http://windingroad.nextautos.com/win...0810/?folio=19
Another review article to add to the growing list.

 

This must have been written before Subaru announced the changes to the '09 Impreza line. If Winding Road were to write this article today about the '09 WRX, it would have the same exact thing to say in relation to the Ralliart and the STI...

 

"Similar money for a car that is better looking & more performance oriented?"

Except the better looking part. Even with the STI wing the WRX just doesn't look right especially when you see videos of it going into corners. It just doesn't look sporty.

 

Right on, I just about bought an STI the the other day but I just couldn't get past the looks of it. Hatch backs are ugly in the first place but adding the front end to that car really makes it so there was no way I was even gonna pay under sticker on that thing.

 

LOL. "Look sporty??" Drive both, and tell me you can tell which car "looks" anything from behind the steering wheel...

Looks are subjective, and a lot of people don't like the looks of the Lancers, so that is a non-argument. When the '09 WRX finally gets its review, the '08 WRX will be a distant memory, and the Ralliart will be slotted back to #3 behind the WRX and the MS3...

...and all that doesn't mean crap to me, cuz I'm still going to get the Ralliart Sportback when it comes out. Magazine articles...they suck...100% of the time.

 

Are you saying looks doesn't factor into what you look for in a car? I owned an 2005 ACR SRT4 and thought the performance would make me forget about the looks but I had to sell it because I just couldn't handle how ugly it was. It's also why I've never owned a Subaru. I need some sort of physical attraction in addition to just performance. At least the Lancers look aggressive. The impreza looks passive like a honda or toyota.

 

A magazine, though, is not a person. It writes to LOTS of people. All of those people have different tastes in looks. Therefore, looks, are subjective, and hard to quantify. A driving experience, though, is a more quantifiable experience that the magazines can share to us, the reader. WE are not driving the cars back to back. We can see the cars as the author does from pictures, so I don't see why looks should even be an argument for them, to us.

I, personally, don't like the looks of the new Imprezas, and I do think looks are important when choosing a car. A magazine, though, doesn't represent ME or my tastes. I like to hear what they thought about the car's OTHER more important qualities, but when it comes down to it, we will all buy what we want anyway...

...and sometimes, a passive car gets you by those pesky coppers...

 

yeah, they are going to have to rewrite that article when the 09 WRX comes out lol

 

It might just be me, but this article seems as though the writer had his issue of car and driver or motor trend out and decided to take their reviews and paraphrase exactly what they said.... even the timing of describing the different features seems the same.... it just seemed like such a generic review... I question whether a test was actually performed?