RE: Need a first hobby grade buggy...$400ish budget
Does your budget include batteries and charger?
Personally, I would suggest saving a bit more money intially, since you are so far away from a source of spares, you want a very strong car.
Also, if purely bashing, why do you fancy a buggy? A good MT would be more rewarding I would think. If you can stretch the budget to enough to get the Thunder Tiger MTA4 G3, that's what I'd recommend. If you're set on a buggy, there are a few brushless choices, but none that can take 6s out of the box for the budget (6s capability is something you want, even if you don't plan on running it at the start, you will want to sample the insanity at some point). If you're set on an RTR, there is only really one other you haven't mentioned, the Kyosho Inferno VE RTR which is a decent car for the money and has good quality Orion electrics (but no 6S capability).
If your budget is intended to include batteries and charger, you are a going in a bit low for a buggy.