IMO, you gotta go gas. I can't count the number of times I had to quit because of a dead battery pack. I had an Associated RC10-GT gas, which back in 95 was the best damn truck you could get, built from scratch, by me, and still a is pretty damn good truck. Also owned a Tamiya Stadium Blizter w/a Rooster(electric beginner ****

) and countless Tyco cars back when they were worth a ****, Bandits, Traxxs, and that Ninja motorcycle, and Nikko and Radio Shack specials. The
HPI RS4 gas, is hard to beat for a road car. 350 bucks and you can hit the ground running with a brand new RTR. The Traxxas Nitro 4-Tec is awesome, too, what with the on board starter and 50+mph right outta the box. Just a suggestion: You could get one of those drill starters for the HPI, and you wouldn't have to mess with a battery pack for the on-board starter, and you eliminate the on-board starter weight of the 4-TEC or pull starter weight of the HPI.