10th buggies needing weight. Poor design?

[s22jgs]

Bit of a random one here.
Having come from a nitro off road background the concept of adding weight was a new one to me at first.

I had a 22 and that needed so much weight and Ali parts to make it work.

I now run the Durango 210 and it's great without weight. I have tried a front weight and what I gained from the weight was no different from what I gained from pure setup.

Got me thinking, is the need for adding weight to some cars poor design on the manufacturers behalf, or a lazy way of achieving what can be done with some testing and setup time?

The 22 I could not make work purely with setup. The Durango I can make work by adding a small bit of weight or by simply changing the front end setup to get the steering I like.

No right or wrong answer, just interested in other peoples takes on the whole weight thing