This is just my opinion but the HPI line of products are very descent and parts are almost always available either through your LHS or online vendors. Yes like everyone else there is room for improvement but when I first got into nitro R/C i bought a savage 21 other then upgrades its the same platform as the newer savage x and this is the truck that I go back to when all I want to do is run around and backyard bash or in general beat the snot out of it. The truck can handle abuse for the novice driver and with a roto start it can make starting it much easier at times.

To follow the other posts i have to agree that the Duratrax would not be as good of a choice based on the availability of parts if something should break. I have a duratrax on road car and if I break something my LHS does not carry the parts from duratrax so I spend a few days waiting on parts to get delivered.