After I sent in my used $120 carbine to the factory, it has been dead-nuts reliable and really accurate considering it's a handgun caliber. Once I sight in my cheap red dot, typically I can hit a hanging bowling pin at 100 yards without too much drama.
Ugly? Well...that's in the eye of the beholder. I happen to think it's a badass looking piece, cheap or not. If all guns were pretty, things would be boring.
One word of caution, I think the last owner didn't lubricate the internals whatsoever, and the zinc slide material wore down rapidly due to that. Just spray in some CLP or something and call it good.