X11 08 is the current model I believe and you can get a stick pack chassis for it too.
The cars are a lot stronger but I was constantly working on my car. I admit I'm not the best driver and I hit things so it probably wasn't all down to the car but since I changed to a different car I've not had to do anywhere near the maintenance that I did with the pred.
Getting spares directly from xtreme was a painful process, it would often take 2-3 weeks for them to ship parts out. There is another place to buy now
http://www.the-pred.co.uk/zencart/ I've not used them personally
The car is still the best looking RC car out there though and is very quick when everything is going right.