Hey all, I have been involved in R/C planes, boats and cars for years but have been out of it for quite some time now. I have an autistic son who had recently expressed an interest in having a R/C truck and so after showing him some options we chose the Traxxas Stampede XL-5. He has taken to it well and has become pretty good with it.  He asked me if I would get a truck to run with him, and at first I shrugged it off but after some thought I came to thinking it would be fun for both of us, and honestly he didn't have to twist my arm too much, lol. 
After a lot of reviewing and research I went with the HPI MT2 3.0 RTR. I always liked Nitro  Shaft driven 4wd with a .18 roto start motor from a great company and a great price. It was either this or the Traxxas Jato but I wanted the 4wd.

I have been reading this thread for days now (its quite a large thread) and have been enlightened by much of the great insight and generosity of the members in sharing their time and info here. I should be receiving the truck tomorrow and intend to run it around stock for a while. Sounds like I'm going to be pleased with it right out of the box. I'm not so interested in top speeds but more into the low end grunt and performance.

I've already ordered a 14 tooth clutch bell to experiment with later on and will probably get a 13 and a 17 to experiment with as well.

In one of the posts here (I think it was from KeithjV) someone mentioned replacing the stock clutch spring with a stronger one allowing the engine to spin faster before engaging clutch. HPIracing does not make one and so I was wondering if anyone knows where i could find a stronger spring for this setup. I'd like to eventually experiment with that.

Sorry to be long winded here.