I agree with 90% of the things you said but, how can the Ralliart be a better track car than a WRX.. WRXes have been tracked day and night for the past couple years while the Ralliart is something we're still not even sure can hold up on a track; I have seen zero trackable Ralliarts thus far; while 'Rexes are always competing

I know one might agree the Ralliart has Evo 9 driveline, but a GTS suspension aint going to help the drivetrain shine at the track; of course, fix the suspension and tire issues and you have an Evo 9 with TC-SST...

I wish we had non-biased 09 WRX owners around who could give us their input as how well the car performs; most of us unbiased Ralliart owners already let the world know our car is underpowered, overweight, undertired and it should've had a purist manual as an alternative; its time for the 09 'Rex owner to let out what's really going on inside the new machine

 

I really wouldn't call a Ralliart with better suspension and tires an Evo 9 with TC-SST, that will **** off the Evo guys as well as it being an incorrect statement. The Ralliart still weighs significantly more and has different brakes among many other things.
You can check out NASIOC if you want to see how the 09 WRX performs. It's a quick car out of the box but it's not perfect anymore than the Ralliart is perfect. The steering is vague, is doesn't have a great camber curve, it understeers in stock trim, etc.

 

It makes no sense, how can two cars which are maybe 40 HP apart be 70 WHP apart?

 

Is not a statement Amby, just a personal opinion; of course it's not entirely an Evo 9 with TC-SST, to a certain degree, but acceleration and 1/4 mile times, as well as slalom and skidpad get dangerously close with a flash and a tire swap while the weight remains a major issue

regarding the 70whp, DSport Mag dynoed the Ralliart and they had 197 flywheel hp, while the WRX did 280 at the flywheel; that's what he's reffering to; DSport Mag said it themselves, something was awfully wrong with the Ralliart as it's 40 horses off it's advertise crank horsepower; remember we're still talking about crank horsepower

 

WORKS has a trackable RA. Robispec probably has one too. thats probably about it haha.

 

The driver needs to learn how to drive the WRX, that's the problem. It's not as simple as the Ralliart or the Evo, you have to be a bit rougher to get it to work.
How are the Ralliart's weak points easier to address than the WRX's? The Ralliart's major weak point is also it's strong point, the transmission. That will hold people back, at least in the short term. From there you have the brakes and the suspension. The weak points for the WRX are it's brakes and suspension, hardly difficult things to address, no more so than in the Ralliart. The same applies to the strong points, I fail to see how the Ralliart has stronger strong points than the WRX.
I daily drive and track my WRX, I see no problem with it. You're attempting to validate your own personal opinion and it is simply not grounded in facts.

 

I don't think the slalom or skidpad numbers are "close", they are certainly better than stock but they're still a significantly difference between the two cars. With new tires, the Ralliart posted similar numbers to the stock 09 WRX which is still behind the Evos (IX or X).
Clearly something is amiss with their numbers. I wonder if the transmission caused the discrepancy. I vaguely remember a tuner mentioning this before.

 

The current incarnation of the WRX hasn't been tracked for years; it is just as new and untested as the Ralliart. It might have a one year head start or so, but that's about it. New chassis, new engine, new suspension, etc.

The Ralliart's driveline is almost identical to the EVO 8-9, and gives the Ralliart advantages that a WRX could only address by swapping out its entire driveline with the STI driveline.

Both cars have a very squishy/soft stock suspension, and the only advantage the WRX has in that department is a larger pool of aftermarket upgrades.

Also, I think we need to differentiate between tracked and trackable. There are fewer Ralliarts at the track because there are fewer Ralliarts overall. I'm yet to see another Ralliart on the road, and I live in a major metropolitan area.

As for trackable, I'm referring to the actual potential of the car. Right now, the most invasive modification that would need to be done to our cars is upgrading the clutches to support torque in excess of 320-330 lb/ft. Everything else involves bolt ons that can be done in most mechanically-inclined owners' garages and a day with a tuner and dyno. That's what I mean about it being the best trackable daily driver.

 

? It's not a new engine, it's the same 2.5 L used in the Legacy GT. It's been around for sometime now. I'm not sure if the chassis itself is new, the body certainly is. The suspension is new but not groundbreaking.
Again, how does having the 9 drivetrain make it superior? If the WRX drivetrain works fine, it works fine. Sure the Ralliart has more diffs but if the WRX can do the same thing without them, it's splitting hairs.
All of the WRX modifications can be done in your garage, I fail to see how the Ralliart is the best trackable daily driver given the limits of the transmission and the extent of the modifications necessary to make it what you appear to think it is capable of being. I would hardly call a car that needs a few thousand dollars in mods the best option out there. This applies to the WRX as well, if I was going to do it all over again, and it was possible to do, I would have bought an Evo or an STI. Why? They can both turn fast lap times with limit to no modifications.

 

The WRX driveline works for it indeed but I believe most if not all reviewers say that the AWD systems in the Mitsu are better than the Subarus but if it doesn't have the right support (tires, suspension, etc) it wouldn't really shine like it should which is where the RA falls short. As for the transmission, it is great for the track and this has been proven by the MR, it may have its heating issue but that is a simple fix now thanx to AMS.

 

I can't recall a single reviewer saying that.
The transmission is great in that it shifts fast but it's also very prone to going into limp mode at the track. I do time attack with an MR and it is a very quick car, when it's running. If it's a tight track, he's lucky to get two hot laps in before the computer throws the car into limp. That's not a good track car. Sure there are fixes out but would you want to spend more money on an already expensive car? What other issues could there be?

 

Youtube or read reviews on evo vs sti most of them like the handling better in the evo. As for spending more money on a car, I think we all do whether we track it or not. So basically your sayin that the car should remain stock? Its ok to mod a car less than $30K anything above that should remain stock right?

 

First off that's the Evo, secondly, better handling does not equal a better drivetrain.
What's I'm saying is would you want to spend more money on a car just to track it? We're not talking about upgrades you simply want, we're talking about something you actually need.

 

Okay, so I rewatched the AWD section of the DVD. The Ralliart dynoed at 140 whp, which they estimated to be 190 at the crank (a bit generous, in my opinion). They specifically said that the Ralliart was 70 whp down from the WRX, so the WRX hit 210 whp. It sounds like they tested the WRX against a GTS equipped with a TC-SST.

The difference in time around the track was about 4-5 seconds, which is huge, but considering the problems with the power output, it is completely understandable. Also, the driver stated that the Ralliart suffered from mild understeer, but he stated that the understeer in the WRX was very severe. He also complained that the WRX's suspension was very soft, but he did not say the same about the Ralliart.

The driver stated that the RA, with mods, would make a nice little track toy, but all in all, the GSR was the car he would prefer the most as a track car.

 

As I said before, I suspect it is the transmission, the way they dynoed it could be the issue (ie. tranny didn't like it, power was down). Obviously the WRX and Ralliart are not 70 WHP apart. The power output problem was just on the dyno, I seriously doubt it was down 70 WHP yet only 4-5 seconds apart, especially if it's truly a stock car.