This $1,500 RC Car Got Launched Off a Skatepark Ramp Repeatedly — Here’s What Finally Broke
The Losi 5IVE-TE 3.0 is a 55-pound, 1/5-scale electric desert truck running a 12S brushless power system capable of pushing past 50 mph. It retails for $1,499.99 at Horizon Hobby. The correct way to review something like this, apparently, is to take it to a skatepark and hurl it off ramps until something gives.
That's exactly what Kevin Talbot did – and notably, he paid for the truck himself. "All of those people got the car for free, so they kind of might be a little bit of bias there to be nice towards it," he said of other reviewers. Hard to argue with that logic.
What the Losi 5IVE-TE 3.0 Actually Is
The 5IVE-T platform has been around since 2011, when Losi launched it as a gas-powered fifth-scale 4WD truck. The combustion engine found in previous versions has been scrapped altogether, replaced by what Spektrum calls its most powerful factory surface setup yet – a brushless motor with a 560Kv rating, 70mm diameter, and 120mm length, working alongside a 250-amp Smart ESC that operates at 50.4 volts across a 12S configuration.
The truck measures nearly 43 inches long, runs on 8.5-inch Pro-Line tires , and uses 32mm big-bore oil-filled shocks at all four corners. Unlike the polycarbonate shells found on most RC cars , these body panels are made from injection-molded polypropylene, a material chosen for its ability to absorb impacts by flexing – and when a panel eventually gives out, it can be swapped out on its own.
The chassis is made from 6061-T6 aluminum rather than the harder 7075 alloy – a distinction worth keeping in mind. The presenter clocked this early, pointing out that previous 5T generations were known to bend under hard use. Whether the 3.0 would hold up was, conveniently, about to be answered.
The Skatepark Settled It
GPS logged 44 mph during the bashing session, which given the truck's footprint and weight is genuinely impressive. The car survived repeated ramp launches, hard landings, and multiple crashes across two locations before the skatepark session extracted its toll. "This is the most fun I've had with an RC car in a very long time," the presenter said mid-session, right around when things started making rattling noises.
Post-crash inspection found a broken bulkhead, a bent chassis, a failed bearing, and a pinion with a missing tooth. The presenter traced the root cause directly: "The bulkhead's broken. And that is what's made this piece here… it's bent." The bulkhead failure cascaded into the chassis deformation rather than the chassis bending on its own – a meaningful distinction if you're deciding what to reinforce first.
His final read on the damage: "Considering the abuse it has had, you cannot knock it. This thing is big and heavy." He also flagged that a larger pinion, thicker diff fluid, and additional LiPo capacity are all on the upgrade list – suggesting the stock setup is a starting point rather than the destination.
A few stock criticisms did surface beyond the crash damage. Brake performance was underwhelming at speed , the battery installation process is a little fiddly given the dual 6S tray layout, and community reports put real-world 12S run times somewhere around 10 minutes. For nearly $1, 500 before batteries, that last point stings a little.
What the test actually demonstrated is that the 5IVE-TE 3.0 is built better than its predecessor and will absorb punishment that has no business being inflicted on a truck this size – right up until it doesn't. That's about as honest a durability verdict as a skatepark ramp can produce.
