The E-Savage is the exact same truck as the E-Zilla.
In no way is it a Savage.
I have one and enjoy it a lot. Its nice to be able to run it day or night without having to deal with nitro mess or the noise.
Is it as fast? No but it holds its own.
Is it the same size? No. Smaller
Does it use the same parts? Not sure what is compatible with the Savage Parts if any.
You can get a brushless for it and I'm sure it would be a great upgrade. Will it handle the additional torque and power???? Dont think so.
IMO Its built fairly Loose. I'm not impressed with the quality of the unit as compared to the revo or savage or even the e-maxx. There is close to no metal parts on the truck and the plastic is soft. Almost all the parts have a lot of slop in them.
On the other hand, as I'm bitching about it, I haven't broken anything on it yet. I have put it through some tuff runs.
I think the soft plastic and slop help keep it together.
Out of the box, I upgraded the steering bushings to bearings but it still needs a better steering servo. The batteries and supplied duel charger will give you about 10-15 minutes of WOT runtime. It will do wheelies if you try.
I'm going to upgrade it this winter and will see what Savage parts I can use or mod to use on it. I will most likely go brushless with it as well. From what I hear 1 good motor will do just fine. I haven't tried to use 7 cell batteries with it yet but will. It will need to be modded to hold them in the supplied battery holders.
All in all its a fun truck. If your an HPI fan get one, If your a Traxxas fan, get an e-maxx.
Hope this helps.
