hello all I currently own and 03 evo that i have struggled with since purchase. Mitsu voided warranty and a beaten on evo that i have had to pay and struggle to fix.I am totally sold on the Vishnu camp and have been even before i bought my evo four months ago, especially in light of the new findings. I am seriously considering trading in for an sti. I really love the nicer interior and 6spd standard. One of my concerns is that Vishnu seems to be much less a force on the imprezza side of the house. I would still go Vishnu but it seems evo's are much more a concern for Shiv and the guys. I don't want to miss out on the best Vishnu has to offer because i'm driving an sti. Just wanted any feedback from Vishnu and all you guys about STI and what i have said.thanks
david

 

I have an 03 evo that has been very troublesome in the four months ive had it.



1. it took me two months to figure out i was missing the vacuum lines running from the boost solenoid and running only 11 lbs

2. my dealer voided my warranty and fixing this car ain cheap

3 my dealer gave me back my warranty as long as when it comes in it looks stock



so i have been considering trading in for an sti because i want a 6spd and i really love that dash and gauges.oh and the dealer is mod friendly



but i really love the potential of the evo in comparison to the sti. so would it be ok to do other mods that are harder to spot like cams, cam gears, and em and not do exhaust or would not freeing up the air effect the other mods?

 

Personally, I'd keep the Evo. I just think its a better car all around as far as performance goes.

That said, if you do go with an STi, I'd definitely stay with Vishnu. I fully believe they are a force to be reckoned with in the WRX market, but perception is different that market is a lot more saturated. Shiv and company are still quite committed to helping their WRX/STi customers, which I've seen firsthand at several dyno days.

One thing you have to consider is that the WRX ECU is a lot trickier than the Evo ECU. Remember that Vishnu was tuning EJ/Subaru motors long before the Evo came out in this country. Heck, they were turboing 2.5 RS Imprezas before the WRX even landed stateside.

My point in all this is that Shiv's experience with Subaru ECUs shows. Even with a Vishnu ECUtek, the shelf (non-custom tuned) maps are always the closest. I've seen ECUs and piggybacks from several different companies come through to dyno at Dyno4mance, and they are wildly variant, and sometimes even dangerously lean, etc. Andrew and I were discussing the other day how cool it is that we've been able to successfully guess the output of Vishnu equipped cars within 5whp because the base maps are so spot-on. Sure, you can procure a little bit of add'l power through custom tuning, but I've never seen any base maps this good from another company in the business.

There has only been one STi I've ever seen come through that was an anomoly, but the owner had a bad O2 sensor, which wouldn't allow him to have repeatable or very good results.

Because of these experiences, I'll always recommend Vishnu equipment to any Evo, WRX/STi, and MSM owners I come in contact with. I hope my post was helpful to you.

 

good luck making Sti quicker and spending more money and time...

 

If you dissatisfied with your 2003, then I would IMO reccomend upgrading to the EVO IX. I mean I know it's human nature to believe for some reason that the grass is greener on the other side, but more often this is not the case. Every car has it's good qualities and bad qualities, and believe me an interior can get old very quick.

 

This evil little thought did cross my mind once. The way I figured is that both are sports car that just beg to be modified. Subbies warranty Vs. Mitsu warranty is basically a crap to crap comparison. If you want to modify and your already in an evo and more or less familiar with its characteristics, I might as well stick with it and work out some of the kinks. Given that suby build quality is a bit more solid.

Summery:
Evo is a much better platform for modification/easier to work on/more aftermarket support.
If you want to wipe the slate and just stick with stock, then I'd probably look into that STI.

Just sharing my experience.

 

I agree with 3000ways, I would recommend either the 05 STI or the new EVO IX, perhaps an EVO8 left before they bring the EVO9.

The STI is a heck of a car no matter what the people might say, Think of and STI as being a car as competitive of any EVO and in some areas even better, definately a nice car to have.

DO NOT MAKE THE MISTAKE OF BUYING A WRX(READ MY USER NAME), don't try the short cut and get a WRX even if they sell it cheap, the transmission CAN'T handle no power(I replaced the tranny twice on my WRX at my own cost).

The STI would not disappoint you at all.

 

any of the vishnu guys have any thoughts on this im starting to lean back towards keeping my evo but more thoughts would be appriciated thanks

 

The STi is a great car. But it requires a person to make comprimises in performance feel, steering quickness, bushing stiffness and mod path. The engine is a great engine but only up to a point (~stage2) To me it also feels a ton smaller inside than the EVO which negates the good daily driver characteristics most impreza owners love to wave around. I do like Subarus and have for a long time, they are still my fav car company, but what I really wanted was a Spec C with a dual scroll 2.0l that revs to 8500 like the JDM one

 

thanks David for the reply I am thinking heavily on just keeping the evo, hopefully things will go better from here on out with the car it should finally be stock after its trip to the dealership on thursday

 

I agree. EJ207>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>> US Subie EJs.