Noob needs his 1st 1/8th Buggy

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Hey Fellas, been bashing and racing for about nine years now with many different cars/trucks/buggy's so I do have a little bit of experience but unfortunately nothing in 1/8th scale because I've never been crazy about Nitro. Costs for good Lipo's have steadily come down to the point where I can actually afford to buy a pack or two and I already have a decent Hyperion charger/Novak power source so that part is already taken care of.
I am curious as to what brand of Buggy you would suggest to start off with? I have access to parts for Ofna, Mugen, Associated, Hot Bodies and Kyosho. Like the looks of the Hyper 9E but I have read on different forums that it needs alot of custom work to make it worthy (motor mount, mud guards, limited battery space etc.) I was planning on running a Tekin 1900 or 2050 system on 4S (only because I like sensored systems). Your thoughts here would be much appreciated.....