Start Your Engines! We Tested and Chose the 10 Best Remote-Controlled Cars for All Ages (2024)

Because of its soft wheels, the Flippin' Frenzy is ideal for indoor use, where it's unlikely to mark walls or scratch furniture, though you're welcome to use it outdoors too. Our testing has shown that it's strong enough to be raced down a staircase or smashed into cabinets without damage to the toy or to a home. If the car hits an object and turns upside down, it just keeps going, which is great for uninterrupted racing. Either the blue side or the red side shows at any given time, and it can speed along either way. Flippin' Frenzy is also able to do tricks, including wild spins. In fact, this RC car is a pick for the 2022 Good Housekeeping Best Toy Awards.

The remote control's buttons are small and require some finger agility, so pay attention to the 4-and-up age rating. Toddlers may not have the patience to use all the features on this toy. But our tests have shown that schoolkids, teens and adults love it.

With previous versions of this Air Hogs RC car, users reported that the rechargeable battery got weaker over time and held for only 15 minutes or so — still a respectable amount of time in the RC vehicle universe, but worth noting. We haven't been able to play with this new-for-2022 version long enough to determine if this car's battery will gradually weaken too. But to some extent, gradual depletion is expected with any rechargeable battery (as we all know from life with our smartphones). The fact that users raced earlier versions long enough to have the battery start to weaken is a testament to how robust — and how fun — this RC vehicle is, since it's getting use over a long period of time.

If any franchise deserves an RC race car, it's got to be Nintendo's Super Mario Kart. This fun little vehicle can do tricks, including wheelies, spins and drifts, like the moves featured in the video game. The wheels can turn sideways — that's the "anti-gravity" mode, because it makes it look as though the car is hovering. "It does not, in fact, leave the ground, but it is a fun illusion," noted one tester. The remote control works even 100 feet away from the toy, making it entertaining to race the car over a distance. Parents report it holding up to real abuse, including being sent off ramps and smashed into walls.

Fun fact: You know how you can "try" a toy in a store by pushing a button through the packaging? That power comes from "demonstration batteries," which are different from the batteries that run the RC vehicle when you actually use it. The Super Mario Kart comes with those demonstration batteries and a cord connecting the car to the remote control, so be sure to remove the cord and replace the demo batteries before play.

Families who have tested this RC car for us report it being equally popular with 4-year-olds and teenage racers — and, of course, adults who are nostalgic about Mario and friends, or who never gave up playing Mario. Best of all, this race car costs even less than the price of one of the video games.

Just can't wait to race cars with the littlest person in your life? These feature lights, sounds and toy figures that can ride around in the two cars. The vehicles, a race car and a police car, are easy for even a toddler to operate. Blinking headlights, sirens, simple songs and remote controls that are shaped like steering wheels add to the thrill of making the cars move forward and backward, as well as having them turn.

There are only two big buttons, which we find keeps things simple and intuitive for the youngest kids. A big plus of this set is that two children can play together, or an adult can play along with a child. Speed isn't the goal with these preschooler-friendly RC cars, though they are fairly zippy. Instead, they're perfect as first remote-controlled toys that have very basic operation. Because the batteries aren't rechargeable, play can last a long time, but you'll want to keep a lot of batteries on hand. The entire set requires 10 of them!

When they have a need for speed, remote-controlled car fans point to the Traxxas brand, which has been manufacturing mini racing mobiles for some 35 years. This RC buggy really zips along, and the electronics are well protected against puddles, rocks, mud and whatever other obstacles you want to send it careening over. "Kidults" (grown-ups who've retained their childhood enthusiasm) love to race this outdoors, and it's a good step up for a teen who's ready for more of a hobby RC car versus a toy RC car.

With a 1/10 hobby car — a remote-controlled car that's a 1/10th-size replica of a real race car — comes smaller, more delicate parts and wiring. Many fans love tinkering with the car and modifying it to their own specifications. But the Traxxas Bandit RC buggy is also more durable than other, pricier hobby racing cars. And there's extra fun: The newest version has working taillights.

You build this two-in-one vehicle from 772 Lego pieces, which is a project in itself, so that means you won't have a working vehicle right out of the box. We find it takes a tween or teen about a week to assemble it on their own, working for a few hours each day. Families working as a team report putting it together over a couple of evenings.

Users say the build is rewarding, and the car, controlled via an app on a tablet or smartphone, is a winner. For starters, since it runs on regular batteries that don't need to be recharged, it can go for days before you need to switch the batteries out. Another fun feature: When the blue racing vehicle flips over, it reveals a second side, which is an orange exploration vehicle. It's not speedy, and it is, in fact, slower than toy cars for younger kids, but the way it spins, climbs, flips and keeps going is a delight. This vehicle is best used indoors, since it would be hard to clean if it got muddy, but it can travel over obstacles you put in front of it.

The biggest surprise is that this monster truck does what it promises: It goes on land or through water, even traveling through a swimming pool, which is a unique thrill. It's styled after the Monster Jam Megalodon shark-themed vehicle that kids may know from YouTube videos and monster truck events, and it's a convincing little replica. The body and wheels are super lightweight, which helps it bounce over obstacles in true monster truck fashion. It sometimes even catches a little air as it bounces over rough terrain.

Testers praise its speed and agility, especially for the under-$50 price. "My only issue is that the USB cord for recharging the truck is short, so it has to sit near my charger," one parent told us. "When the truck is dirty and muddy, it's not necessarily something you want on your countertop." Note that the USB cable stays attached to the truck. That makes it basically impossible to lose and keeps it from getting mixed up with all of your other household cords. However, it also means you must carefully fold the charging cable back up into its waterproof door in the bottom of the truck after every charge, something that usually requires adult help. But overall, the families who have tested this remote-controlled monster truck say it stays a favorite over time. "It doesn't get old!" one mom told us.

