My Hpi Savage X 4.6

I’m Julian Wong, The Professional Bum, 26 and a month ago, the child in me urged me to get some form of a play-thing to occupy my spare time. Unfortunately, my old Kyosho Inferno DX was way out of condition, and the engine was locked up from long neglect. By which time, I had already been spending days oogling footages of RC Monster Trucks online. Part of me was slightly depressed that I’d have to part with a sum of money to get something no less than what I fancied, and the other part of me was just excited to go out and get it.. after all… back when my parents got me my Inferno DX 1/8 Scale buggy, I did have a lot of post-purchase dissonance – “why didn’t I get the Monster Truck instead?”.

It was down to the Traxxas Revo 3.3 RTR and the Hpi Savage X 4.6 RTR. Years back, I’ve already been scouting Traxxas for their great offerings – like the Nitro Stampede and the T-Maxx, and their EZ-start system. However, it was my visit to HPI’s Singapore distributor Tai Seng Toys that biased me to the War Machine. It just seemed so rugged over the Revo, or T-Maxx, which had Small-Mid Block Engines. I wanted to get one toy that would last and heard enough about the Revo and T-Maxx suspension arms and drive shafts breaking via online forums, and so the Hpi Savage was it.

Julian Wong's HPI Savage X 4.6 RTR during Break-in.

P.S. If you’re asking me, “why not the Savage X 5.9?” well… I didn’t want to get something too fast or powerful that I couldn’t handle. Besides, the 4.6 was already much more endowed than other trucks in it’s class. The faster the truck, the easier it is to get mashed. Having said that, I’m having fun with mine, and don’t rule out upgrading mine to the bigger engine in future.