Customer Reviews

Razor Ground Force Drifter Kart

5 star:		(29)
4 star:		(7)
3 star:		(3)
2 star:		(6)
1 star:		(12)

 

 

I just got this for my kids, who are 5, 7, and 14. They love it! The 180 degree turns are fun, but it can also be controlled at slower speeds. My 5 year old isn't ready to go all out yet, and he uses the throttle lightly for a slower ride. It seems very safe as long as it's used away from traffic and obstacles. Definitely for paved areas, not grass.

Charge time is 12 hours, so it can only be used once a day in general. It was 40 degrees F today (about 4 degrees C) and we had it out for an hour. With downtime for changing riders, I'm guessing it lasted for about 40 minutes of ride time. Maybe it'll last longer in warmer weather.

It went noticeably slower with the 140 lb. 14 year old riding, but was still fun for him. Razor tends to give age recommendations that seem high. This is probably good for ages 5 - 12. Teens will want something more powerful.

I have mixed feelings about this cart. My seven year old son loves it and he has a great time riding it. My issue is that the chain has been slipping off the motor since the first drive. I have to repair the chain almost every time he rides it. My next issue is the tires, they are terrible! The tires began to shred off after just a week of driving. So far I haven't found a store that sells replacement tires, it looks like I'll have to buy them online and pay shipping costs. This cart was far too expensive to have such major problems.

**Updated**
The tires were completely ruined after five weeks of driving. The customer support at [...] is no help. The only place you can buy these tires is on their website and you will pay $27.99 for the back tires, $16.99 for the front tires plus $13.00 for shipping. And remember you will have to replace the tires every two months. This toy is great fun, but why bother if you have to spend $60 every two months to replace the tires?! Don't waste your time and money on this kart.

I bought both the ground force, and the drifter - so I am going to give a comparison.
My boys (6 and 7) prefer the drifter. Being able to spin that thing around really gives added pleasure. Now they don't want to really ride the non-drifting ground force. One other difference is the drifter is able to turn with a much tighter radius. So that makes it more maneuverable in tight turns from the street to the sidewalk, etc.
I wish I had just gotten two drifters. However, if I had gotten two ground forces, I bet the boys would have been happy not knowing what they were missing.

Bought the cart for my sons ages 7 and 11. Worked great initially, but after owning it 10 days or so the rear tires are literally shredding off the rim creating an almost oval shaped tire making the cart almost unbearable to ride in. Cart, however, is well made, goes fast enough for them and is still safe. If anyone else has tire issues I would appreciate some feedback.

We bought this piece of junk on May 23rd for my sons birthday. Within a week the first motor smoked and froze up! No problem I thought Razor said they would send out a replacement motor which they did. After installing the motor I noticed a electrical burning smell, to which I was told was normal. Wrong! The second motor burnt up within a week. Razor honored their warranty and sent me a whole new cart. By now we are into July and my son has riden his cart maybe a total of 6 to 7 times in two months! (every time parts are sent it takes two weeks!) We get the replacement cart and after two weeks it quits! This time it is a control board and I wait two weeks for parts only to find out that they weren't sent! Two weeks later we get the board and the cart still won't run!!! SAVE YOUR MONEY AND DON'T BUY RAZOR BATTERY OPERATED TOYS!!!!!!!!

UPDATE:

I had to take the cart to the service center again and was told they wanted to replace the wire harness, control board and batteries. This would take another 4 weeks. We'd get the cart back in early November, to cold to ride! I had to go up the management ladder but finally found someone to authorize a refund. Razor did the right thing and refunded my money for the defective carts. But I would still steer clear of battery operated carts!

This GoKart is awesome. I got this for my son for his 8th birthday. It was a HUGE hit. I tried it first and it's very safe, as long as your kid doesn't run it full speed all the time or turn at high speeds. My son is very careful and it's a ton of fun. I highly recommend this.

My son charged the battery the first day, and it ran great. The second day after charging he said it just doesn't go as far as long and as fast. Third day a few friends road it and it did not last very long. The fourth day it wouldn't move, it just made a clicking/grinding sound. Almost as if the motor stopped working, I don't know but for a $300 toy I think we should get more than a week out of it. My son also has the earlier version of this and it sit's after a summer's use dead without a battery, because we don't want to put $50 more into a toy!! I have sworn off razor products in this house. We have a scooter, with dead battery after two summers, a GF dead battery, and a GFD dead and returned. All I want is a company to turn out a good product because they are not cheap, but you bet they are right there to sell you all the parts you may need at top dollar. The GF go cart we replaced the chain, wheel, and need a battery not a reliable product!!

We've owned the Razor drifter kart for more than a year, and we've also had the dune buggy and the regular Ground Force kart. The drifter kart definitely offers the most fun of the three, but like so many other Amazon reviewers have noted, the rear tires do not last very long. The rear tires are made out of a firm, slick plastic, and they work great until they wear down about halfway. At that point the tires develop huge flat spots which causes the rear of the kart to bounce up and down violently at full throttle. We have replaced the rear tires several times ($40 on the Razor site) but each set develops flat spots within a month or two.

Razor had a great idea with the drifter kart, but they need to send it back to the drawing board and develop a more durable tire compound. Crazy to spend $250 on a go kart that needs new rear tires every two months...

Note that you cannot use the rear tires from the regular Ground Force go-kart; Razor made the hubs of those wheels different from the rear hubs on the drifter wheels. I suspect that Razor did this for safety reasons; the drifter kart is a tad faster than the regular ground force and has a much tighter turning radius. Thus, I think a stickier rear tire on the drifter would increase the chances of flipping the kart over in high speed corners. A machinist or a parent with great fabricatinig skills could probably adapt the regular ground force wheels to the drifter, but it's too much work for the normal guy.

The kart is great fun for the kids and there is nothing else like it on the market, but the ill-designed rear tires prevent me from recommending this toy to others.

I was hesitant at first after reading all the reviews. However, I thought I would take a chance. My 7 year old son has fallen in love with this go-cart. The pro's are: It goes up to 12mph, which at first I thought was too fast, but the low center of gravity and the handling make this a very stable go-cart. Charging is easy and the battery life lasts up to between 45-60 minutes. Another great feature is the light on the thumb throttle indicating the amount of battery power that is left. My son primarily rides this on asphalt and concrete. The con's: After approximately 12 rides (about 12 hours), the rear hard plastic drifter tires tend to wear oblong and create a chattering at high speeds on asphalt. It doesn't affect the unit and my son continues to ride it. Since he primarily rides this at dark, it would be nice to have a pair of headlights and rear lights. I used a flashlight and taped it to the front, works great for night driving. Overall, very satisfied!!!

I bought this for my 7-year old son and he LOVES it! I rode it once and almost wiped out, so I think I'll stay off of it. The only thing we have a problem with is the seat belt. My son is skinny, but very tall and if we put the seat belt over his shoulder, it doesn't fit. He just doesn't use the shoulder strap, but he still buckles himself in at the waist. Even though the max speed is 12 mph, it still feels like you're going pretty fast. I would recommend this to anyone!