This is my first post on the board, so forgive me if I break any etiquette rules. I've been riding my dirtbike in Glamis for about 8 years now, and now that I am married and have a daughter, we are thinking of stepping up to a sand car.

My wife has been looking at pictures and watching videos, and in her words, the Funco cars are "what a sand rail is supposed to be". We can't afford to buy a turnkey car from them, the top end of my budget is about $30,000. I have seen a couple of gen 3 cars used in this price range, but have been entertaining the idea of buying a 'kit b' instead, buying the drivetrain myself and trying to save some money on the labor and have a new car.

From what I've seen I think I may be unreasonable to believe I can get away with buying a kit b and buying the rest of the stuff myself and still staying in the $30k range.

Unfortunately we are going to be at a wedding the weekend of the Funco regatta, and live in AZ so it is not easy for us to go visit their shop. I was also hoping anyone could give input if they think I am unreasonable to hope to be able to tow a Funco car and my wife's KFX700 with a 1/2 ton truck. It is rated to tow 7,800lbs. The thing I am concerned about it getting a trailer big enough to fit the car and still be able to tow with my half ton.

Sorry this is kind of rambling, I have so many questions and don't even know where to start, but I am not at a point right now where I am ready to pull the trigger so I feel sort of guilty calling up Funco and wasting a bunch of their time.

Thanks for any help you can provide
Dave

One thing is very clear about Funco Car Owners, once you own one, you will always be a Funco lifer.

I have had two Funcos, a Gen 3 and now a Gen 4, the Gen 3 is under-rated in my opinion, if you can pick one up for $25,000- $30,000, do it. You won't be disappointed at all. I also recommend going with the Subaru, especially in the Gen 3.

You could go with a Kit, but you won't get the thing running for months, and will haev to put many hours into. Find a used car, spend the time and extra money on what needs to be done. Never hesistate to call the Funco crew with questions either, they support even the 3rd, 4th, and 5th owners with cars.

As for the trailer, a Gen 3 will fit if you have 15ft of cargo room, car weighs 1850 lbs or so......have fun shopping

Glad to see your choice, I have had 4 funcos. Never bought a new one, but Grant and family treat me as if I did. Buying a kit from Funco is a great way to save some $$$$ and learn alot about your car. You may also want to consider a used one for your first one. You will learn alot, meet alot of people and be in a much better position to build your perfect car after owning one for a bit. Funco's hold there value very well, and in this market there are several on this board that you could buy, drive for a season and sell for at or near the same price.

Best thing to do is to post up when you will be making a trip to Glamis and you will get lots of opportunities to learn more from a very passionate group of owners.

If I were you with that budget ($30,000) I would buy used around $25,000 and spend the other $5,000 with Funco on a tune up and then drive and have fun......

Building one from a kit is a lot of hard work. Be prepared to modify that budget just a bit. You are making a wise choice with Funco. Come to Glamis during the Regatta, spend the early morning drooling over the cars on Saturday over at Pad 4.

A Gen. 3 would make a great first car. When out shopping, the cars with the Funco F on the front signifies it's a turn key car built and assembled by them. Some of the early Gen. 3's won't have a removeable engine cage.

My bother has a Gen 3 the worst thing I ever did was drive his car . Now I don't evan want to drive my car any more . I have been able to drive or ride in many differnt sandrails in my live been going to the dunes for over 35 years and there is NOTHING LIKE A FUNCO good choice in your first car you will love it . I can not wait till I can afford one of my own

Welcome to Glamisdunes.com!

Although I don't own a Funco, I know a lot of people who do. It's interesting to hear your wife likes the looks, usually the great handling is what sells a Funco, and some people just accept the looks.

I agree with the advice you've gotten here, a Gen 3 is a great duning car. IF you could stretch the budget up to $35K and IF you could find a Subaru powered Gen 4 for that price, that would be an even better deal. I know, lots of IFs, but it really is a buyer's market. No matter which one you buy, stick to the Subaru powerplant. The low center of gravity helps handling immensely.

Stick with a turnkey car..
Buying pieces and random parts will prove to be a headache and the "budget" will get blown in no time..
If there's one thing I have learned about sandcars, it is this.. Get what you want in a car and don't think you'll just "upgrade" it later..
One of two things will happen if you don't.
A. You'll never upgrade it and you'll start to dislike the car
or
B. You'll upgrade it and it will cost more than it did if you were to have bought it that way in the first place..
Ask me how I know....

