I love my Nitro TC3. I doubt you'll find a better car for support and performance/price anywhere else in north america. All of us in my racing team run one, and have a great time. Great performance, particularly in tight tracks, but put the power to it, and you can easily keep up with the belt cars in the straight. Races are won in the turns anyway, not the straight (unless you're seriously underpowered).
Get the car that has the best support in your area, whatever that is. As good as the japanese cars can be, I don't think it's likely they'll have parts at your local hobby stores when you need a part available by the weekend. For people looking to have fun with their cars, this is the single most important factor. The Nitro TC3 gives you that ease of parts availability, while still being very competitive, in my experience.
My 2c...