Yesterday i had a hour to kill since my wife was getting her hair done. So i popped on in at the local Subaru dealership to give the STI a spin. I wanted to see what was all the hype about these cars, why so many people love these AWD rockets.

I'll skip all the boring stuff and get into the meat and potatoes.

I test drove a the Rally color blue STI with the gold BBS rim package. For starters , i must say this car is not attractive at all. The current one looks a little mature from the previous model , but the new tribeca air plane facia doesn't do the car justice. The two wing treatment is a bit to boy racer-ish, but then again,this car suppose to be a rally car, so maybe those wings serve a purpouse?
I love the 17" BBS wheels on the car, very nice touch , takes your eyes away from the disfunctional lines of the body.

Well hopped in and the noticed how bland the interior cabin was. The shiney silver center console was doable , the **** looked functional and easy to use,i really liked the speedo cluster. Very easy to read, and the arrangement of the guages were well placed. The two tone seats were just as comfortable as the RX-8, maybe a bit snug than the RX-8, which is understandable for the G's that you would be pulling in the car.The shifter seem a little notchy , maybe because it was still new and hadn't been broken in properly.

Turned her on and the motor came to life, sounded like a "bubble machine" at idle.Sounds much better when the throttle is blipped. The sales guy told me to take it easy but have fun! And boy i was!

Pulled out and nailed it, instantly the STI took off! The tach shot to 7k rpm in a heart beat, instantly putting you back in your seat! Gawd i miss torque!
I love my 8 , but something being thrown back in your seat while the engine is at full song puts that smile on your face! The car feels very confident and has enough power to scoot in and out of traffic without rowing the gears. The turbo kick comes in pretty smooth too, lag seems minimal.

The sales guy told me to turn into this abandon parking lot, he called it his test ground. He told me to do some figure 8's and take the STi on some high speed turns. The car was on "tarmac" mode, i did my first figure 8 in second gear. The STI was sticking like glue!Didn't bother to look down to see how fast i was going, but i pushed her till i heard the tires screeching, the sales guy was holding for dear life! LOL! In coming out of the figure 8 high speed i let off to see if the back end would come out.....it did, but a little bit , and nothing that was overwhelming , nothing that easily getting back on the gas couldn't handle.

I would go to one end of the parking lot and nail it and slalom around the light poles, the car just stuck like glue! The STI is very easy to drive and like the 8 , you feel like you can pull of any manuever in the car. I didn't get to do any hard launches, but even from a roll , the car has kick.

Overall impression:
This is my first AWD car i ever driven, its very diffrent from driving a FWD or RWD car. The AWD makes the car feel very neutral, which makes the car feel like it can't slip or mess up. Which could be a good or bad thing, for the person who likes to push it to its limits.

I see why people like the STI or EVO, there fun cars to drive, not very demanding of you and does what it suppose to do best, HAUL *** AND HANDLE like its on rails. I think i see myself probally having more fun in the dirt with this car than anything else, after all its a production rally car!

You could see where most of Subaru's funding or focus went into this car, the motor and the suspension for the STI. Its almost sad to have so much fun out of this little beast then to get out and look at the ugly body.It waters down the experience in a heart beat! Instantly you start thinking how cool it would be if you could swap bodies , say with a RX-8 ,or a S2000 , etc and still have that power, handeling combo.

Would i buy one? If i had more garages, this way i could add the STI to my collection. Would i buy one over the 8? Nah, the power and ther handeling combo is very attractive to an enthusiast like me, i rather have a stylish and unique ride.
6 years ago i may have jumped all over this car, because power and more power was priority 1 in my book. Now that i am older, i rather have a balance of style,looks,power, and handeling.

But for the enthusiast at heart who's main focus is power and handeling , Subaru serves a hot dish of STI for you! Enjoy!

 

nice review man test driving cars is fun huh

 

i'd pick an evo over an sti..something about the sound of that boxer engine..its very annoying...

 

Thanks for the review man!

 

Good review. I feel the same way. You've gotta respect the car for it's performance attributes but I couldn't drive something that hideous.

 

Well in late 07 or early 08 you should get your wish, nice exterior and interior with some refinement and great power/handling in the Evo X. Any of you going to the NY autoshow will have a chance to look at it first hand.

Also check out Edmunds.com/insideline for a peak at the S-AWC on a snow cover course.

 

great review im trading my 8 right now.......

 

I just bought an 06 STI a couple weeks ago. Lots of fun, but makes me appreciate what a NICE car the RX-8 is. The looks have grown on me, but I just think the RX-8 is one of the best-looking cars currently available, and tough to compete with.

