+1. Since his budget is not very high I would say the Hyper 7. Good buggy for about 300 dollars, and the only real weakness is the steering servo. The plastic gear will strip pretty quick, but good metal gear servos are available for all sorts of prices. For a good cheaper servo Hitec makes metal gears for as little as 30 dollars, or if a bit more can be spent, a Futaba servo. Most RTR cars don't have the best servos, but other than that the Hyper 7 is very durable.

The only other things I recommend you buy are a fail safe, and a temperature gun. Duratrax makes a pretty good one for only $25, and for about $23 the Ofna Micro fail safe is fine.
It seems like a lot of investments, but these devices can help prevent mistakes, or accidents that could damage your buggy, and will be very worth it in the long run.