Than the '04 STi. IMHO, the Evo steering is still better. It's quicker and more direct.

 

Neil, you still haven't given us the results of the... uh... "Big Gulp" test.

C'mon, who has the better cupholders? Give the people what they want!

 

*cough*

 

I'm guessing that the 5,000 rpm limit is also based on current speed. Like < 10mph or something.

Otherwise, every time the MR had to downshift and slow down, it would be such a hassle, and the STi would've won since the MR would've been a complete pain to work with.

 

Yup, I'd agree. I never noticed this at the Streets track. I believe it has something to do with speed or lack thereof when launching.

 

EVO Neil, are you considering getting the MR?

 

That's a tough question. I just bought my Evo in April of this year right after we turned in our one-year test Evo. I was missing driving it so I bought an '03. I knew the MR was coming, but I wanted the same car I spent the last year driving for MT and didn't want to wait, so I found the exact same car as our one-year tester with no miles on it.

Is the MR better? Yup. Can I justify the price difference after driving one? Definitely. Am I going to sell my six month old Evo for one? At this point no, but it's not because the MR wasn't impressive. It was. It's more like I have bad timing.

 

I wonder how much the '05 STi's new yaw-rate sensor contributed to the increased performance. It is a bit unnerving to read that the 05 STis feel slower than the 04s.

Thank you for posting the article.

 

I believe that Subaru's slower performance was due to Subaru reflashing the '04 for those that complained of pinging and making that flash standard for '05. Most likely they took away some timing advance which would cause it to lose power in my opinion. The other thing that could have contributed was the low miles on the engine as it was tight. Our non-flashed '04 felt much quicker.

The '05 posted better lap times around Streets even though it was 2 mph slower up the front straight than the '04, so it was making time up with the improved suspension and steering enhancements. Believe me, it's much better than the '04.

 

This may just be a crappy California gas causing the pinging issue...

 

Uh oh, quoting yourself...

That would bother me a bit if Subaru did indeed do this. My '05 is on a strict diet of Sunoco Ultra 94 and I don't plan on running anything less, so the ECU shouldn't be setup for weak 91. It will be interesting to see what Cobb Tuning (and others) can do with the '05 ECU maps.

I'm amazed that the MR put down more power than the STi. Pretty darn impressive.

 

Is the mr still running 19 psi boost stock or is it lower?

 

Hey.... correct me if I am wrong but in the magazine they made it sound like the MR would only be getting the HP and Torque increase.... It was talking about how the MR had faster spool up than normal EVO's. I think it said something about only on the MR. About the 5 grand rev limiter at stop lights and draq strips.... I think thats better... like someone said before... built in launch control.

 

They said the MR is running something like 20.3 PSI

 

Damn what was the Sti running? 14.5psi or something? :-/