I think it is a great first turbo car.
I was my first turbo car and since then I have owned a R32 with a RB25, a Sil80 and a R32 GTR. I thought about owning a R32 With a RB20 breifly...then slapped some sense back into myself.
The R33 was probably the best all rounder out of the lot, they are now very cheap (I paid 25k for min back in the day :0!) and have great parts support, you wont go wrong with it.