Independent suspension monsters are great fun and the Savage has been my favorite of the bunch. I like the mean looks, chassis design, aftermarket availability, and the name! The nitro Savage X with the F4.6 and the Savage Flux HP are my picks for nitro and elec 1/8 monster.
Would have been nice if HPI could have stayed on top of things better like real 17mm hex's, center diff/trans options, and stuck by their factory aluminum and upgraded hop up parts but a lot of those things are harder to find these days and probably won't ever recover. Prices are too steep on most anything Savage for me to be interested anymore, sadly. I have my X and it just sits there except for a couple times a year I'll fire it up to do some wheelies.