Things have moved on quite a long way now mate, most people use lipo battery packs, with lipo specific chargers. 2wd cars used at the moment are mostly the team associated b4, x factory x6 (mid motored version of the b4) Kyosho rb5, losi xxx cr. You can pick the b4 or losi up for around about £50-£100 2nd hand, the x6 is a bit more expensive as you need a b4 "donor" car to make it.
4wd is the schumacher cat sx, predator x11, yokomo bmax, kyosho zx-5fs (I think thats right) tamiya trf511 (a bit expensive) j concepts bj4, team associated b44. a 2nd hand 4wd usually start around £100 mark up to £250 for a barely used one...
Controller/transmitter... you can use a basic transmitter to start with, but you may want to spend more and get a decent computerised type for lots more adjustments.
most people use brushless motors nowadays, you need a brushless speedo to power this type of motor. sayint this, there are people out there using "old skool" technology ie brushed motors, but they require alot more maintenanace etc....
Checkout the for sale section on here.. you can grab your self alot of bargains... hope this helps you buddy
