The eGT class is a blast to drive. As much as I like the sound and watching nitro racing it can be tough to maintain a nitro car.
The Serpent is an excellent car at that price point. Another option is the Speed Power E801GT at $189 pre-built. You just add your electronics. A few of us are running them at my local track.
http://shop.speedpowerrc.com/1-8-ep-pro-onroad-e801gt/
From what I have seen on the track all the cars perform very similar. One thing that is very fast and handles great are those GT8 Light conversions. I think they use Slash 4x4 as there baseline. They are so light they moved very well on the track. The whole GT8 class as a whole is still growing so most places just mix everything together.