We bought the lad a remote control buggy for his birthday. The prerequisites were off-road ability, ease of use for a beginner, decent quality, parts support and reasonable cost. We have plenty of open space to run it but most cheap RC cars die fast in the sand and dust.
So a Maverick Ion DT desert truck was what he got. He thinks it’s fabulous. And he’s getting the hang of it. But not without incident. A high speed drift into the weeds saw it snap a rear driveshaft!
Maverick call these things ‘dogbones’. I call them ‘profitable’ at $14/pair! But at least they are easier to replace than a Subaru driveshaft.