This Starter Hauler is suitable for running the Road to Riches immediately after leaving the Pilots Federation District. To leave the District with enough money, when you take the Into The Black mission, also pick up as many high-reward missions as you can ($40k-$50k each). When your District permit is revoked, the game will "fail" the missions but will pay them out; that should give you nearly $1M and you'll be able to buy this Hauler.

Lots of stations sell this build in one place; head to Vardeman Gateway in Veroandi for one close to the District. Run with the Hauler long enough to bootstrap into a more capable ship.

This Dolphin is the first entry into a genuinely exploration-focused ship. It doesn't have quite the jump range of the DBX or the AspX, but it's substantially cheaper than both and has better internal modules than the DBX. Additionally, as of changes in 2020, it's effectively impossible to overheat, which is great for a role that spends so much time fuel scooping.

While you shouldn't feel obligated to stick with a ship you don't like, the Dolphin is one that you reasonably can stick with for exploration without significant compromise. This ship will crack 40 LY per jump with mid-grade access to Felicity Farseer and will pass 57 LY per jump with a fully-engineered FSD plus the Guardian FSD Booster.

This DBX isn't the farthest-jumping ship in the game (the Anaconda holds that crown), but this is a strong second place at $16M and a 68 LY jump.