That wasn't a nice comment about the 70/71's being ugly dude......regardless of whether its true or not.......
Anyway i race a 4ac engined ae71, its got AJPS suspension set up under it, locker, zorst, cut up air filter, race seats and a set of 13x6 mags. It's never let me down reliability wise and even managed to surprise a few people at the last drift day i went to.
If your just starting out i'd buy the aus sprinter, go to every tarck day/drift day/hill climb/skid pan that you can get to and learn about the way you drive and what you want the car to do. Nothign worse than spendign a bomb on the car and then realising it isn't suited to the way you drive or the type of competition you want to do. That's why my car has been so long in the making, I've been learning what my skills are and trying to set the car up to compliment that. After 12 months I think i'm ready to be able to actually use more power if I had it.
I'm willing to guess I'm a touch older than you, so don't be worried about trying to keep up with everyone else, just have fun and learn!
Apologies for the lecture.....