No doubt, I'm scanning the forum for-sale every day. Did you have your Evo when you lived in Raleigh? Know of any good Evo techs and tuners in the area?

It's xposted at iwsti and nasoic, as mentioned in the OP. Or maybe it's deja vu.

That is '08-on. But still, I think on average the STi engines don't have the longevity of the Evo engines overall.

Mmm. Interesting about the seats. What made them the "worst"? Where they less comfortable or have less lateral support?

Nah, not quite everything. You'd have to link the IWSTI post as well.

Nope I was very heavy into the Fox body scene when I was there. Almost weekly trips to Benson and lots of just plain fun.

To the seats (@6' 190lbs): There is defiantly more lateral and lumbar support in the EVO's. Some riders call it excessive, I guess it depends on your perspective.(and their size) The STi seems a bit more wide of a seat. Short drives on the STi are a joy, I have not driven them more than an 2 hours at one time. I also did the lowering brackets on my Evo. This puts the placement where it should be is. Without the seat brackets, to me the seats are a close match. I'm coming from Corbeau's (in past cars), those fit fantastic.

The handling at the limit, the seats,potential modability.

I'm constantly pushing the limit when cornering (But not being dangerous to others ; ) )

The seats are basically the best seats of ANY car I've ever driven period.
Porsche, BMW, Ferrari do have excellent seats, just as good as the evo from a performance perspective but I don't think any better.

My friends who have the above more expensive cars ALWAYS remark Holt Sh*t, I love the seats.

I'm also extremely lucky that the closest competant shop to work on my car is AMS Performance!!! 10 minutes from home, feel free to give me crap about that.

I traded a 1998 BMW M3 for the STI, and previously drove a 1985 Porsche 928S, I traded the STI for the EVO.


I very nearly bought a 2010 STI SE hatchback which I thinks looks great and is super useful.

I think it's a cool body style.

Since you ask and are not afraid of comments that are less than positive, my rationale is very similar to this:

http://forums.nasioc.com/forums/show...3&postcount=34

Why a STi and not an Evo? Because, as one very familiar with this platform, I don't think it's for you. You already have plants to kill the car's suspension for some individual idea of appearance - geometry, engineering, and the actual act of driving be damned - just as the bulk of the constraints hinge on superficial measures. In all honesty, I think you should look for a different type of car, altogether. I doubt you'll be very happy with either, long term.

Edit: I noticed that you're looking at a '03 and an '05, which makes me think that you're shopping price-point. If that is so, do yourself a favor and don't buy an Evo. Why? Because, you won't get a great car for little money, it will be frucked-up by its previous owners, it won't be fun to drive, it will break, it will cost you more money that I assume you wouldn't have to spare, otherwise you would have bought a better car to begin with. If you truly decide that you want an Evolution, be prepared to pay ~$25K for a very clean, promising example of the breed.

Lighting: The IXs (only the 2006 model year) have smoked housings, so they're not bright chrome. They look a lot better, and I actually prefer them over the all-black JDM units.
Community: Who here likes the "hellaflush" style? I think it's horrible. You must be confusing the Evo community for some other one.
Sunroof: I don't think that gives the Subaru the "advantage" if you don't want one. It's just an option on Evos (not standard), though on all Evo RSs, MRs and SEs, they have aluminum roofs.
Stealth: It's close, but I'd say that the hood scoop of the STI and its boxer exhaust note make it a lot less stealth. The only reason why I'd think that it's stealth is because without the wing, in passing it will look like any other WRX, while the Evo is less likely to be confused for, say, a regular Lancer.

I couldn't make a decision which one to buy.

Thanks, I appreciate all points of view and realize I opened myself up for some criticism. Appearance is important, but I think I can get there with a slightly lower set of springs without "driving be damned". Edit: But feel free to give me your suspension recommendations!

Superficial measures like practicality? I'll give you that point on the colors, but I don't want a color that I will hate, because, well, I will hate it.

The headlights, on the other hand, I will stand by. The stock VIII I have looked at look like absolute crap to me, and I think it is a damn shame to have to pay $2k for black housings, or pull honda-tech headlight baking maneuvers. Sorry.

I understand how my choices of cars I am looking at may have led you to assume that I don't have the money to spare, but this is not true. Payments on a 2011 Evo would only impact a small percentage of my savings contributions. I just do not desire to spend my money in that fashion. I'm old (37). I have plans to expand my family soon. I plan to retire one day, and rapidly depreciating assets are not my cup o' tea. I've already done the brand-new, 0-mile, $50,000 toy car, and it was kind of a waste for me. I also like deals and don't mind "previously enjoyed" vehicles.

I like simpler, lighter, vehicles, and I only wish that instead of buying that $50k '07 in '07, I would have bought a WW IX. I'd still have it.

My reason for shopping 03-06 is because I want a fast-amazing handling economy car to drive for the next year. I may buy a Tahoe or Truck at that time and split driving between that and the Evo. It needs to be able to be a DD at will.

Re: lighting. Thanks, I thought some looked differently... Looks like if I get a IX I don't have to do the bake.

Re: Community. Sorry, days and days of going through the 100's of pages in the picture threads may have frustrated me into an unfair knock on the forum.

Re: Sunroof. Yeah, but still, there have been 4-5 cars that I passed on due to SSL.

Re: Stealth. Thinking about the hood scoop becomes less attractive as time goes on. It didn't help that I had excellent visibility out of the last Evo I sat in. Also, While I would certainly de-wing an 04-05 STi, I would be on the fence for an 06-07 STi, and I'm less decided on de-winging the Evo. There are only a few de-winged Evo's I like the look of, with some specifics to wheel/tire, suspension and aero bits. I'd prefer wingless, but I'm not going to sell the farm to pull it off with the look I want.

Yeah. I'm hoping to run across a deal that I can't pass up.

With the STI you sit on the seats not in the seats. They are also built for "fat Americans", there is basically no support anywhere. They are honestly some of the worst seats in a $30k + car I have ever sat in. If you think I'm just being an Evo fanboy look up ChargedVette02 on IWSTI, you will see I *****ed about the seats from day 1.

Side note on the "fat americans" comment. I completely agree.

Have you ever sat in the JDM STi seats?

Wayyyy better.

^True, but JDM STi has way better everything!!