's a strange journey of head-scratching.

[@noelrosado634]

Hi you need to go back and recheck the bumpers it will fit the only thing you have to do is to rase the body and you dont have to cut anything i did it on my an it looks great

[@rcpie]

Oh, there's no question that you can do it by jacking the body up but I rather feel that buyers of SCA-1E rigs are likely to want a scale look and that's far from it.

[@scaleaddicted]

The Truck with the HOPPING bed..., what a pity!

[@rcpie]

But an easy fix. Have you watched Part 2?

[@scaleaddicted]

@@rcpie Not yet…

[@Callsignsoggybisket]

I think that bead locks should be standard in all rtr rigs

[@rcpie]

Yeah, I'm fine with that when they're factory assembled. I've struggled to get Carisma wheels together. I prefer heavier wheels, though.

[@alun82]

TRD - Toyota Racing Developments 😎

[@rcpie]

Cheers, Alun. Doesn't seem very racey, though. 🤔

[@therctrails]

You would have to cut the front and rear bumpers to install the provided ones.That should stop the bouncing. Let me know how it drives. Not sure if I should made some running videos with it.

[@rcpie]

It would seem a shame to cut the nicely moulded bumpers to put those horrible things on. I can only imagine putting them on for a competition that requires it. I fixed the bouncing/sagging bed in the second part. There's some driving there too. Check it out and let me know what you think.

[@therctrails]

@@rcpie Yes they are very nicely molded

[@hellofromsoutheastalaskarc7517]

Hello from southeast alaska sweet video bro. Freaking awesome truck bro

[@rcpie]

Cheers Joseph. It's a funny one, this truck. I really don't know whether to love it or hate it.

[@hellofromsoutheastalaskarc7517]

@@rcpie I've head a carisma before. Do they run well

[@rcpie]

Check out the Range Rover video. It's awesome! This isn't as good to drive.