We bought a Gen 1 Funco in 1995 brand new. It was production number 34. My husband drove it at first...then I took over YAY (he fabricated and built his own buggy) we are a two buggy family...cuz I won't ride biatch This Funco has saved my a$$ so many times....meaning if I didn't have the air bags I would of ate neck. The Grant family is PHENOMENAL. The quality unmatched as far as I'm concerned. In the photo notice the BIG SMILE

Although I have not driven a funco with a subi motor I have ridden in them .anyways my coment is that I have driven a gen 3 with a turbo Honda motor and its really fun . I say if the price is right don't count those cars out of what your looking at might be able to get a really nice car for alittle less $$ just my 2cents

I'm going to go against the trend and say Don't Do IT....







And heres why...


Okay first you find that seemingly innocent Gen 3 with the unassuming little Subaru. Everything seems fine at first. Your heads held high your walking taller, got new friends and became a Funco family member.



Then one beautiful day you notice a nice Gen 4 driving by. You like the look. The turbo subi or little V8 sounds delicious. You start thinking......Start sweating...

Now you have to find yourself a Gen 4. You look high and low and finally find the perfect specimen. In a second it all yours.... All is right again.

Time goes by, your blasting around with your new ride, cuttin corners and jumping everything that resembles a bump and you think you've reached the pinnacle of duning life.



But...Theres something missing. You've got a knot in your stomach. You can't put your finger on it but it seems to be eating at you. What could it be.

Then it hits you. BAM. You realize that there is a Gen 5. You tried to deny it, but you couldn't look away anymore.

You find yourself thinking about how it could be. What if.....I wonder.....

Next your calling Grant to ask a couple innocent questions. How and why, you query.

You try to see if it could happen. If I did this and they did that it....It could happen.

You start "THE TALK" with the wife. It seems to be going well. That was easier than you thought.

Now your planning. Your scheming. You've got it figured out.

And then Boom. Your now a Gen 5 / Big 5 owner. You've crested the mountain. Your now at the cross roads. You can do anything.



See what I saved you from. Listen to me and avoid all this agony and frustration.

Call Grant today and just order a new car.

If price wasn't a concern I would do that in a heartbeat... Unfortunately we're not at a place where I can drop $60k plus on a car. We still have to buy a trailer also. I am the type of person that price is about 50% of my decision and getting exactly what I want is the other 50%. $30k or so is really my absolute upper limit, seeing as it looks like I am still going to have to drop about $20k on a trailer also.

Can anyone comment on how these cars handle woops? What is the biggest difference I will experience between this type of car and a V8 car? After the advice I've gotten I think we are going to try and pick up a used Gen 3 or Gen 4. Do they have the same suspension setups as the new ones?

Also, I'd like to say thanks to the people to PM'd me. The response has been fantastic, I really appreciate all the help. One thing I have always loved about the Glamis community is that it is actually a community.

a funco has always been a car i have wanted but could never pull the funds to gether to afford. i started building my own car last year using a desert dynamics chassis and buying it part by part. i blew the budget a long time ago and it still isnt done, but its also more of a dual purpose car. i would still love to build a funco though.

for the amount you want to spend i would suggest a used gen3 or a gen 4 if the price is right. turbo subie or a honda htat runs on pump gas, an s4 trans would be nice too. there are deals out there, just gotta find em. once you get a car, you can always tear it down and re powdercoat it what ever color you want and add things at that time, etc. then you will have the experiance of building a car but know you have all the parts to assemble it since you took it apart. you cant go wrong with a funco really.

The only way to get through the BIG whoops(sand drags) is in a LONG wheelbase car. besides that they work good in the whoops. The v8 cars do work the whoops a little better do to the weight of the car. You would be very happy with a gen 3 subi. If you have the time you might shop and find a gen 4 in your price range. The gen 5 is built around a v8,so it is a little beeft'r but a gen 5 subi is about the same as a gen 4. Welcome to the sickness....

<--- Knows nothing about SandRails except FUNCO's are nice. When you say $20K on a Trailer I am guessing Toy Hauler ??? If so FUNCO + Toy Hauler X Towed by Half Ton = spending more $ on a truck. Don't think a FUNCO will go inside a Super light and I wouldn't want to put a heavy rail inside one to begin with. So your looking at a wide body trailer you add that to the back of a 1/2 ton truck and all I hear is the AAMCO Transmission jingle.

I used to be under the impression that my Funco would not handle woops. All of the funcos I had before were Gen 3 two seaters, with rear bypass only, and they got a little squirley in the woops. I dont spend alot of time blasting down sandhighway because its gay, but when the time comes to make a run to the pizza place from Gecko I do the unthinkable and hit sand highway. My Gen 4 / Big 5 with a V8 hangs in the woops no problem. I have gone 80-100 on sand highway, not often, but its doable if you have the air pressures set up correctly and the bypasses dialed in.

agreed.. It's the long sand drag whoops that get you in trouble.

You should be more concerned with the damage you are doing to your drive train than whether or not the car will handle the whoops. Like TNT says, they handle them just fine, suspension wise. You are not gonna want to spend any time in those whoops. Funco's are for the open dunes.

