Associated RC12R5.2 is popular and easy to come by. My pick would be the new Xray for someone who knows RC and has tried pan cars.
Not only is the quality very good, the instructions are terrific and the tuning guide priceless. All the other cars will need you to find someone with a lot of 12th experience to check your build and set the car up. There are plenty of Xray drivers out there able to help you with set-ups for various track conditions.
All the other cars will work, but they mean you have to have the build checked before you race to be sure that you have a car that handles. You won't get any tuning guides and some of the quality is such that you have to work the parts to get an assembly that will handle properly.
Xray cars will take all the best and popular electronics and electrics, so these are transferable to any other car. You can choose any of the available wheels, tyres and body shells. They too are all transferable to other cars if you fancy a switch later. My starter kit would be:
XRay 2015 car
JFT (A grade) wheels and tyres
Protoform AMR body shell
Futaba 9650 servo
G Force speedo (or HW v3.1)
Balls-Out 1S battery (Zen Racing)
G Force 13.5 motor (start with 13.5 as it will be quite quick enough for club racing and you can enter the Nationals in that class if you wish.)
All this stuff is not the lowest cost, but they all have a second-hand value if you choose to change brands, or the class doesn't suit you. There's a lot of cheaper stuff around, but you'll not sell it easily later and frankly, much of it is not up to the quality required for a competitive 12th car. Best places to get stuff are Action Model Centre or Zen Racing.
If there's anything else you want to know, please ask. HTH
