Hello, Like you I'm pretty new to the hobby. I've been in the game for a few months now. The buggy I went with was the Hyper TQ black. This thing has made it through my noobness without even flinching. This car has been fantastic and VERY forgiving on my transition from r/c planes.

1. Hyper .21 Race 3-port motor (break it in properly) This motor is FAST. I get excellent acceleration and a slammin top in speed at peak RPM. Properly broke in and leaned this motor stands up to my brothers CEN Matrix and his Jammin.

2 Suspension is great and the car is built like a tank. I've cartwheeled it, beat it, flipped it slammed it and it's still kicking, I think I had to replace two screws that rattled out, and that was it.

For sportsman class and fun club racing or back yard bashing, this is a great little buggy.

I will tell you that as with most RTR buggys there are some "mandatory" upgrades you'll want to do. For starters you'll want a 6v battery in place of the alkaline setup it comes with. I've also replaced the steering servo with a Futaba metal gear high torque servo as this baby has alot of torque and will most likely rip up the stock servo eventually.

I've researched hours upon hours of information on these cars and unless you plan on going on the R/C pro tour you will not be dissapointed with this buggy and it WILL stand up to some of the big boys on the track if you do your maintenance, ie break in and lean motor properly, lock tight all metal to metal screws and bolts, keep your chassis/suspension lubed (WD-40) etc.

I'll be winning some sportsman class races at my local track this season with the Hyper Black, you can bank on that =)

Just my two cents, but man do I LOVE this car. GOing to build a Hyper 9.5 kit soon as I've just been so impressed with OFNA's workmanship so far.