Well, for a decent kit, that's what you'll pay. For a decent motor, you pretty much get what you pay for. If you do a few searches you'll find that the most popular are the Italian mills; Novarossi, ect. A decent pull start verion is cheap, and one with the shaft start is a little more, but can be worth it if you don't want to deal with a starter box.(a friend has one and he loves it) I bought an ARR, wich meant all I had to do is drop in my control system(I already had a starter box from all my on-road racing). The Turmoil is available that way, and not too expensive. Then you wouldn't have to find decent motor, the one that comes with it is good(I have the Mayhem Pro ARR, and I'm very pleased with it). There are more options, but as you have found, they aren't cheap...

Take a look:

http://www.horizonhobby.com/Products...ProdID=SWK1105