You can go into singleplayer, give yourself a billion credits, teleport yourself to the right bases and try out all the engines to know what you are buying. That's probably the easiest way.
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Joined: Nov 2009
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Go to singleplayer, press enter and type these commands one after another (don't put / in front of commands):
cash 190000000
rep = 1
show
This will give you max cash, friendly reputation with everyone and show everything on the nav map. After that, simply use these commands to access bases or systems:
b Base Name
s System Name
For example: bAomori will drop you on Aomori in Honshu sManchester drops you in Manchester
And that's it. Enjoy testing any ship or equipment in the game, including stuff in Bastille on the Admin station.