In all fairness, the Hyper 8 or any buggy in general wouldn't make a great basher. With that being said, I'd have gone for a truggy but that's just me.
Traxxas have a time and a place, but I had super bad luck with mine. The hyper 8 will be much better, much more durable and a better overall vehicle. Just put a new pullstarter on it, find out why it died and move on.
45 minutes to screw in 8 screws? That sounds like inexperience to me. Find out what was wrong, why screws were going in crooked or whatever was causing your issue.