After some time away from the hobby I started off with nitro, HPI Savage 25, as the noise and mechanics of tuning an engine appealed to me but overtime the novelty wore off. I only had couple of hours on weekends to bash about and ended up spending at least 30 mins to hour tuning the engine, working out gremlins and spilling fuel everywhere by which I had to rush home. I've since converted to electric and its now much easier to go to a field, chuck batteries in and off bashing. I am actually enjoying the hobby more than before. There was another reason why I converted to electric, I am a father to 3 month old baby boy and want him to also enjoy the hobby once he's older. I wouldn't want him around nitro fuel and inhaling fumes once he was older, the stuffs pure evil to a child's lung and skin. There will be others who argue otherwise etc but I am just considering my child's health. So from one parent to another I'd recommend an electric buggy which you could use both on dirt and road. I am true HPI fan boy as they are well made and parts easy to get hold off but this might be outside your budget. I started off with Tamiya in my teens, it forms an ideal base to learn the hobby as models and parts are cheap and easily available.