How about a gas engine? When I lived in Germany, I had a FG on road car, and it was great. Cheap to operate and
reliable, it only needed new tires here and there.
Engine tuning is not a problem, once the needles are set, you have to barely ever touch them.
I just had to stir up the pot, haha.
I admit I am an airplane and helicopter guy, I fly electric, glow and gas. The majority is glow powered and it's fun to get the engines to run right, but it can be frustrating, too.
So these can be a real pain, sometimes they just don't like to run right and they are messy and noisy, fuel is not cheap...
I am sure the kid will be able to handle it, but the electric setup is a lot less complicated and probably a better way to get started.
There are dangers in every hobby and virtually everything we do can lead into a disaster, I bet he will do fine with
a brushless car and lipos, I'd make sure he will know about the potential lipo and esc fires