I have a nitro rs4 2 with a 2speed, racing clutch, tuned pipe, and other hop-ups that I purchased used for $160. Anyway, I highly recommend the car. You can keep the price under $400 and have a fast car. It won't keep up with heavily modded tc3's or stock mugens with fast engines, but it's a really great car for beginners.
If you are a beginner, you should probably start out with a rs4 3 RTR($270), TC3 RTR($300), or a used rs4 2 like I did. If you really enjoy the hobby, you can sell your beginners car and get a mugen. I wouldn't recommend buying such a high performance car for your first for 2 reasons. First off, if you hate the hobby, you certainly won't get what you paid for the car if you sell it. Also, you need to learn to control a slower car before you get a faster one (it will save you tons of $$$ in repair bills ). Sorry if I had bad spelling or word choice but it's 11:30PM and I've been up since 5:00AM.