Diff cups, CVD's and dogbones are fairly weak. I have bent and snapped quite a few, especially if you mod the cups to make them stronger, as this just shifts the weak point to a more expensive item. Trouble is if the rear (unmodified) diff cup breaks you end up losing the dogbone anyway!! SO modify the rear only as the front cvd's are too expensive!
As this is the only Nitro truck (MT2) I have ever owned its hard for me to compare it with anything.
Stock radio and servos are crap.
Overall the truck is fairly reliable, see the post "Next generation Funfactor" for others views on ways to improve it.