I had a nitro car that I customized from the wheels up so that it could run in the backyard, mainly grass.

That's an old, discontinued Megatech Razor whose drive gears got stripped recently, so now I might as well buy a new car.

I'm looking at the Traxxas Tmaxx 2.5 RTR, and have $445 to spend.

Are there any brands or cars that are better? I know about the Revo, but I don't think I'm ready for that yet.

The Traxxas trucks have proven to be pretty reliable units to many over the years. Of course there have been "issues" with the Traxxas motors but very many people have no problem with them. You might also consider the Team Associated Monster GT as they are also a very reliable truck. They are quite a bit bigger than the TMaxx however so you might want to take that into consideration. HPI also makes the Savage line of trucks that are dang near indestructable from what I've seen. The .21 original truck had a few issues but it seems the models after that have been more reliable. Team Losi also now has the Aftershock truck out which is basically a LST stripped of the forward/reverse and has a lower end radio from the looks of it. Haven't seen any reviews yet but should be a good truck also. There are many choices out there for you just take a look at all of them and then have fun deciding which you want. :thumbsup: