It is a good beginner car yes, but it is by no means a top end racer. It really lacks adjustability, so it's hard to dial in to a track, but that can be good for a new person because they can't mess it up to bad.

It is a really strong chassis, hard to break, and parts are available at nearly all LHS's. It is also a common chassis for people to drift with.

Running the Tamiya Sports Tuned motor (geared 22/58) I get around 30-40 minute run times with a 3000mAh pack. As for speeds, it tops out at about 45kph with the 22t pinion, pushing over 50kph with the 23t. I am picking up a racing stock motor (the tamiya sports tuned is a really crap motor, but its cheap, and is faster than stock) so I should be seeing closer to 55kph out of it I hope with the 22t pinion, and acceleration will be a heap better, bu runtime will drop to around 25mins I think.