Actually (here comes the first opinion... lol) I think the VSPEC is not a good choice for a beginner in a truggy.
Although it is easy to tune... it isn't a particularly durable engine, especially at the price point. There are other engines which will last longer at that price... or that will last as long for half the price.
The Werks B5 and the Alpha engines will both provide as good or better performance for less money and last longer.
I used to run VSPECS, I'm done with them. They make lots of power, they're easy to tune... but they don't live long in a truggy- you're working them too hard.
I'm currently running a modded Novarossi N21BF limited. Not quite as much power as the VSPEC, but half the cost, and I expect at least as much life out of it... probably twice as much. It isn't a great truggy engine, it isn't QUITE as powerful as I would like... but it would be plenty for a beginner.
However, it wouldn't be a good beginner engine because it is a SEVERE pain in the backside to tune. You have to tune it in increments of "a hair" instead of "an hour." What would be a mild change in tune on an OS is a big change on that one. I'm not sure why, but that's the way it is. lol
If you have someone tuning for you that knows Novarossi engines it would be good though.
My personal favorite "beginner truggy engine" is unfortunately discontinued- the Sportwerks 26 v2. Easy to tune, reliable, plenty of power, and was about $129. The Losi Mach 427 is basically the same engine. You have to remove the pull start and put on a different backplate, so that added another $12 to the cost.
What's your budget? Very cheap? ($150 or so?) Decent lower-tier? ($200-$225?) The sky is the limit?