I have no complaints about the durability of modern race spec 4WD buggies, Mine have survived what I thought to be killing blows.
And only time will tell if 1/8th electric is a fad or a long term trend, Bigger cars and faster motors require more space to run them and I'd bet the vast majority of back yard bashers are content with a mild motor and 20 minutes of run time from a $10 battery.my car running brushless is way to fast for the back lawn