Turn Back The Clock! Kyosho Ultima Vintage Series EP 2WD Racing Buggy Review | RC Driver

The Kyosho Ultima 2WD RC Racing Buggy plays a pretty big role in RC history with its impressive finishes at the 1987 worlds. However it means a lot more to those who grew up in the early stages of RC. The Ultima mixed scale sand buggy styling with a performance design that was easy and fun to drive on and off the track. Kyosho has done a sort of re-release of this iconic buggy under their Vintage Series line. Although it has nearly the same look as the original kit, this 2019 release of the Ultima has undergone a number of changes to make it more reliable and perform better than before. New gears in the drivetrain, new plastics, and many other revisions are sure to mean one thing, pure excitement when you drive it! In this video we go over the new Kyosho Ultima Vintage series buggy in great detail and of course show it to you in action. Want to relive your childhood RC experiences or new to RC and like the look of this exciting buggy? Then you need to check out this review!
PRODUCT FEATURED
Ultima Vintage Series Buggy
By: Kyosho
Part Number: 30625
Price: $279.99
Buy: snp.link/8c75d2f6
DRIVER SHIRTS & MERCH: teespring.com/...
RC GEAR WE USE: www.amazon.com...
Don’t Miss A Thing! Follow Us:
Subscribe: bit.ly/SubToRCD
Website: bit.ly/VisitRCD
▶ Check out my gear on Kit: kit.com/RCDriv...
*Notice: Some of our articles, videos and descriptions may contain affiliate links or coupon codes, which means that if you click on or use one of the product links/ codes, we may receive a small commission. This helps support the website and social media channels and allows us to continue to produce content. Thank you for the support!
#Kyosho #RCCars #RCDriver

[@shawnyoung5960]

When I first got my 5B the look of it instantly reminded me of my old, never forgotten always missed, Ultima.

[@Petriefied0246]

I am of the same generation and used to have a chain drive Optima. They must have realised that their original customers are in their forties and have significant disposable income! I just love this model...

[@gavwa08]

Just found my old original release Ultima in my shed. Cleaned it up a bit, bought a new battery for it and it still hammers. Has an old X-speed 15 turn tunable in the back and really does go pretty well. Still a lot of fun.

[@Hiergibtesnixzusehen]

that's how a buggy should look like 👍🏻👍🏻👍🏻

[@bryanlarsen2330]

That’s when buggies were the best!!!

[@baconator_c10]

I had this car as a kid. Growing up in the 80’s was a great time for rc cars.

[@thudtheace]

When I was a kid in the 80s I had a Tamiya Rough Rider and a Kyosho Pegasus, I could not afford the Ultima at the time. I did eventually get a Kyosho Salute. I still love the 80's and early 90's buggies the best (like you said). Cheers!

[@palean999]

That was my 1st rc car I bought for myself way back in the day. Fond memories.

[@mattblok8736]

Be still my heart... I saw the red shocks in the thumbnail and realized my dream has come true. My first hobby grade buggy. Unfortunately the buggy was driven over and the chassis was flattened. And there was no lhs that supported kyosho at that time. They all switched to ae and losi. I do however still have and use the red original kyosho tote bag from back in the day.

[@rcdriver]

I still have the old Kyosho tote too! The zipper is busted, but otherwise it's still in good shape.

[@goldenmanuever1176]

Old school Kyoshio! Wonderful Tower memories. Back when R/C cars looked just like that - a car. At $280 going to add one of these to the shelf collection. U did a nice job on the body!

[@etxkevin7452]

That thing looked amazing when I was a kid.....still does. Beautiful buggy! Want one so bad 😢😢😢

[@tomandrews5392]

Timeless design and stood the test of time....great to see it rereleased...

[@muzicgr8]

Still got mine, bought it in 1989, its still awesome

[@rogerkolenda8726]

I had one of these back in the day ! 87' I think. I raced it every sunday at our local rc club track and did well up against the RC10. Those were the good days:)

[@jerryhellstrom30]

Someone didn't like this video😵😵 In my opinion you did an great work on this one. Big thanks......

