It's great you're trying to expand your "horizon" in the hobby
IMO, xmods are great r/c to teach you basically anything about the r/c hobby. It was through xmods that I learned more about r/cs than just charging a battery and playing with it.
Now for you questions, yes the MZ performs well out of the box, but watch out for a few MR-01s. Since they were the first they have quite a few problems, unequal steering for some, or very noisy. I just heard those but MR-01s are still good even though they lack a reverse. The OLs, are great, though you might want to watch out for the main gear and front steering knuckles. They either break or strip depending on how you run it. MR-02s are much faster than the 01s stock. I think they're almost as fast as the F1s. The F1s, from forums I've read... they're pretty much "perfect". The Monster OL or MOL is cool, the only problems with it so far is the front/rear shock mounts breaking from jumping too much or too high. But remember it's not a 1/10 or 1/8 monster truck, it's still an indoor r/c, it has just been "monsterized".
Upgrading it would be a bit more expensive as the parts are from japan and you pretty much have to order them from ebay or the Mzstore. Maybe even somewhere else, unless you're lucky enough to have a LHS that sells minizs and accessories.
Linear Mode
