Man trust me I just got a Brama 10b and it will be PERFECT for a younger driver the thing is relatively slow and low priced (got mine for $100 NIB last week). Personally it was a little to slow for my taste (I own a pile of nitros
) it goes around 11 mph tops. But it will take any motor upto 21t (I do NOT recommend the venom 21d modified the motor sucks). Also the transmitter and receiver are pretty good I actually got the brama so far away I could hardly see it when it went out of range.
I actually bought it to race my nephew's stampede but its way too slow to compete so umm I'm in the process of upgrading it
(I love challenges).
Pros (for the age your looking):
Slow, Easy to control, 4wd (so it won't get stuck in grass easy), and it looks to me to be pretty durable, pretty light so if he hits something it shouldn't cause alot of damage, it also has everything you need (-8 AA's for controller) including a 1500 mah battery to run it
Cons
it uses teflon bearings instead of Ball bearings, poor selection of replacement buggy bodies (went to my LHS (they have almost all the bodies tower carries) and none fit) so your stuck with what it comes with, also most of the parts are unique to the Brama incase you break any (- drvieshaft and like 2 others which are on the onroad version) but if you leave it stock I do not see any parts breaking.
BTW to all those Traxxas fans recommending a Stampede (or any other Traxxas vehicle) it would be a horrendous choice for a 3yo from my experiences with my 10yo nephew. He has issues not ramming stuff with it due to its fast acceleration, and with younger drivers you want anything but a speed demon. Trust me a brama as long as its using the stock motor is not going to break a part from hitting anything, the parts look fairly strong. A stock Stampede the same cannot be said my nephew hit something and broke his arm bent the screw holding it on and bent a shock I cannot for the life of me see that happening to a stock Brama with its ultra low end top speed.
Also lets face it by the time he can upgrade to a faster vehicle all these platforms will probably be way outdated and it will be so brittle its not funny so I personally wouldn't blow alot of cash.