If your looking for a vehicle to Race and bash, it would be Ether the HPI Blitz Or the Traxxas slash, I've driven and owned at least 3 of them lol. But if you get the HPI Blitz. The steering rack does not give enough travel to make complex turns, and the plastic of that crank bends also. So you will need to get the Aluminum bell cranks. The truck has a lot of upgrade parts as well. So it makes a great truck to start with. But my personal favorite is the traxxas slash. Yes the HCG handles horribly. If you enter a turn too fast it will flip over. Not to mention the shocks... The shafts will bend, badly. And also you must need some thread lock. I've lost a lot of bolts in the Arms and hubs. You MUST need to thread lock them or they will all fall out. I've bent a bunch of shafts in my traxxas Shocks. But although like bashing the vehicle. I have never broken any parts. And I have a Slash now. But I put the LCG Rustler conversion on my slash. And some Hot Bodies beams all the way around also. The truck handles WAY better, I've beaten Most of the Best 2wd trucks out there like the blitz, sc10, sc10v2, XXX-SCT, 22SCT, and HCG Slash. So if your trying to get a truck to race and bash, and still have money to spend, it will be the Traxxas slash In my opinion.