Other than AWD and SST what do you get over the competition? Most of which are lower cost. Including the closest in setup, the WRX.

 

What do you guys think is a good price for the base model then? 24K-25K?

 

I would say, yes.

 

If you haggle you can get to those numbers.

 

You also get the look. Not saying it's better than anything else (though in my opinion it is), but it's unique like it's competitors. You also get LSDs front and rear, which I don't think most of the competition comes with stock. I think for it's list price, it's pretty reasonable. Not the greatest deal, but neither is the MS3, or the SS. The SRT4 neons were pretty good deals when they were new, though.

 

Are you serious? Better how? More creature comforts but performance-wise the Evo still trumps it in every category, so how is it better? Better ride? Sure. As ambystom would say, you're assessment is very subjective and I would add not really logical.

Comparing and Evo to a Ralliart is an apples to oranges comparison even if you are looking at an older Evo compared to the new Ralliart.

 

are You not awake right?

 

^^ so what you are really saying is that technology has advanced in 4 years...imagine that.

 

Well, I'm gonna go test drive one today, 1 dealer close by is offering 26,399 out the door. If I like the way it drives I'll probably grab it up.

 

Like you said -- anywhere it snows, even a few days a year, none of the other cars on your list are worth much. The WRX and the Ralliart are both fine in snow, and since most people find the Subaru butt-ugly, even in its 2009 model, that leaves the Ralliart and only the Ralliart.

Of course, if you live where it snows and have more than one car, then anything goes. Some of us prefer to sink our money into one car.

As for used cars, that's not a good idea anywhere they use salt, unless you enjoy the thought of ending up with a crappy rust-bucket -- if you buy a car new and take proper care of it, then rust isn't generally a problem.

 

The Ralliart is intended as a daily driver, and 250 hp or so is about the most you would ever require for a daily driver. The Evo X is definitely better on a track, but it's suspension isn't well-suited to everyday driving, and it looks borderline ridiculous on the road.

Creature comforts are important in a car that you plan to drive for travel -- I have a ten-hour drive to Ottawa planned on Dec. 26, and another ten-hour drive back Dec. 28 -- the Evo X might be fun for the first hour, but the Ralliart premium will be fun for all twenty hours, both for driving and for comfort (and even to watch a DVD if I get tired/bored and decide to pull off the highway for a while). There will be some snow on the road for some of the drive (I'm driving in Canada), and the top speed I can travel for most of the trip without risking a ticket is about 128 km/hr (80 mph). The Evo X MR would have cost me more than $10k extra (with the same features) and that would have got me less comfort (i.e. the wrong kind of suspension), poorer mileage, and a whole lot of completely wasted torque/horsepower.

Your 'objective' measures simply aren't relevant to me -- I could care less about 0-60 times and racing suspensions, because I'll never use my Ralliart for drag racing or short track racing. Anyway, comfort isn't all subjective -- I defy you to find someone under 300 pounds who finds my Ralliart's cloth-leather Recaros uncomfortable.

 

I think they suck and I am 190. Climbing over the hip bolster and the tight back squeeze may be fine if you are 25 or younger, but if you are over 30 or 35 I doubt those seats are going to feel good after 2-3 hours of driving. I even think the stock seats suck in the RA. They hit in all the wrong places.

 

I'm not sure where some of you are getting your info from, but I would do a little more research before selecting your cars.
First of all, there is a quite a bit of a price difference between the base 09 Ralliart and base 09 EVO. I got my base Ralliart for a little over $25,000 out the door. The base Evo (with a stick shift) would've costed me over $30,000. Now you can compare this car to some of its competitors (GTI, WRX, S3) and you will notice that a couple of these are a bit cheaper, but they only come in stick and are not neccessarily AWD (although that may be a preference for some).
And the 1 series bmw, your are looking at around $29,000 for the base non turbo and well into the mid 30's for the turbo. Technically if you are looking at that price range, you are getting more of a car out of the Evo than the 1-series or even the 3-series for that matter. The price of the BMW is in the name only.

 

I would suggest the comparison would be more fair between a RA and EvoX MR whereby both using TC-SST rather than comparing with stick ...

 

sorry dboz.
i am in that age and size bracket that your doubting and I sat in the seats for over 4 hours.
now the leather seats seem a bit harsh. hip bolster on the leather recaros seem more stiff then the non leather ones. I expd. that.
But they still feel great.
your just fat and wide.

And i am sure the MR and the GSR is directed toward the 25 or younger crowd.
Many 25 year old people have 35k to 42k to spend on a car.

I was in the same boat about the seats, i thought they were too stiff, but that came from me sitting in the MR for a few hours.
But when i sat in the R/A, the non-leather Recaros they fitted perfectly.
The hip bolster is softer on the non leather ones in comparison.