Users rave about this racer's value for the money. The low price is partly due to the fact that this remote-controlled car is 1/18th the size of a real race car, while most hobby cars are 1/10th the size. This mini is an affordable way to step up to fast-racing fun. It's also the rare RC car that's ready to go after you take it out of the box — even the remote control's batteries are included.

Families use this car both indoors and outdoors but report that the wheels do wear down quickly when it's run on concrete and rock versus wooden floors or carpet. We notice that it seems more responsive than many other RC cars, turning quickly. It's also able to do great wheelies and jumps because it's so lightweight.

Nostalgia alert! This toy marks the 75th anniversary of the Tonka brand. Fans of construction vehicles can make it plow and lift objects, as well as dump items out of the back. Note that the actual remote-controlled action just sends the truck forward and back, left and right, makes it spin and releases the cargo from the back of the truck. Users manually make the front loader go up and down.

The truck is a big, satisfying size and made of real steel, so it feels like it authentically belongs at a work site. It's so new that we haven't had the chance to road test it over a period of months, but our initial runs with it show that it holds up well to outdoor play.

One of our Hottest Toys of 2019, this car remains a favorite and has a great shot at wowing any Batman fan. It's both a remote-controlled car and a play set, able to be driven around and then parked and transformed into Batman's base of operations. When in "battle mode," it can shoot out yellow discs at pretend enemies. A small Batman figure (about three inches tall) can ride in the vehicle or be sent on adventures all over the play set. Lights and sounds raise the overall play value, and those are also set off using the remote control.

As an RC car, it's reasonably fast and able to spin in a full circle. It's a great toy for a preschooler or an elementary-age child who likes to play imaginative superhero games, but it's also fun for big kids who just want a cool Batmobile.

The RC cars on this list have been reviewed in the Lab, in the homes of Good Housekeeping Institute staff and/or by family testers over the past 10 years. When testing any kind of toy, our engineers and analysts begin by ensuring that each toy meets all federal safety standards. Then our experts check for pinch points (spots on a toy where a small child could hurt a finger) and conduct a drop test to be certain the toy won't shatter into small pieces with sharp edges or pose a choking hazard. Next, we carefully evaluate the ease of assembly for parents and kids, as well as the product's construction and durability during play.

The GH Institute and its staff have tested hundreds of RC vehicles, and these rise to the top as favorites. When evaluating a remote-controlled toy, we check to be sure it can run for at least 15 minutes, fully charged. We also look at how a vehicle gets its power, and whether it needs fresh, disposable batteries or uses a rechargeable battery. We don't place a lot of emphasis on pure speed; we leave that to the hard-core hobbyists, though we do have some fast racers among our picks. We take notes on the ease of the recharging process. We also take notes on whether the car works best indoors or outdoors, and if it leaves any marks on walls or cabinets that it bumps into. Finally, we race a vehicle down stairs or off a counter to be sure that, even going at speed, it doesn't break apart at the landing.

No matter who will be at the controls of your RC car, here's what you should consider when you're browsing the options:

✔️ Power source: Today's remote-controlled toys are almost all wireless, powered either by batteries you insert or by rechargeable batteries that require you to plug in the toy. Very few RC cars are ready to go straight out of the box: You'll probably need to either insert new batteries (usually not included) or charge up the rechargeable batteries.

• If a toy takes regular batteries, play lasts a long time (hours), but you'll need to buy new batteries when they run down.
• If a toy uses rechargeable batteries, the vehicle will often run for less than an hour at a time — sometimes less than a half hour — but you won't need to buy new batteries. Rechargeable batteries fire up with a USB cable. You plug one end into the toy and the other end into a power adapter (like the kind you use to charge your phone) or into your laptop to give the batteries their juice.

✔️ Remote control: With the exception of one RC vehicle that's operated via smartphone, our picks require additional batteries for each remote control, the device a person holds to direct the toy. You'll likely want to have some AA or AAA batteries on hand to get everything going.

✔️ Durability: We focus on trusted toy brands known for making strong toys that are built to hold up to a lot of rough play. When we test, we make sure that RC cars can smash into walls and furniture indoors and ride over rocks and hills outdoors, all without breaking apart.

✔️ Speed: Some RC cars are literally racers, and others are not meant to break any speed records. Vehicles age-graded for teens and adults usually go the fastest, but in this story, the RC wheelchair is also extremely fast.

✔️ Size: Look at the dimension size of an RC car so you know what you're getting. Small remote-controlled toys are fun indoors, but big RC vehicles are hard to maneuver around furniture. Any size can work outdoors, since, unlike a drone, these are unlikely to get stuck in a tree or on a roof.

✔️ Age grading: RC cars for ages 3 and up might contain small pieces that could pose a choking hazard for younger kids. Any remote-controlled vehicle is fun for an adult to use, but children should not be given toys that are marked as above their age level, both for safety and for practicality. For instance, if something is marked for 12 years and up, it probably takes a bit of finger dexterity and patience.

For decades, the Good Housekeeping Institute has provided expert reviews and advice on everything parents and children love, from family board games to ride-on toys. Our experts also release an annual list of Toy Awards, featuring top-tested items for kids of every age. Additionally, we evaluate tech, including the best drones for beginners.

Author Jessica Hartshorn has several decades of experience evaluating and testing toys and tech with families as an editor at American Baby and Parents magazines. She now checks out new toys for Good Housekeeping. Vehicles we chose for this list have also been evaluated by Rachel Rothman, the GH Institute's chief technologist and executive technical director, and Marisa LaScala, Good Housekeeping's senior parenting and relationships editor. They helm Good Housekeeping's annual list of Best Toys.