Impreza.

 

both

 

 

lucky jerk

 

i hate myself

 

It comes down to how much you want AWD. The Ralliart is cheaper, faster, has better steering, road feel, handling, shifting, etc...but doesn't have AWD.

Keep in mind that AWD is really only useful for bad weather in the 2.5RS's case - in good weather it hurts performance more than it helps. Cars like the Ralliart and 2.5RS don't have enough power to really benefit from AWD on dry pavement.

On the other hand, if you do get a lot of bad weather, AWD could be worth having even given the 2.5RS's downsides. After all, there's nothing else comparable to the 2.5RS with AWD in its price range.

Yes, I'm a little biased, but I considered the 2.5RS (and WRX) before I bought my Ralliart.

 

Dude with those options go with the Subaru!!!!!! Not many people know it, but you can make LOADS more power on a turbo 2.5 RS then a WRX. You have more torque, a stronger tranny, more boost capacity, and cheaper parts. I race with over a dozen 2.5RS drivers, 4 of which are turboed. One guy is a running a 500whp 01 RS, its INSANELY fast. If you have the money and patience to build your engine first, this is the easy choice. Go check out RKPerformance.com, these are two of my best friends who specialize in tuning RS's, let em know Dan sent ya lol. But seriously, these are great cars, they handle well, and they respond to tuning extremely well, that SOHC EJ25 is an awsome engine, and when you throw an exhaust on there, you are going to literally SCARE people, that boxer engine emits a deep rumble. There is an amazing amount of parts out there, such as the short throw clutch pedal they have in R&D, you barely have to touch the pedal to engage the clutch, with a good short shifter, we are talking FAST shifts. The WRX isnt worth your time and money unless you really feel you would rather start off with a turbo stock, but they are notorious for blowing trannys at 400hp, and the dealerships are even worse about honoring warranties.

 

I actually wanted to get an Impreza RS, but at the time Mitsu was running the 0-0-0 event, and buying a brand new Lancer for 16k actually cost less to finance than a 2 or 3 year old Impreza for 10k. But the facts remain that the RS has AWD and Limited slip. In my autocross category, an 01 RS is constantly taking 1st and 2nd in all of our races, wet or dry. You'd have to put another $900 to get LSD in the Ralliart. If you just want to drag race, that's fine, but if you want to turn, AWD will also be an advantage. And I wouldn't even compare the RS to the Lancer ES or OZ, anything but the ralliart has a lack of horsepower and true power potential.

That makes my vote for the Impreza.

 

Impreza is so ****ing ugly. Go for lancer

 

be like me! get both!