For a strict daily driver, I'd say get the STI. Nicer interior, good low-end, and the tranny is better. Granted, I think the back seats are worse.

I would not get any 03-04 evo. The 05s came with the bigger hotside on the turbo, front LSD, and the ACD center diff. If you can get the 06 IX, even bigger turbo and MIVEC on one of the cams.

Actually, I'd say get the new X if you can afford it.

 

i dont really like the looks of the new evo x, hmm maybe illl just stick with my current car untill i can afford a 05-06 evo. Thanks for all the input guys, any more info on the difference between the 03 evo 8's and the 05 evo 8s or 9s? What does the ACD center diff do? Obviously front lsd is a pretty big deal, but i could prob get by with it.

 

There is a good amount of extra room in the back seat of the Evo when compared to the STi. The front seats are much snugger in the Evo, which I like.

The daily driving and 6 speed in the STi are great. When cruising at 70 with my TBE, it is around 3500+ rpms and the car kind of drones a bit (which I don't mind a bit). The Evo seems more crisp in handling than the STi, but both are solid.

I beat my buddy stock for stock in every category of racing we have done. For reference, I have an '06 IX SE and he has an '04 STi.

Now I have exhaust, boost controller, drop in filter, and tune and it really isn't close anymore.

 

my friend has an sti and recently bought a set of recaros. i asked him how he liked them and he said he still prefers the seats in my x and would buy a set of those if he had the option.

 

I agree with you 100%.

 

Yeah well i have about 400hp to the wheels in my srt-4 that i have so i dont think id be happy with the hp of a sti. So I think the evo is the best choice, but are the 03's really that bad?

 

STi is more of a muscle car. Aggressive looks, and the boxer rumble. Had a couple of Stage 2+ Sti's before my Evo, and I sure do miss them. Agreed, if you want to go crazy with power, go for the Evo.

 

I've driven both, my uncle owns both, the Sti is the daily and the evo is the weekend driver/track ****, I like them both, it's really a matter of opinion and how much money you plan to spend on the car. But I must say, the flat 4 in the Sti sounds intoxicating with a TBE.

 

+1 for the TBE. Catless DP + Blitz NurSpecR + Ear Protection FTW

 

no, they are not, search on the forum, you will find the differences

 

I personally don't think you could go wrong with either of them over an SRT-4. I had a Black 04 SRT-4 and that car was a PIECE!! Nothing but problems. I owned it for 2 years and had problems since 13,000 miles.

My good friend down the street has a 2004 SRT-4 as well with a 50trim. He's having a few issues (as almost every SRT owner I've met has) but I think it will be hitting a track pretty soon. He ran like a 12.1 on the stock turbo with EVERY bolt-on you can imagine.

Currently my brother and I are betting that his (my brother's) 94 TT Supra with 120k+ miles that he paid $10k for will beat my buddy's 50trim SRT-4 in a 1/4 mile. The only mods my brother's car will have is BPU+( FMIC and Pipes, 3" catless TBE, AEM TruBoost). We still need to pick up the BCC. And the Supra is an Auto!!! It does have a stock stall that is pretty sweet. You can roast the tires like nobody's business in that car!!

If we can win that bet then we can happily ackknowledge that the Supra is the better performance bargain. Its all for fun though.




Back to the topic at hand with either choice you would end up with a great car.



BUT...

If you keep the car you currently have you will save A LOT more money.

 

the 06-07 STi had a lot of upgrades to it too I think. I remember reading an article way back saying that it really closed the gap there

 

sti's are for girls and evos are for guys

 

Apparently the 07 STi's have some sort of issue with the motor if you go to stg 2 withOUT a pro-tune (in reference to the Cobb AP). i guess the #4 cylinder is prone to frying the rings (random i know) with a catless exhaust, and even with a hi-flow cat, it is still possible, but not as likely...my buddy had to take his to buschur to get protuned; he was scared ****-less driving it hard without the protune

 

If you could get a 9, I would pay a lil more, better turbo, mivec, better interior. A few things like that really make it that much sweeter...