[@rcdriver]

Jerry Hellström Thanks! I’m ok with thumbs down. Some people don’t like my style of videos. Some people don’t like the subject. It’s fine, I learned early on in my RC media career you can’t please everyone.

[@jerryhellstrom30]

Are you in Facebook...?? If so, please contact me...

[@davidreed3724]

BRAVO BRAVO 👏👏👏. Glad to see a racing inspired kit featured. I got my Kyosho Turbo Ultima around Christmas time 1989 or very early 1990 for my first RC. I love the kit building processes. It helps to understand the car better. You were hitting some big rocks head-on and it just kept on going. No rollover after hitting them. It just settled down and kept on digging. How were the instructions? Accurate and easy to understand? That just looked like loads of fun to drive. Keep doing different companies that have a racing background because they are engineered to stay on their wheels better for driving not gymnastics cartwheeling. Thank you and Kyosho for bringing back great memories!

[@rh1507]

Takes me back in time. Still have one in storage back Illinois.

[@msteele0]

OMG. This brings back memories. I had one of the originals. I was maybe 16. I'm 48 now!

[@abruptlyblunt]

the ultima has the best gear cover of any rc i've ever raced, that center mount with the body clip fastener sealed so well that you never had to worry about crap getting in there and taking out your gears. didn't know they remade the ultima, i may get another one after a sell all my tlr stuff, back in the day i had a couple of the aluminum chassis ultima's that i used as bashers but i raced a factory graphite turbo ultima pro, loved that car.....

[@Brian_Mowry__BMOW71]

It does brings back some great memories from the late 80's! A friend of mine had the Ultima and I had the Turbo Optima. These both were great buggies back in the day!

[@rcdriver]

Brian Mowry Ooo, the Turbo Optima, I wanted that one pretty bad back in the late 80’s.

[@davidreed3724]

I knew someone that had the Turbo Optima too. They were 4wd. They put him in the 2wd class because he was the only one with a 4wd outside of some toy grade ones that some kids had. He crushed those and the 2wd class. That was a great car too

[@potopowerful]

I had one of those around 1988 as my first hobby grade RC! It was the fastest car in the neighborhood at the time. Shattered the chassis top plate on my first run and had to get a replacement. Cool to see them back.

[@skideric]

Cool! I just happen to have the ORIGINAL Kyosho Ultima & just got it working yesterday!

[@ks-bg5uk]

I raced the vintage one as a kid in the 80s. It's my fav of all time. kyosho did a fantastic job bringing this back. I just finished the turbo scorpion. I can't wait to build this. Nice review.

[@dogman_]

Wow! Now all I need is my Diamond Blue Label Stock motor, and this would be the same setup I had back in 86-87. Memories!

[@EduarVargas477]

Kyosho did a masterful job on this re release. One of the best.

[@scalebuildersguild]

I've got one to build as well Greg! Can't wait to get this out on the BMX track!

[@rcdriver]

Scale Builder's Guild Awesome! It’s a blast!

[@Slatanicmushroom]

I own 3 originals, but will buy this one too. Thanks for all the great info!

[@GIZZMOTORSPORTS]

I raced one of these back in the day, love it.

[@garrettsgarage4769]

Kyosho makes a fun RC. after a tire upgrade and a sway bar kit my outlaw rampage pro is perfect

[@artieaudio77]

I can't wait to get my hands on this :) Greg ur lucky u got ur hands on it so early.

[@ChrisLee-UK]

I recall seeing one of these for the first time back in the 80's, I was at a race meet at a place called Dowty Rotol in Cheltenham, UK. Had lots of members and then this dude rocked up with one of these. Looked amazing but he had an issue with the ESC, it was basically stuck in reverse......He still wiped the floor with us lol. Amazing tech back then, I was running an origina Tamiya Avante!

