RE: Which cars/trucks would you NOT recommend, based on your experience?
Sportwerks Chaos - Absolute crap. Not so great build quality, lot of parts rubbing on the drivetrain. Dogbones fall out easily. Junk electronics. Radio seemed like it took someone half an hour to draw it up on CAD.
HPI Nitro MT - I bought it when it first came out in 2000 or 2001? Drove pretty nice, but would always break. HPI had a lot of revisions done to it to attempt and improve durability. I put a lot of money into it.....then I discovered 1/8th buggies. Way cheaper to run.
Ofna Ultra GT LX - Very bad quality, lot of parts didn't fit right. Pain to work on. Was reasonably durable though. I didn't actually own one. I helped a buddy set one up 8-9yrs ago.
Thunder Tiger Ducati EP - Actually own it now, looking to sell it. Its actually not as bad, but it just requires too many upgrades to make it decent. Out of the box, it needs a lot of work and money. I'm glad they're coming out with an all new bike.
Traxxas Slash - On the fence with this one. Currently own one. The only thing I like about it is its super durable. Everything else, I don't really like or care for at all. It doesn't do anything really well except not break.