Thanks for your response Bill.
RC is not very popular around around here, so I guess I'd need to look online if the parts are available at and then decide which brand would be good for me due to parts availability.
What do you think about amain.com shop? I was searching for models - just to get the feeling what is the cost range for these brands. It looks like most expensive 1:8 buggy RTR's are very similar with the price as Mugen, Xray, Tekno chasis' (what needs probably 50-100% of the price extra for motor, ESC, servo etc - right? or do they already contain these things but not installed). So now I am wondering if I should rather go with top-brand RTR (already durable and good performance) and get the feeling or I should save some more cash and already hit top-brand kit (almost unbreakable with end-class performance). On the other hand end class performance equipment would be probably needed only during some kind of races that I will not participate very soon I guess ...
BTW. I just looked thru your blog - a lot of useful data. I hope you would not mind if I will trouble you via PM from time to time with some questions (possibly about picking right equipment if I decide to buy something).