[@STEVOD313]

Thats awesome Kyosho has these new vintage kits, i've definitely gotta pick one up this winter

[@fogt1430]

I found some if my vintage rc cars and parts. I found a rock buster a Ultima a scorpion and a big Brute. motors and about 20 tamtech controllers. My dad use to have a shop and my brother and I were spotters for the track.

[@TheGregeoff]

I got over vintage one at a yard sale last year and I’m going to put new electronics in it and I’m making it brushed

[@TastierBackInThe80s]

Thank you for a nice long review. I desperately wanted one of these as a kid but never got it. I will be grabbing the new one for sure.

[@rcguygarage]

I was just talkin about this on my livestream yesterday about my Kyosho Ultima and it was my first real RC

[@pellesomethingsomething]

This thing is oozing old school magic.

[@powderriver2424]

Just started stumbling onto all these RC channels just cool I remember when all these cars came out. I had an original Rough Rider with the old Futaba dial transmitter and a GrassHopper after that, then in 1989 I went to Korea in the Army I built a Frog we had a club on base and I met some fine people they were running Kyosho Optima’s and Ultima’s one guy had an RC10 outside of road cars that was my first experience with Kyosho off road buggies I’ve never seen better handling cars you couldn’t come close with clunky old Tamiya. I’m not knocking the Classic Tamiya they’re fun rip around buggies,but if your competitive Kyosho was night and day different.

[@sylvainster30]

Great review Greg 👍🏼 Gotta love those old school retro kits! I missed my chance on the associated worlds buggy reproduction/rerelease and i hate myself for that 🤦🏻‍♂️ Now i want this kit 🤪 have an awesome day my friend ✌🏼😎👍🏼

[@GrotrianSeiler]

I absolutely loved this video. This seems like so much more fun than all the bashing that’s done today, but I guess the market has changed. I have a lot of fun with my ECX Ruckus BL and wish there would have been a buggy option. So much now is monster trucks. Oh well. Great, nostalgic video.

[@Shellbackrc]

Great video would've love to see it run laps on a track for us vintage racers out there.

[@bluegroovemodelsports9650]

cool build you can really see where the HPI baja 5b came from in this car

[@KrazyKanucker]

Nice! I had the original one. I built a track in my back yard and used my skateboard ramp to launch it along with Yamaha in my pic, ahh good times. I thought rc cars were expensive until I got into simulation racing with Fanatec and Assetto Corsa 😁

[@bluebenjamer]

My first rc was a Lobo ll buggy from sears.

[@EduarVargas477]

Mine was the first lobo.

[@NaturallyRC]

This was so fun, seeing as my first RC buggy was the Academy Road Runner. As usual, nice brisk pace to your delivery. Spot on.

[@bigsamoss]

The Ultima was my very first model. I recently ordered it again from Kyosho USA.

[@vincentmontambault217]

I really liked the Ultima! But the one I would like to see in new vintage edition is the Landjump 4D.

[@xts_eddy9527]

love how the battery was placed

[@eskimojoe6564]

I have the originial and I love it.I gotta finish rebuilding the transmission cuz the old one locked up.

[@corrie.welsh6272]

Don't know if anyone answered your question on the radio plate. It was just plastic and also thin unlike the Turbo Ultima that was FRP. One hard impact to the front with that tiny bumper also on the original and you had a bend chassis and broken radio plate ( I lived that nightmare with only Tower Hobbies for support). The chassis on the original was only 1mm thick and very soft, the very reason they had the bronze anodized Option House chassis that was 2mm thick on the Turbo Ultima.

[@verdman54]

Hey man, way to kick in one of the first videos of this re-release!! Great review!!

[@razif6916]

The lower screws were pengead vs counter screw on the new kit..nice review..those front lower arm clips are a pita..

