This is not to start a flame war, but with a broad range of sport compacts available why the Ralliart? Why not these: Honda Civic Si, VW GTI/GLI, Chevrolet Cobalt SS, Mazdaspeed3, MiniCooperS, Subaru 265WRX, Genesis Coupe.

The Ralliart does come with some very attractive options such as the Recaro/Nav/Rockford Fosgate but seems to drive the price up quite considerably.

Other than AWD and MMNA financing it's hard too compare if your in the market for four wheel drive and huge rebates or zero percent financing.

 

1. Visual appeal
2. AWD
3. TC-SST
4. Price (compared to an EVO)

-Taranis

 

I was about to move to northeast so I needed AWD. I test drove a Ralliart and fell in love with it.

 

There is no comparison between half of those cars and the Ralliart. At least one isn't a sedan, and most of them aren't AWD.

I looked at a Lexus IS250X, Volvo S40R, Subaru WRX, and a BMW 328xi.

Everything was incredibly more expensive, and nothing was as much fun to drive (except the Volvo).

 

I also feel I should mention that I had the opportunity to drive the old Volvo S60R as well. I still to this day feel like I should have waited and gotten that instead.

 

To be completely honest, it was because I got a deal that I couldn't turn down. I was just about to close on a WRX, but the price difference I negotiated between the RA and WRX made it a no brainer. However, I'm really thinking about moving onto a Legacy GT Limited. I just can't stand the cheap interior look and feel of the RA.

 

Sportback ralliart is awesome. Love the tranny over any competitors I test drove. The power feels great. The simple drop down seats are fantastic. There are very little things I dont like about the car. Plus the financing was great and they were very helpful getting my payments to where I was comfortable.

 

Honda Civic Si - Traded in 06 Si for my GTS, it was worst car I ever owned. In almost 2 years interior falling apart, rear suspension completely shot and tons of other problems(and no its not from abuse just a POS)
VW GTI/GLI - didn't do anything for me, VW VERY expensive to repair
Chevrolet Cobalt SS - FWD, depreciates bad, friend had one it was a POS(tons of problems)
Mazdaspeed3 - FWD, couldn't drive a car with a giant smiley face on front and don't think I've ever seen a male driving a 3/speed3
MiniCooperS - too small and chick car IMHO
Subaru 265WRX - really bad financing, didn't seem as fun as RA while driving it and hated the looks/ styling, seats were really uncomfortable
Genesis Coupe - Back seat ridiculously small, RWD+turbo+CDN winters=trouble

Ralliart - I love the aggressive styling, fun to drive, Recaros/HIDs std, auto trans(wife) good financing, AWD for winter, very roomy interior that fits four 6'+ 200lbs+ guys comforably, not many on the road so I always get looks and thumbs up, 4 doors

 

Looked hard at competing Subaru line. I'm of the opinion that Subaru has better resale (which I think is valid) and better quality. Given that I really didn't see much other differences between the two, I decided to find out the latter for myself by getting an Ralliart. There are a few front wheel drive competetors in the same space but that just isn't the same to me. The automatic on the Ralliart (missing from the Subaru) was also a factor. I can't remember the last time when I haven't had a manual transmission car. For the first time in a long time, when I test drove the Subaru I felt like I was "rowing" when I was shifting. (I know a short shifter vould have assisted there) But I thought I just might be ready for an automatic full time and the DC tranny in my CC had been a good expereince. The fact that the Evo power train enhancements are just waiting to be put on was a big plus too.

 

as far as the WRX goes, definitely take it for a test-drive. On paper of course they're really close competitors (if anything the WRX is better on the spec sheet)

but when I stopped by a subie dealership to try one...it felt WAY different than the RA. I won't go to say it was tons better, it just felt TONS different.

for me I hated it. I don't care how similar (or better) it is to an RA. The driving experience was completely different in the WRX (and in my opinion worse, but that's an opinion), so I still have my sights set on an RA

Mazdaspeed3 - feels too crude with FWD and even worse interior imo, and the face (brag brag, it makes 280lb-ft of torque...but mazda limits torque in 1st and 2nd. Seems like poor design to me)

GTI - haven't had time to try it yet

but ultimately, you can argue over specs all day, but each car feels different. Find the one that feels the best to you.

 

I was comparing between a Genesis coupe, GTI, Mazaspeed3, WRX, and Civic Si. I guess I picked it cause it looked nice. I'm not sure.

 

Because I needed automatic.

 

^+1 as stated above, I would agree but in my own opinion you shouldn't compare these cars with RA :
Honda Civic Si, VW GTI/GLI, Chevrolet Cobalt SS, Mazdaspeed3, MiniCooperS, Genesis Coupe.
All the cars above are not even AWD so why worth considering? And not all them are sports car.

I would agree with your choice on the Subaru 265WRX even I almost bought the WRX before I bought the RA 2 months ago. So far I enjoy driving the RA, not to mention they have the semi-auto tiptronic with paddle shifters so when I feel bored driving I switch to manual mode and have lots of fun. Recaro seats is good too, it hugs but not very good for more than 4 hour drive, + heated seats.

Pros for WRX:
-manual (for some people)
-more hp
Pros for RA:
-tc-sst (super fast shifting)
-body style

So think about it.

 

Just a few reasons:
1. Mitsubishi > Subaru
2. T0p Gear Said So.... http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S4CfWdoSOTk
3. 20K for a brand new car with 5 miles AWD and a turbo is cheap as hell!
4. Somewhat practical, way more the the S200 or SLR that I also looked at.
5 For about an extra 10000 you can have all the things missing from the Evo and more (Power Wise).

 

the sportback, sst and awd