I just finished watching the BMI #5 dvd. It has a shootout of all the Evo generations versus the Impreza gens. The final battle is between the Evo VII (before the VIII arrived) and the Spec C STi.
Pretty damn cool. The STi actually won the race but the Evo had driver error. What I found interesting was that the STi pulled slightly on the straights. I didn't think it would be faster than the Evo VII but it was by a hair. The reason the Evo lost is because the driver stalled it at launch and lost the 1st turn. Had it won the first turn the Evo would've won the whole thing. Even though the Sti pulled a bit in the straights the Evo with it's superior braking and cornering was right on it's a$$ in every turn and almost managed to take the inside a couple of times. Very fun to watch. It also featured souped up battle between the Supra, Skyline, RX-7, and I believe an ST-14(Sylvia I think). Those cars just hauled a$$ with the exception of the RX-7 which was underpowered compared to the rest. Good tape and worth checking out IMO.

They had a lot of good things to say about both the Evos and the Imprezas.