You do not have to go electric for your first hobby grade rc. Dont get wraped up in any one saying that electric is any cheaper then a nitro vehicle would be. Nitro's are able to be run for hours on time while you have to have several battery's to run for even 2 hours. And the longer run time's you want on a battery the more you have to spend on them.

I personally start out with a nitro but thats just me. If you like tinkering and working on things and you like the sound of an engine then a Nitro is the way to go. If you just want to plug and play with very little maintance then an electric is the way to go. It just depends on what you personally like. I happen to have several nitro's and an electric and I do not like the electric at all. I run it every once in a blue moon. But as I said that's just me and what my personal preferences are. I love the smell ans ound but for some people the noise and smell is just an annoyance to the neighbors or even the operator.

But anyways, Your choice should also be on part's availability. See what your local LHS has in stock and see what out of those choices you like. Also it depends on what you want. If you want to run it in you yard then a Stadium truck would not me a good choice and I would suggest getting a Monster truck or truggy. It all depends on what you are going to be doing with it and what surfaces you are going to be mainly driving on. This is affects what you should get. Just take all of this into consideration before you go and buy a hobby grade rc car