Well, having bought a used MGT 8.0 and TONS of parts to completely rebuild it back to new (minus the engine and trans), i can honestly say without a doubt, it's one of the easiest platforms to work on, the Losi LST platform and the MGT platform have been hands down the two easiest for me to wrench on.. Now that may not being saying much as i only own Losi, Associated, HPI and Traxxas MT's but thats my opinion. Plus for me, buying a Rival (or building one) would be smart for me, i already have enough parts to replace every single part on the Rival at least 3 times minus the power plant.. But i do like Associated, next to Losi, Associated is my favorite, it's just quality stuff..