Before going to the Mitsu dealership today to start haggling on price I dropped by the Subaru dealership just to take a look at the STi. To my surprise they let me take one out for a test drive.

I was completely, horribly unimpressed. It's loud and obnoxious. It is for people who like amazing brute strength (and it is powerful) but don't care for much finesse in the process. Excellent grippy tires but the transient handling of the car just sucked, it is no more nimble than a regular WRX. The hood-cowl shaking was atrocious...I thought it was just Internet Whiners making much ado about nothing. Boy was I wrong! Even at 45 mph on a smooth road the damn thing is constantly flexing up and down although I didn't notice the rear spoiler flexing much like people have said. Gauges are NICE, way better than Evo or stock WRX.

They have a blue one with gold rims for $32k and they called me seven times throughout the day trying to get me away from the Mitsu and Mazda dealerships. They called at 5:30 and said if I came in before 7 they'd make me an amazing deal on the car. I told them flat out I wasn't interested. They asked me why I wasn't interested and I told them that the car was just simply overpriced. They begged me to come in on Monday and "sit down with them" before I buy something else, that they would "make an amazing deal for me".

So if anybody out there wants an STi, go buy a WRX and put $4000 in suspension and engine mods into it and you'll have a better car. WRX is a bargain for $25,000 or less. The STi is a ripoff for $32,000.

Immediately after the STi test drive I hopped in for a final Evo test drive and was just blown away how much more fun that car is to drive. And it doesn't just plow plow plow plow to the outside on every damn turn like the STi. God I hate understeer!!

 

The STI has less turbo lag but I found the powerband to even out later on in the RPM's. (As compared to the EVO).

 

Pretty much every review I have read says the Evo is more of a drivers car. So the STI has 30 more hp spend $600 and get the works P2 now you've got the same hp and better handling for still less than STI costs.

 

Stick with the 2.0 liters. I too would get a wrx over an sti. But i would get an evo over both.