[@MegaF1guy]

Great video! I have a question, In your video you said you used oil in the dif. I just purchased a Kyosho Optima Mid. I would like to build up the diffs with oil instead of grease. Unfortunately in the manual they don't give you any idea of how much oil to use. It looks like they tell you to fill up one side of the diff and then put it together. But it also shows them putting grease on the gears on the other side of the diff. Could you give me any guidance? I have oil. I just not sure how to use it in the diffs. Any help you give me would be awesome. Thank you very much ahead of time. Cheers 🙂🙂🙂🙂

[@theirishaxe9405]

This totally reminds me of 1991 👍👍 love it

[@SuperBigdanno]

Sweet buggy! Always wanted one and just got an original to restore this spring. Would love to buy one but in Canada they are almost 500 dollars

[@aangelus3581]

Good video, I am convinced ! Thank you 😊

[@RC4X4]

This is great they are bringing this back out. I too had a Turbo Ultima and Ultima II. I ran the Ultima ll alot. I should have kept the Turbo though.

[@muttbone01]

I wish Losi would come out with revised classics. I would pay about anything for a new old skool JR-XT or XXT!

[@sickunit2096]

Gotta grab one of these. Kyosho put some nice parts on this thing.

[@rcdriver]

Kurt Spieles Agreed! They did a nice job on the rework. Link to grab one in the description when you’re ready.

[@DustyFingersRC]

Beautiful buggy!!

[@rc-fannl7364]

Runs and looks really nice. Hope they do the Optima Mid in a similar way, stay true to the design, but update where it enhances the performance.

[@isaiahfurrow7414]

Ha ha, he said, " you guys who haven't experienced E-clips before, you're gonna have a lot of fun...." ... hahaha NW and West Coast racers will get a chuckle out of that one....lol

[@mikeschuler2946]

I had a fox but always wanted the ultima

[@firstnamelastname6038]

Has to be one of the coolest rc cats ever! Hope you didn't scratch the underside too much!

[@rcdriver]

Matthew Begbie The chassis is pretty scratched up. Had so much fun with it though, I’m fine with it. 😊

[@rcsendandblast1579]

Have you heard of the first kyosho that came out before it went big. The 1986 kyosho Salute car 1. I have a friend who traded one off for a 1/8 scale big basher. Do you know roughly the worth of that one which is one of the first kyosho cars that came out back in late 85 early 86.

[@hmbiii9974]

Question, do the rerelease ultima front wheels fit the original Kyosho Ultima II?

[@danielmoriarty751]

I could’ve sworn the ultimate kit came with bushings and the turbo ultimate kit came with bearings. basically The turbo version was the upgraded version of this kit. Don’t know about the Ultimate kit but I know the turbo Ultima came with carbon fiber shock towers not plastic. Either way really cool taking a look at some thing I’ve seen in over 30 years

[@johngantner9314]

ok now could they re release the Kysho Big Brute!?!

[@rcnut5112]

What are your thoughts of the ecx boost buggy? What upgrades would do

[@rcdriver]

rc nut51118 It’s fun. Check out our ECX Brutus video. The two share the same upgrades.

[@sigzor302620]

No stabilizer bars for front and rear. Are there the holes on the arms to install stabilizer bars or would holes need to drilled on the arms?

[@My2JZandMe]

I really like this Mini Electric Baja 5B!

[@schuttrostig5729]

The steering setup looks much better than the original bent steel rod which had a lot of play. Wonder if it will take shorty style lipos as well? wont the cables interfer with the chassis?

[@alfredyost7972]

The car looks great. I am not a fan of the bottom landing shocks. I have always had problems with them leaking. I did build the Kyosho Scorpion. It also had bottom loading shocks. I got the optional shocks from Kyosho and they were top loading. I wonder if the same top loading shocks from Kyosho might work here too.

[@stevemoon2136]

Would have liked to have seen 12mm hex's front & rear for better compatibility with newer buggies. Still totally awesome tho.

[@Warwick3511]

I think the plastic top plate was a later part used with the stadium truck conversion they did. the original being fibre glass.

[@mikecelone4365]

That track looks like a blast to drive on. Where is it at?

[@alfredyost7972]

A & L now makes fiberglass shock towers for this car. You can find them on eBay.