 

Refinement, IMO, will ruin the spirit of the EVO. Yeah, great, more coushy smooshy smurfs will buy one if it has heated seats, and supple leather, and automatic yada yada. But, that's not what the car is about.

Since we don't get them in Canada, I for one am looking forward to taking ike up on his offer

See that, it's in writing folks. I'm holding him to it.

 

Nice review. Everything you said about the STI is in line with everything I've ever read about it.

As a rally fan (and fan of rally cars) I can dig the STI and EV0 but I find RWD drive cars a little more fun to drive in everyday use. With the RX-8 it seems you can have some fun w/o getting near the limits of the car (or outside the limits of the law ). Neck-snapping torque always = fun though.

I would like to take a STI or an EVO on some gravel roads/rally-like stages where you could really get a feel for these rally beasts and try some typical rallying techniques as I would quickly loose my license trying to have fun with it on the streets.

 

I agree 100%. These are raw beasts with performance the #1 priority and that's what makes these cars apealing to their fans.

 

I am going to have to disagree......but not completely. I don't think adding optional content will ruin the car......it will just add another dimension that was previously missing. The guys that still want a bare-bones rocket can still order one with no optional content and get the car they always wanted. However, the folks that like the performance of the current EVO but pass and buy something else with more content might stay with the EVO X. I never understood anyone putting down companies for offering optional content.......you don't HAVE to get the extras if your not interested in them......but why not have the content for those that are willing to spend the $$$ ??

 

In an ideal world, sure you could pick and choose options as you see fit. However, mainstream car makers producing cheaper cars rarely do this. They offer "the package". You want a nice stereo, you have to get package A with leather, sunroof, HID's etc. You want a folding rear seat, get package B with blah blah blah. That's the way it is with the Rx8, too. As far as I can tell, they just put things most people want into a package with a bunch of crap you don't want so that you have to shell out mo money. If they do offer a barebones package, great. But, I don't see it happening. A long list of standard features is what appeals to the majority. And, the majority pays the bills.

 

Good point.

 

Very true.....i like the way Nissan offers the 350Z packages, you can get the bare bones Z(still with the 287 or 300HP?) or you can get the fully loaded GT version with all the bells, whistles and flash, or the hard core track version with more focus on performance.

 

That's an import thing......Ford still allows you to pick and choose between options. Go build a Mustang through Ford's website......you'll see that you can add every item as a single option. Go build a Solstice though Pontiac's website....same thing. Perhaps this is one area that the foreign companies need to benchmark the American ones.

But......seeing as the EVO is an import (which tends to package content), I can see your frustration with Mitsu adding content to the EVO.

 

I feel your review was right on, but come on its really not bad looking...can you honestly say this car is hideous?

 

^ not hideous.....but definitely 2 Fast 2 Furious !!

 

Thanks for the review

 

Everybody is too quick to reference Fast and Furious but these cars are a product of their rallying heritage and would still exist and look like this whether that over stereotypical movie series existed or not.

I think it's functionally ugly in a way a Jeep Wrangler is. The car is not hideous but it's definately not beautiful. It can't be acused of looking boring though.

 

not hideus at all, quite mean looking. sometimes when a car is so great, you just tend to try hard to find a reason to justify not having one.

 

Actually no. Honestly, I think the car looks awful. The front looks worse now than it did before IMO. I can afford one but I can't get over the exterior. To each his own as looks are subjective. There are plenty of people that hate how the RX8 looks. Enough said.

 

Definitely not so hideous from flattering camera angles.

Back when I only knew of the STI by reputation, I too, thought it was a hideous creature. I liken it to a partially alluring female with a crooked nose. If ye gaze upon her countenance from near-straight angles, your penile make become delighted...but when seen from anywhere but...her illustrious image is destroyed. However, when I realized that I could actually have one, I found myself succumbing to my lust of of the beast, becoming obfuscated, and began digesting a hoard of lies and halve-truths which lead me to conceptualize that 'thing" as sweet fair maiden that I would woo with my pocket book. Alas, my sweet Melissa, born of rotary design, has healed my obscured vision, making bittersweet reality my one and only love. A beast that STI is, and a beast it shall remain, powerful yet hideous.

 

That's what I meant to say

 

The STI is a product of their rallying heritage......but it's not a rally car...it's a production road car. I can see the purpose of the giant wing for rally race prepped cars......but for driving to and from work?? In normal driving conditions, the big wing and big hood scoop only make the car look like a boy racer (like those of Fast and Furious movies). I think that STI Limited (another thread) is a great step at removing the Fast and Furious parallels one can't help but see. The hood scoop should have been removed as well.....or at least redesigned.