The price I believe is pretty close on them. I also believe you 'could' update the savage to a Savage X in the near future, but that would be some work. The basic idea of the Savage X is to make it easier to work on. If you check the official savage X page,
http://www.hpiracing.com/?page=kits/kit ... partNo=858
they have some info about how much easier it is to work on.. easier = good.
Hamilton just bought one, and posted his personal review here:
http://bigsquidrc.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=117
Hope these help.
Brian