[@chrismiskell8278]

What do you think will be the next vehicle kyosho deciders to release under the vintage series? I wish team associated would re-re-release the rc10 gold pan or do a vintage series also..

[@gregoryhines7]

Great video. Would you be willing to tell me exactly which reedy lipo you used?? I love the in depth reviews with more information rather than driving footage. Watching other people driving is like watching Golf to me, I'd rather be doing it myself! 😃

[@rcdriver]

Gregory Hines It’s the Reedy 3300mah 7.4v Wolfpack. Part- 751

[@santastabber]

I still have the turbo ultima my dad got me half assembled from the swap meet in the 5th grade. He got it for 40$ but he told my mom it was 20. That front bulkhead got destroyed so many times.

[@OnefiveRc]

those wheels look just like corvette saw blades.

[@Tony_nikko]

Beautiful. I have one nib of this model. Unassembled😃😃

[@mrmoran0077]

Did you guys get a special edition in the US, only in Europe our kits contain "ALUMINIUM" (correctly pronounced AL-YOU-MINI-UM) Just saying 😎👍🏼

[@showmethedammovie]

I got mine ordered

[@shelbycarby529]

does your ultima have a lot of understeer?

[@BangzRC]

Nice spot for bashing😁👍

[@urdonercjeremyburris7541]

20 mins long video with only 4 mins of running time. Amazing video

[@rcdriver]

Jeremy Burris 6 Minutes 😁

[@alfredyost7972]

I like Kyosho kits, I wish the battery was not held on with zip ties. Also, I hope Kyosho will make other dampers. The bottom loading dampers were always problematic. This is why the Team Associated RC10 dominated when it came out, it had better dampers.

[@matthewneufer1758]

I got the old Ultima I got one on my shelf , I also have a 8th scale koysho MRC Dule ele motors on a shelf I got about 5 of old Koyshos all of them used I took the motors and speed controls out of them. Its fiberglass and you have to use the big zip ties as opposed to the modern Velcro my fiberglass has cracked I was thinking about rebuilding it and using carbon fiber

[@chipsandsalsa2520]

I found a vintage running for 170 with controller, would this be a good price?

[@keithrx3c]

You really need to checkout the other Kyosho re-release buggies. The rear tyres are the same as the Turbo Optima re-release tyres.

[@rcdriver]

keithrx3c I have my Turbo Ultima still, complete with Buds wing on it. Sold my Turbo Scorpion though, that still makes me sick😢

[@NitroStarGT]

OMG 😯😲😮👍😁. Been waiting!!!

[@rcdriver]

NitroStar Yeah! So much fun to drive. They did a great job on this kit!

[@Jeffhuebner]

I had an Ultima back in the day. I think the top plate was the black graphite not fiberglass.

[@LuigiBes]

Still have my dad's . But can't fix it :( ! Still have both default and Le Mans engine :) !

[@i_am_terom4810]

Could you test the Tamiya dt03 please, because I think this is an awesome rc for ~120$, and looking kinda the same as this one

[@EduarVargas477]

the dt03 is not the same as the ultima starting with the shocks and its non adjustable rods. Tamiya is more toy grade.

[@richardcorfield9926]

I wonder how its weight compares to modern cars?

[@hammerhome7879]

I have a "new" old one on my shelf... the front A arms are wider ? or the rims are hella offset VS the org...now the front looks as wide as the rear end....like they should have done back in 1987

[@rogerfrean207]

Would you choose this or the turbo scorpion??

[@rcdriver]

Thats a tough call. I sold my original Scorpion and regretted it ever since. Don’t have the new one but want it pretty bad. The Ultima however was an awesome drive. I wouldn’t turn you away from it.

[@johnnydavis8489]

Would you have to use a low profile servo In this kit ? I just received my kit. Thank you 🙏🏼

[@rcdriver]

Johnny Davis You can use a standard size or low profile.

[@nighthawkj30A4]

Kyosho seems similar to my Tamiya rc’s

[@happytrailsrc]

What other body's fit this car?

[@KMJ187]

Awesome!!!