I too am new to the hobby. I got the ECX Ruckus. And I love what I got so far. Reviews online say it's a great RC for the price and I agree. From what I have read, the body is a huge improvement over the previous years and the controls are above par in my book. The tires are big enough to make it's way through tall grass without 4WD. Originally I wanted a 4WD RC, but I found that I could get more car (truck) for the same amount of money. The thing has good speed (for a beginner truck) and the truck is durable. My favorite thing to do now is deliberately get it to do cartwheels. My girls love it! Horizon has been a great RC company to deal with as well. Their customer support has been great. I call them and ask them the dumb questions I'm to embarrassed to ask my local hobby shop.

Let us know what you end up getting.