I was looking at some inexpensive electronics upgrades for this:
Servo -
Power HD 1711mg - $12
ESC -
Hobbywing Quicrun 1625 (Waterproof) - $20
Radio -
FlySky FS-GT2E (with receiver) - $25
Deans Connector pair - $3 (to upgrade stock battery and HW ESC Connectors, allows easy upgrade in the future to LiPo.)
So, $60 to swap to better electronics (less if you already have a radio. Also, you might be able to find a set of used electronics for cheap as well.)
If you want a little more power, there are other 380 brushed motors out there, like the Traxxas Titan 380, Xtreme 380X heli motor, etc. Most of the 380 Brushed motors are fairly inexpensive as well.
You could also swap the motor for a brushless system:
ESC -
Hobbywing Quicrun 16BL30 with 2435 motor - $55
This would be $95 total including the radio and servo above.
Of course there are other options, but I think that this would be a decent, inexpensive step up from the stock electronics.
Yes, it sucks that you would have to immediately pay for electronics, but it doesn't have to be expensive. If my son was old enough to play with RC cars, this brushed set up above would be what I would get for him.
It would just be nice to have the option to not pay for the stock electronics and just get the above stuff.
As far as the vehicle is concerned, it is pretty awesome. It traction rolls really easy, but the heaviest part of it (the battery) sits almost completely above the height of the tires. If we could mount that closer to center and lower down, that would help a lot with that. (JC Auto Design might look into an alternative battery mount)
... When do we get a sub-forum for these?