Stock GSR faster in a straight line
Stock MR fast on a track

 

Either way the Evo is faster than the STI in every aspect, any guy driving an STI simply doesn't do research since the Evo handles better, is faster, more reliable, easier and cheaper to work on, lot stronger motor, bigger better turbo and way easier to make high HP/TQ numbers. Some people say the STI drivetrain is stronger, I doubt it. My Viii has been to hell and back without hesitation and the X's drivetrain is stronger than the Viii if I'm not mistaken. OP 5 vs 6 speed isn't going to matter, go test drive one like everyone else said. It surely won't disapoint. You'll never own a scub again.

 

I'm driving a X mild stage 2 mr with out launch control in s-sport manual, using the cobb access port my 0-60 is 4.76 seconds at 3800 feet above sea level. my tq and hp at this altitude and on a dyno dynamics dyno seems low but compared to my previous dynos my newest tune sits at 328tq and 299hp which is only a couple hp lower than the other cars (gsr's) with similar mods on the same dyno.

Test drive the car.. i'm sure you'll enjoy it.. but keep in mind the seats dont fold down.
that's my only major gripe. i could care less if the bar and junk were still there but the need for at least ski's to go through would be nice. lol will be buying a volvo in a couple years for sure!

 

I got a yakima roof rack. Carries bikes, skii's, pretty much anything you want of that nature.

So the non split/folding rear seats is a non issue.

 

I had an opportunity to drive a new STI after Oregon Trail Rally a few months back. My impression in a word, boring.

Just not impressed at all. Wasn't fast, didn't handle like my X, and the seats were lackluster. Might as well have jumped into a Honda Civic.

 

I recently moved from an 05 STI to a 12 GSR and would be happy to give you my impressions.

The STI has the better engine stock for stock. I had to get an accessport to bring a bit of life to the X. The wall of torque from the STI just isn't there, and the explosive shove is missing.
So expect to get a tune to keep that relativly raw feeling. The stock Evo X just doesn't cut is relative to the older STIs. The X engine also has no character compared to the STI, but it does respond to mods well if that is your thing.

The 6 speed in the STI is also nicer that the 5 in the x. I was worried about it given what i saw from others, but it's not too big a deal. X a bit annoying on highway over 80 mph, but not too bad. STI box felt unbreakable though. The Evo still feels a bit rubbery, but a short shifter may help. Also 2nd + 3rd slightly notchy, which is poor form given how long it's been around. 5 speed much nicer for autocross though.

Launching an STI was a lot easier. You could get it off the line much easier and cleaner than the X, which feels intent on letting the clutch take the heat rather than transfering the power to the wheels. Marginal difference, but enough to be annoying.

Trunk in the evo is not as bad as I thought. Takes two sets of golf clubs easily. Obviously the STI trunk is bigger.

Seats in evo kick *** - and the interior is much more spacious than STI, esp in back.

The Evo rides better.

Handling - this is where the Evo wins big. At the limit, where you had to drive around the STIs tendency to understeer, you can make the evo do the most ridiculous things and put a massive smile on your face in the process. It's the best handling 4WD out there. The steering also kicks ***, so direct with pretty good feel. The back end is so alive, like driving a fat miata. It really is nuts at the limit. (bad side is those limits are so high, you'll prob be only exploring them at the track).

Overall, the handling at the limit makes up for some of the other Evo deficiencies. Add about 50bhp,maybe a nicer sounding cat back to spruce things up a bit and drive it like you stole it.

Both are great cars - both have their plus points which you could make a great frankenstein car out of.
You can't go wrong with the X. It may need a couple of mods to make it what it should be, but no need to go too mad. Get one before they go extinct.

 

I've heard the Evo 12's stock are slower than the other years by a bit.

Drove both. Evo <3

 

you summed up my feelings exactly the same way i feel

 

I've owned an Evo VIII and now an X.
Used to Auto-X with my friend that owned an 03 STi and have driven it personally.

I love STi's but for me, the accuracy of the Evo swayed me every time.

The Evo's 5 speed is indeed geared more for performance, where the STi is set up more for driving on US roads and speeds. This much is true, but only slightly. You won't be annoyed at all with the 5 speed and it's shift points will seem very natural. The one nice thing about the Evo's gearing is you can get up to 65MPH before shifting into 3rd. In the STi, it's around like 50MPH. Admittedly this is part of the Evo's witchcraft to get a 291HP car to beat the STi's 305 or whatever they make now 0 to 60, but it's a good thing on the track or driving "spirited" to get you up to the legal limit on the road.

As for lower gearing and turbo lag, you will be suprised just how crazy fast you get that twin scroll turbo up to 3,500RPM where the rocket thrusters kick in. I thought all the "low end torque" from the Subbie's 2.5L would feel a lot different, but the low end was only slightly more power. It was more linear though, I'll give it that.

To be honest, I love the rush of the slightly less linear power but crazy feeling of the turbo kicking in.



The sharpness and telepathic steering of the Evo will impress an STi owner. And yes, the seats really are that much better. Although I think the 8/9's seats were slightly better.

