I for one think the 8.2 is going to very competative with every car on the market. All of the guys that have run just the upgrade kit on the 8B have said how much better the car feels.
AE took it one step further then just the worlds upgrade...they went and tweeked the towers and arms a little more, reduced rotating weight and sprung/unsprung weight, smoothed out the diffs, etc.
I can't see how they did all the R&D and new molds and only added $20 to the cost of the 8B kit, but they did.
I have seen first hand some local young AE team drivers beat very good privateer drivers the were wheeling the Kyosho with the 8B with out upgrades. Track reconds seem to be broken every week, or at least every month at my local track (granted all by different drivers and different manufactures) but the AE guys seem to be right on target with changes and regain the records.
it seems to me that AE made the car better, and it will be ranked at the top of the pile with the Kyhosho. And yes I did run a Kyosho K2 right up until the 777 came out.