My friend was shopping around for an AK style rifle back in March/April. We went to gun shows and looked at lots of different makes of AK style rifle.... But to me, they all pretty much looked exactly the same. Seemed to be of the same construction and similar if not identical materials. He went with a WASR and I think it probably shoots as well as any of the other ones out there. The bolt cycles nicely, the bore was in good shape, and the stocks weren't bad. They weren't finished as nicely as some that we saw, but a little bit of wood stain would fix that.
As far as I know, he hasn't had any failure to fire for any reason, shooting steel case wolf/brown bear or the winchester brass stuff. Only investment I think I would make is a red dot and a mount for it. The sights just suck, and its easy to get the rear notch maladjusted for elevation. But this is coming from an AR guy, so take that for what it's worth to you.