Test drove an STI today
 

Hey,

I went down to the subaru place around here with my uncle went to look at bajas and we drove an STI. First thing I noticed was the shifter - wow its like you move the stick a centimeter and its in gear. I liked how the cockpit felt too just sitting in the car - very supportive seats.

I gotta say for as great a handler as the 8 is, I really think the STI out does it. Yea the 8 can do a lot and is great for powersliding but the STI grips the road like its got its claws dug in. I guess its just the AWD that makes it feel like its on rails or something but wow. The steering was very responsive and effortless too - just like the 8 and I gotta say, being able to manually transfer power from 50-50 distribution to 35-65 or so is really cool and really gives it a unique feel.

The thing that really got me though was the power. For a 300 hp 300 lb-ft of torque car, I was expecting a lot more. I thought something might even be wrong with it lol. Granted I didn't really push it but for some reason I was expecting to be thrown back in my seat a lot more than I was. It might have just been that I was not punching it at the right time with the turbo, but I went from 15-60 or so in second a couple times and it didn't feel THAT much different than the 8 honestly. I did the same sorta thing in the 8 on the way back and could tell that yea the STI was way faster, but without looking at the speedometer again I didn't notice a huge difference. I think the Z felt much more torquey and faster. Maybe I'm just not used to a turbo car and getting to where the power is but I was very surprised to say the least.

I still really liked it and think subaru has done a great job with it but now I'm very curious to see what the evo is like in comparison - and to see how the 06 rexes feel in comparison. Only time will tell.

Michael

the power should be the same with the 06 version... but the handling should be better than the 04-05 version... supposely they retuned the DCCD so u have more control when ur actually slidding on ice...

I don't mean to insult your driving abilities.. but i believe that the Rex has a very narrow power band, so unless you rev the daylights out of it and hold it in it's power band... I've heard it a fairly ordinary drive..

but then again... I could be talkin outta my a$$:D

If you didn't really push it, then you didn't really feel the power. You certainly don't have to rev the hell out of it to get power either. The turbo is at full boost at 3k rpms and you'll have power pretty much to redline at 7k. That's a VERY useable powerband.

If you went from 15-60 (55 actually since that's where 2nd cuts off) you weren't in full boost for a bit and if you didn't floor it, it's no wonder it would have seemed slow. That also explains why the Z felt faster, because you didn't have a turbo to spool. The power is just there. You just need to learn the powerband and how to use it, similar to the 8 but the STi has a MUCH more useable powerband and gobs more low end. Keep the revs above 2.5k and you're good no matter what you're doing.

I'm curious to know how you like the Evo, I test drove an MR after having the STi for a while and while it seemed a little tighter, it also seemed a bit slower (even though I know they aren't really supposed to significantly slower). It may have been the gearing, but it seemed to stop accelerating at or above 6k rpms.

I looked at subarus when I was buying my RX-8, I thought the exact opposite - noticeably faster in a straight line, lacking handling wise. Given, I wasn't at a dealer, I was in a fellow auto-xers car during a Porsche Club event. I could tell from my test drive in the RX-8 that it handled way better, even though I couldn't drive it at the limit. And the RX-8 didn't have the econobox feeling that the subbie does, so that sealed the deal.

No, I wasn't really pushing it, I was just going a slow speed and revved to just above 6000 rpms flooring it in second, I looked at the speedometer right after I shifted to third and it was around 60 or so. I dont think it really has to do with my driving with something as simple as that, but I think if I had floored it at about when the turbo was spooled I might have felt something much different. I guess you are right about the power band (all I really did was drive it around the block a couple times - there was this one back road stretch though with no one around that was perfect for getting an idea of inline acceleration with a nice curve at the end) so maybe I'm just not getting a good idea of what it can do. After all, it did take me a while to figure out how to really get the power out of the renesis.

Btw I'm real sure it was an 05, it definately didn't have the new alpha grille or whatever.

Its a great car, definately out performs the 8, but when it comes ot fun factor I guess, the 8 is still very close. The 8 looks way better inside and out, but I still found the interior of the STI to be pretty nice especially in comparison to the evo and the other imprezas.

the rexs' interior looks better than the current and past models.... well supposely looks better...

u chure? i thot i red ther waz going 2 b lyk 382hp for da stI for 06

english motherfucker, do you speak it
http://web.jet.es/unepelde/imgs/pf_sam.gif

funny pic, blueeyes...

wtf

oh god please dont tell me you couldn't tell i was being sarcastic... :rolleyes: that's about as unobservant as you can get.

ditto ;)

If you liked the handling of the STi you'll love the Evo. I drove both quite a bit before buying the Mitsubishi.

