Shlo and diti, very well put. Redcat makes some good affordable r/c cars. I think a lot of people come in to this hobby expecting something that is going to have 99% uptime and require almost no maintenence. I feel bad for them because unfortunately they're going to be let down. To be honest I didn't think so much tinkering was going to be required when I first got my buggy. But now after all the newbie problems I've run into I finally feel like this thing is worthwhile to have. I've learned alot and I finally understand all of its parts and how things work and I'm just very familiar with it. So in short if you have the patience and like to work with your hands, this is the hobby for you. If you're frustrated easily and couldn't care less about all the little details (trust me there's lots of them), save yourself the time and money, go to walmart and pick up a nikko.