Personally I have been having bad luck with my brushless Savage XL, and had some bad luck with my E-MGT, all electronics related, and I am rather fed up with electric. In the past 4 months, the only RC of my fleet that I have been running is my Mugen MBX5R, powered by a Werks B5 .21. I would say if you want to get back into nitro, skip the Traxxass stuff, get a used 1/8 nitro buggy, and put a good aftermarket engine in it, be it Picco or Werks or a budget NovaRossi, or whatever brand you may prefer.
I myself have always run Picco engines until I bought the Werks B5 for my MBX5R, and I love it, easy to break in, extremely reliable (Way more reliable than any of my brushless cars have ever been, sorry guys but its the truth
), tuning it is a bit different from other engines I've had simply because it runs with a rich tune and kind of hard to start when its cold, but once its dialed in, it holds a tune and doesn't have to be adjusted unless ambient temps change quite a bit. As with any nitro engine, always seal up the carb before you even break it in, makes life much easier.
I recommend getting a used 1/8 buggy (or truggy) though for the obvious strength factor, no MT can touch a 1/8 buggy (or truggy) in durability. I have to replace the steel ball studs on my Mugen because they wear out before the plastic rod ends do, and I have yet to replace a suspension arm since I bought it last summer, you won't see even RPM arms handle the kind of abuse that STOCK 1/8 buggy arms can handle.
And if you go with a 1/8 buggy or truggy, skip the pull start or roto-start BS, they are more trouble than they are worth. Pull starts and roto-start setups are just an air leak waiting to happen, OWB's go bad on a regular basis and PS cords break and roto-start gears strip. Get a starter box with a minimum of twin 550 motors and run 4S LiPo in it, and get an engine that is meant for bump start only. Better performance, less weight, no more air leaks, no frustration over bad one-way-bearings, no broken pull start cords, just easy worry free engine starting, the way it should be.
If you buy used for the buggy/truggy and starter box, you can save a ton of money and end up with a very high quality and in good condition setup, and since you have some brushless cars already then I'm sure you probably have a pair of 2S LiPos or a single 4S that you can power the starter box with, so more money saved there, which allows you to then purchase nice servos and a quality aftermarket engine with the money you saved on a used car and starter box.
My first hobby grade RC was an original T-Maxx, fun truck, but getting a Traxxas and trying to make it run properly and reliably is like polishing a turd, it may look better, but at the end of the day, it's still a turd.
Join the dark side that is the 1/8 nitro crowd, it's tons of fun and low cost if you plan your build and budget and buy used.