The USDM tune on the Evo 8 is really conservative. Boost tapers at about 5k RPM's even though redline is about 7k RPM's. I hate it. I knew I'd be eventually modding the car though so it's only temporary and I can live with it. A simple $100 Hallman manual boost controller will do the trick, but I'm bringing the car in for an Ecutek flash next month instead. More expensive, but less ghetto IMHO.

Well that certainly explains why I thought it stopped pulling. Still an impressive machine although I do like my STi a little better, had I driven an MR before purchasing the STi, I might have had a little more difficulty choosing one over the other.

You can't go wrong with either car....Evo or STi. Let's hope the horsepower war continues between Subaru and Mitsubishi.

I've driven the STI with the factory Short Shifter and the RX-8's is substantially shorter! Going from the 8 to the STI's made me feel like the throws were a mile long.

Subaru and Mitsu had being competitive for a while now.... and they're both great at making rally cars... maybe they shoulg join up and make a car together.... one with the power of a subaru boxer engine and lots of power.... then with the agility of Mitsu's EVO AYC for the handling department... and some kind of body shell... lol...

If they were to pair up for a production rally car for the USDM Subaru would stand to learn as much about power and tunability from Mitsu as they would about handling. The 4G63 (2.0L turbo) in the Evo is about as bullet proof as any engine around. It's right up their with the Chevy SB V8 and Ford SB V8 in aftermarket R&D. With a closed deck design and forged internals it can withstand 500awhp+ on the stock bottom end and heads. Mitsu has been perfecting this engine for almost 20 years now. The next Evo, set to hit the USDM this fall, will have new heads that incorporate a variable valve timing feature called MIVEC. Tunability will intitially suffer, but it will be interesting to see what kind of power can eventually be coerced from such a robust little boosted motor running VVT with a relatively big turbo.

On the other hand Subaru's EJ25 is relatively new and only the USDM STi uses it. The rest of the world gets their STi with a high performance version of the smaller EJ20 (running a larger turbo) used in the standard WRX. Subaru had trouble getting the 2.0L smog legal for the USDM so they went with the 2.5L. The potential of the EJ25 is still being explored in the aftermarket, but it simply doesn't have the over-engineered internals that have endeared the EJ20 and 4G63 to high horsepower tuners. Not to say the EJ25 isn't capable of globs of horsepower, but there simply aren't as many of them running around America as there are Evos...yet.

There have been independantly organized events on both the East (Englishtown) and West (Atco) coasts pitting Evo vs. STi. The first one back East was a complete massacre. The Evos were just too powerfull for the STi's.

http://forums.evolutionm.net/showthr...7&page=1&pp=15

http://forums.nasioc.com/forums/show...8&page=1&pp=25

The one in Sacramento last fall was a little closer, but the Evos still dominated. Interestingly enough the standard WRX did about as well as the STi's. Bottom line is that the WRX has been around for 6 years now and the EJ20 powering it has been around for about 12 years IIRC. The aftermarket for that setup is still way ahead of the EJ25 in the USDM STi. Getting an Evo into the 11's on the stock turbo is common. Getting the STi even into the low 12's will most likely require a bigger aftermarket turbo.

The 05 STI has an optional short throw upgrade, which is shorter then the standard one that came on the 04 and 05. I noticed the longer throw in my 04 STI, and then found out that there was no option available, but it is available for 05.
As far as the kick in the pants feeling, I believe when you have awd, you get less of that pull like you get in rwd. When I got mine, I was expecting more of a kick in the pants, but I realized that with AWD and 300 feet of torque, you won't get that feeling like you get with a 350z. The rx8 felt slow to me at all rpms, but that's because it has a very smooth torque curve. The STI, unlike the EVO has the displacement, and the engine has a lot of naturally aspirated power, so it's surprisiingly smooth with a nice torque range, with very little lag. It can put out as much power with a smaller turbo and 14.5 psi, as the EVO can with a bigger turbo and 19.5psi. If the car was tuned to pull all it's torque in a short rpm range, you'd definitely feel more of that kick. I assure you, the car is faster then it feels. Before you know it, you are going very fast, and it hits 100mph very quickly.

I have no doubts about the STIs speed I assure you. The "kick in the pants" as you called it, was somewhat lacking in how I drove it, but it still flew. I dunno when I'm gonna get the chance to drive an EVO (no dealership nearby really) but just at a glance I think I'd definately go for the STI. The EVO may be better on the track but I dont think I can live without things like cruise control... Anyways I'm more curious than anything, and glad to know I still love my 8.

my evo 8 your STi. bwahaha thats a funny shirt.

I musta missed the punchline.

simular to the "why is 6 afraid of 7" joke...

Still scratching my head...