 

this might be kind of irrelevant, but get an X with navigation if you do get one. the dash looks a MILLION times better with it there. compare and you'll see what i mean.

also.. once you sit in the seats of an evo x - you'll know what car you're getting next



edit: you might also like this reply i saved in Notepad (evo vs sti).
Dollar for dollar, the EVO will make more power than the STI. There's a few very basic reasons why:

-They have a larger turbo from the factory. Plain and simple, larger turbo=more potential out of the stock turbo.

-Inline motors are more robust than boxers. Due to their design, boxer motors don't dissipate heat as well as an inline. This is the reason why they're typically tuned more conservatively than inlines. Take a look over in the dyno section, as well as over on EvolutionM.net's dyno section, and you'll see people tune EVO's at leaner AFR's. The reason for this is, since boxers don't dissipate heat as well, they have to run them richer in order to cool the heads to stave off detonation. This is why typically, with all things equal (displacement, port on head(s), cams, compression ratio ect) running the same turbo, boost pressures & degrees of timing, an inline will make more power, as they will be able to run leaner AFR's on pump gas. It's sad, but the truth. To make the same power, on the same setup (turbo) on pump gas, Subie's are pretty much always going to have to push more boost/timing advance to make the same power as an EVO. Our only real saving grace is the fact we run big bore motors, so in stock form, we have more displacement to work with.

-We have 2 heads, and 4 cams. An Evo has 1 head and 2 cams. This is a no-brainer. It will obviously be cheaper to swap out 2 cams & have a port job on 1 head done, rather than working on 2 heads, and replacing 4 cams. Not to mention, their head is more easily accessible than our heads.

-Small things like for staving off heat soak, they come with FMIC's stock. With the same displacement, they can also spool a turbo faster due to a lack of exhaust piping leading to the turbine housing. We have a manifold on the bottom side of our motors, 2 of the runners converge into a cross-pipe, which goes to the collector for the other 2 cylinders, which is routed to the up-pipe, and finally into the turbine housing. Their turbo comes straight off the exhaust manifold. They have short runners (MUCH shorter than ours), that route exhaust gases to their turbine housings "quicker" for lack of a better term. Again, our only saving grace in that department is our larger displacement motors (thank God for Subaru's big bore!).


This would lead you to ask, why in the world would Subaru use a boxer motor? There's actually a few REALLY good reasons for the boxer... although none of them have to do with making big power. The first being, low center of gravity. That's probably the biggest reason. Since the boxer lays "flat", in can be positioned in a much lower position in the engine bay than an inline-4. Lower center of gravity translates into increased handling.

Then, there's the fact that since it only has the "length" of about a 2 cylinder, it can be positioned further back in the engine bay, and also works wonderfully with Subaru's personal flavor of AWD, as the motor is positioned "longitudinally" like a RWD car, with the crank protruding from the rear of the motor, pointing towards the rear of the car. This allows Subaru to connect their transmission to the rear of the motor, allowing for better weight distribution, and since the transmission is located directly behind the motor, in the center of the car, they can run perfectly equal length half shafts to power the front wheels, and the driveshaft to go straight back to the rear diff, in what Subaru calls "Symmetrical AWD". This is a large part of the reason why they have so much grip, unlike many cars which are more or less just FWD cars with a RWD assist that they call "AWD".

So really, the reason's why Subaru uses the boxer setup is to increase grip & handling, very little to do with horsepower. For a while, I believe the WRC even had talks about making boxer motors illegal, although those talks went away, as the boxer obviously hasn't been doing Subaru any favors here lately haha.

So then you might ask... "But I thought the EVO handled better?"... and that's where things get complicated. Subaru designed a street car with heavy rally car roots, a car that dominates Group N rally competition (Group N is close to stock), whereas the EVO was designed more as a street car than a rally car. Put them on tarmac, and the EVO has an edge... put them in the dirt, and the tables turn. This is do to Subaru making the STI have a long travel suspension, that's a bit overdampened for the street. The EVO has much stiffer lower suspension (thicker sway bars), and spring/damper rates that are more road course friendly (but not by much, it's still damn close), not to mention the old EVO's ran a multi-link rear compared to the old STI's simple inverted strut. Although they're really not that far apart... as a matter of fact, IIRC, it was a couple years ago, that C&D did a road course test with both (2005 I think?!?)... the EVO won stock vs stock, but not by much... then they put them on the same tires.... and the STI won (not by much)... then they added water to their test course, and in a few of their tests (acceleration being the biggest), it showed the STI's traction advantage, as the wet track allowed the STI to win by considerable margins, owing to it's superior AWD setup... but that's another reason why the EVO VIII/IX does so well on road course stock vs stock (vs old STI), it has wider (235 vs 225), stickier tires. When you put them on the same tires, the tides can turn quickly... don't take my word for it, see how they stack up against each other in A-stock, as STI's tend to do a bit better.

Although I've driven both... and the biggest reason why the EVO is regarded as a better handling car... steering. Due to the placement of the Subie's boxer motor, there's not as much of a direct path to mount the steering rack, leading to somewhat of a numb feeling at the wheel of an STI, at least when compared to the EVO. The EVO is more direct, it gives back more road feedback, it's more confidence inspiring. Even if both cars can take a corner at the same speeds, in the EVO, you'll have more confidence through the steering wheel doing so.... whereas the STI takes more faith, but IMO, is ultimately more rewarding as a driver. [/rant]