It was really just a "gentle" spin, but still I could tell a few things:

A big + for me was steering and overall "tightness" of the car. I wasn't able to test the over/understeer propensity of the car, but I'm told one can adjust that with the ASD button or whatever it's called (the three center diff settings).

Power was ok, not terribly impressed, but I did like that it came on pretty early, even in low gears.

I liked that the back seat had a little more legroom than my impreza.

I thought the shifter kind of sucked. It was sort of "sticky," and the throw was longer than I am used to.

Also the interior isn't exactly luxurious, but the seats seem to have good lateral support. Stereo sucked.

It was fun to drive though. I get a pretty steep discount based on where I work too, so pricewise it is attractive. I just might buy one.

Anything to look out for?

 

the speedo, 75 creeps up awfull fast

 

ha! noticed that. jiggling the steering wheel gets you all over the road too. not at all like my car now. my current steering is really slow...

 

Yeah the mitsu cars have the close ratio steering thats turns on a dime... i love that even in my eclipse gt. You want a natchy shifter when your racing the car, the gear locks in when your jam it hard...a good thing. Casual driving it is notchy but you get used to it. Those tin can honda's. have such soft shifters, i hate them!..You have to realize that the evo is faster in slolum speed then the corvette z-06, a car with over 200 more hp, and its partially due to awd and that close ratio rack and pinion steering!

 

The shifting loosens up pretty quickly too. First 3-5k miles it's pretty notchy - especially on colder days.

 

lucky you! all the dealers i dealt with would't allow a test drive until you started paperwork.

 

lexus IS 350 v-8 rear wheel drive 40k nicely configured!

 

^ they did the same to me, but they relented after I told them that I was disappointed about driving all the way there to not get to test drive.

They actually took the car off the showroom floor for me to test drive. Then I was trying to get the high beams on and accidentally squirted washer fluid all over the car (I'm a dork).

I guess they'll clean it up again.

I was really tickled with the handling, I have to say. I'll be talking to my credit union in the morning.

 

yes, easy power with simple mods!

 

aem cold air and borla cat back and your at 300hp easily

 

I know what you mean about the notchiness of the shifter, but i like it . My friend has a WRX w/ B&M shortshifter and it still feels kinda floppy in comparison. I was lucky, they had a IX with 800 miles on it so they had no prob letting me test drive

 

You must drive a monster if a 12 second stock car failed to impress you.

Screw hard parts when trying to get 300awhp. Just flash and MBC.

 

mbc+tbe+ecu flash=crazy power
on the intake. you can make wwwwwaaaaayyyyyy more power with a mbc

 

Just a TBE, EcuTek flash and dyno tune for 300whp. No intake or MBC needed if your tuner has a clue. Is your Subaru more "WRX" or more "STi" right now? I'm curious to know how the hec fast it is if the IX's power didn't impress you.

 

X a billion dont even think about taking that path, if you do buy one go look in warrtalon's sig or look up AMS and such reputable shops