They're really not a bad car at all. I think a nice clean non-turbo 34 is a pretty decent car for a young P-plater. iseekool pretty much summed it up performance wise.
When you say the NA model is 'as bad as people say it is', you're likely talking to someone /reading something that's comparing it's performance to the turbo model. Having driven both myself, the non-turbo is a very different drive - both models are in a class of their own.
If you are a young car enthusiast eager on performance and power, buying the non-turbo is a waste of time and money. It's just going to depreciate in value by the time you want to sell it (to then buy a turbo model). If you want to drop in a 25DET NEO later, you are still up for a decent bill - and that's doing all the work yourself. It's worth waiting till you are off your P's, and just going straight to the turbo model.
If you don't care about power and performance, and just want the non-turbo model for the fact of owning an r34 - go for it.