Never owned a Funco, but don't hear any bad things and nothing but good things about their customer service. Here are 2 really nice ones available on the boards that are in your price range.

http://www.glamisdunes.com/invision/index....howtopic=183382

http://www.glamisdunes.com/invision/index....howtopic=179799

I just bought a Gen 5 Big 5 Turnkey, I have saved since 2004 for this. A few pennies each year.

The ones listed above are nice buggies close to your range.


As far as 1/2 Ton, trailer/ buggy/ 500 Pound Quad - I do not think so.

I'd jump on this. it would be a great first car. Cheap enough to upgrade right now if you wanted

http://www.glamisdunes.com/invision/index....=184997&hl=

I've built 3 funco B-kits. I've been playing with hot rods and off road stuff for most of my life. I've learned that "bolt on" is just sales-puke speak for "the sucker who buys this will have to re-engineer 98% of this junk to make it work". I was quite impressed at how well the first funco I built went together. Thinking I'd used my entire lifes allotment of luck for something like that to actually be that good, I had to build a second one, and it (and the third) was just as well engineered as the first. If I could convince the family CFO, I'd put an order in for another in a heartbeat. To me, the build is as much fun as the rest.

That said, with todays used car prices, I'm not sure you could build a kit for the same or less as you could pick up a used one. But some of us love the shiney new smell that comes with a new one, and you can certainly see some savings there. I wouldn't say this about everyone, but I would take a few minutes and talk with Grant about your budget and your goals. He is a straight shooter, and he will give you very good advice. I believe the best part about owning a funco is the customer support you get from the entire company...From Gil right down to the janitor, you will be treated like a valued member of their family..well, mostly, I'm not expecting the Christmas dinner invite, but you get the picture..

I think you've zero'ed in on a great car. My cars have all been V8's, just cause I love the sound of the motor. However, when...errr...if I ever catch the aforementioned CFO in a good mood, I dream my next one will be a 2 seat subaru powered one. The attraction is to just get that extra little bit of balance that the lighter weight of the motor brings.

As far as your towing problem. Here's an outside the box thought that might allow you expand your car budget. Buy a relatively cheap standard camp trailer and store it at the storage across the street. Then buy an open trailer for the rail and put the quad in the back of the truck. When you get to G, drop the toy trailer, and zip back to get the camp trailer. It would be less than a toybox, which would require a bigger truck. A little bit more work, but easier on the wallet for a couple years.

Anyway..good luck in the hunt, and keep us up to date on which direction you go... (and welcome to GD.com too!)

Great idea

Wow! That seems like a good deal

I have to agree with rbjcamp on this one. Its not a gen 3 or 4 but what you save you can get a nice truck and trailer too get it there and still enjoy the fruits of owning a Funco.

Its about half the price I paid for mine a few years back and is quite a capable buggie. My buddy with a V8 long travel has mentioned he wishes he had spent half the money and got one like mine due to how well the Funco handle. I hate to say it but the Gen2 turns better then the newer generations do anyway.

And then the Gen 3 (you sold to a buddy) turns inside of you and sandblasts your brand new Gen 5.... Don't let the numbers fool you ANY Funco is a great choice, The company is the best in the sand IMO. Bohica had some great advice buy a Gen 3 in your price range, run it for a while and decide what you like and dislike. If money allows in the future, sell it (most likley for near what you paid) and go sit in one of those cool suspension seats in Grant's office and treat yourself to a build I've had cose to 10 cars from various builders in as many years, a Gen 2, a couple gen 3's and a Gen 4 were in the mix and when all is said and done out of the 10 cars the 4 Funco's provided the top 4 duning experiences. None of the Funco's were a new build (though it seems as if I am always wanting to pull the trigger...) but if you need service or a question answered you are treated as well as the guy that is taking delivery of his 100K ride. Trust me when I say this can not be said of many builders...
If you can afford a new build, go for it, but if a Gen 3 makes more sense at this point you will not be dissapointed, the car, company and most importantly the people behind the company make for a great product IMO.
Cheers

Of course you can... not the point I was trying to make at all. Get what you can afford because you cant make a bad decision was more along the lines.. Ahipara 55 step back and
ps I've seen John drive at an epo and great car + good driver + a guy that is willing to REALLY hang it out= FAST No doubt...

I fully understood your point. And thanks, I will

What are the differences between a Gen 3 and 4?

I bought Alex's Gen 3 with a Turbo Subi 2.2 that is in my avatar a little over a year and half ago. I started with the Gen 3 and could not be happier with this car on how it handles in the dunes, safety for the family, and reliability. It has plenty of power for me in the dunes, I didn't buy it to race the hill. Maybe one day I will move to a Gen 4 or 5 only because I am addicted to the Funco now. I say go for it...............