I started with that buggy sveral years ago. I wouldn't recommend it. The lack of kick-up is a problem - 1/8 buggies have very little ground clearance as it is so a buggy without kick-up acts like a shovel over bumps and really slows you down... and if you nose-in off a jump it will stop you dead. Also, the diffs are very leaky and the gears are weak. I think they ended up making stronger gears so that may not be an issue.
There are some very good deals out there right now on Hyper 7's - these are very competitive buggies in any form.
Good luck