They give you a "hexfly" brand battery 1st off. I get a good 20 minutes of hard running out of it maybe pushing 30 minutes if I'm just doing quick little sprints around the yard. I was actually so impressed with the battery I bought another one off Amazon for $59. It's worth it too me.
It does NOT wheelie. It pulls a littke upward on take off if you give it everything, but it doesn't do that "flip up" like these other videos on YouTube (like that helion intrusion xlr does ) I agree that would get annoying.
I'm guessing it does around 45mph tops on the hexfly 2s lipo which is way fast enough for me. It can get out of range fast.
It handles like a beast. I have never had a rc car this powerful and I have never had it stuck on anything. It will rip your Bermuda grass up so be careful. Seriously, I tore it through the front yard and my wife started yelling at me that I was tearing up her grass.
I don't know about the shocks. I think that's one of those "splitting hairs" issues. It has a nice soft spring to it. I'm running it in soccer fields and on the road in front of my house, not on a professional rc track. They're just fine.
It's an awesome and fast as hell truck. Fir $260 and $60 for an extra battery you can't beat it.
IMHO