There are many more buggies available now. 5-6 years ago it was kyosho, Mugen, hobao, GS and Hong Nor. That was about it. Kyosho won everything year after year. Everything was kit only, RTR was hardly heard of and certainly not considered.
The overall design of buggies was similar, but 2.4ghz wasn't dreamed of and FM was the dogs danglies.
Engines were budget or Italian with nothing in between.