The xtm xterminator is one tough buggy however I'd go with the deluxe over the standard due to the many included hop ups. There is one weak link to the xterminator it is its rear gear case tabs (but with a $7 dollar !QUOT!L!QUOT! alum angle from the home depot, a couple of screws a dremel and 30 minutes- you can make your own gear case brace) Then it is almost bulletproof. You can goto the xtm xterminator forums and search for brace and find many pictures.

I own the pro with the 24.7 pro egine and it rocks also hobby people has excellent customer service. The OFNA ultracomp LX is a cheap buggy (good bang for the buck) but drives decent but the force 26 engine can be a little tricky during break in compared to the xtm engine (I have helped break in both engines) the force runs decent when its broken in though. The xtm 24.7 engine has a good reputation has tons of power (for a rtr) specially low end and is easy to tune and start

If you were going to be racing i might have to lean to the ofna hyper 7 pcr. The stock xtrminator has a lot of on power push in to the corners, that can be somewhat eliminated with suspension tuning though. In the end its the driver. Lets face it J. Tebo driving an axis would beat us with a K3, K777, MBX5 etc all the time.

As for the Tmaxx if you like to do alot of wrench work then go for it it is a time consuming vehicle for maintenance and repair. Don't get me wrong it is the most popular MT around with the savage. You can however almost always find parts somewhere for it.

If you are going to be driving in big rocks or deep grass go with a monster truck but if its regular grass, dirt, gravel, track id go with the buggy ( They are more durable IMO and are easier to drive (well) around a track than the monster trucks and oh yeah nothing on the dirt accelerates like an 1/8 scale buggy.

My 2 cents