I have just returned to the sport from a long absence so am not best placed to give advice really, but I have just gone through the same selection issues as yourself and asked many similar questions.
The summary of what I was told was :
Kyosho Lazer FS2 is a great car, strong, reliable, relatively easy to set up and maintain.
Schumacher Cat SX3, there was obviously less info on these due to them being so new, but all was positive. A dream to build and early signs on the track look good. Belt driven though so maybe a little higher maintenance as its not so sealed from dirt.
AE B44.1 probably seem to have the most avid followers. Those that love these cars often seem to shout loudest. High performance, reliable, competitive straight out of the box. Similar comments in many ways to the FS2.
Durango DEX410, a top top car but not best suited to the inexperienced as they are more demanding when it comes to tinkering with them to get the right set up. You will probably spend more time in the pits with this than the other cars, trying to find the winning formula. Now available for £299 though which is a great deal considering they were £450+ not long ago.
Like I said, these are not my opinions but summaries of what others told me.
I was all for the FS2, I went to my local stockist last Sunday to buy it...... And walked out with the B44.1. I dont know why, I was just drawn to it....??
I notice your comment about a second set of tools, which may be a valid one. I bought metric everything to assembe my 2wd Kyosho RB5 and then had to go out this week and buy everything again in imperial which wasnt ideal. If your existing tools are metric then that may swing it in favour of something like the FS2.
That said, having built the Kyosho recently and am now building the AE, I have found the AE quicker and easier to build despite being 4wd which has more parts to assemble.
I cannot pass judgement on what performs best on the track as I havent driven them, but hopefully the above will help in some small way.
