Hi there
Well today I've had the day off work to do what I enjoy best, driving cars. Turned up at the Mitsubishi dealership this morning at 10am, grab the keys and got myself into a 60 plate Subaru Impreza WRX STi Sedan with Spec C suspension. Familarised myself with controls, stereo, mirrors etc. and well here are my findings:-
The car had 4550 miles, seemed well kitted out, decentish sound system, aircon, electric everything, cruise control etc. The Recaro seats were part leather and OK but not as supportive as the ones in the EVO. The interior was built using the same cheapish plastics as the EVO which are of an OK quality, but certainly behind Nissan and German rivals. So I set of, roads were heavily wet so I put the car into Sport PLUS and left the DIFF on AUTO with traction control enabled.
The first thing I notice is the clutch and gearbox are simply superb, the throw is extremely short and the clutch is very light and bites very low down and seems like it would happily take plenty of abuse. Compared to the EVO the STi has a much shorter throw and is far easier to get off the mark and damn quick too. The other plus point of the Subaru is the sound from that 2.5l engine, such a lovely note especially at idle and at lower speeds.
So I go hunting down all my favourite country roads and roundabouts, I've got the car for several hours and as such I am gonna find them all and drive this car to the limit, if the worse happens I've got a £500 excess to pay, so its time to have fun.
So first impressions are better clutch, much nicer gearbox and gearchange compared to the EVO, but lets talk steering, this is a dissapoint, its not only slower than the EVO's its less precise and is completely void of any feel at all, which is very surprising considering this car is wearing Dunlops SP 600 super sticky tyres. The steering makes the car hard to place on the road or make quick direction changes and the car does really want to understeer, infact as it is with the diff set to AUTO and traction control on I am finding the car boring, the thing just wants to understeer off every corner which makes it not very confidence inspiring at all, not helped by lack of feel.
So the steering is a let down, my EVO is better on winter tyres/sponges I was expecting better here, lets not give up though, as now I recall a chat I had with Scoobydoo.
So I proceed to set DIFF to manual, push as much of the power to the rear as possible and disable traction control. I now go and cover my same roads again, instantly the car is far more rewarding to drive. Yes it still understeers quite a bit but the diff has helped and disabling of traction control means its easier to use the power to tighten the car up or simply push wide out of a bend whilst on the power. The steering is still void of feel though, but the roads are wet but beginning to dry out.
Lets talk about the power and delivery, OK this car is laggy, unless your above 4000rpm you really need to change down and the gearing is too long for this type of car. In 1st and 2nd gear the acceleration is explosive and fun, plus the car is fantastic of the mark as the car is not boost restricted in 1st gear unlike the EVO which makes traffic light grand prix a lot more fun in the Subaru and far easier to win too.
But once your into 3rd and 4th gear the cars gearing is too long and it actually feels slow for a 330BHP car with 340lb/ft, which is a shame, the speedo also tells a similar story. 60-100mph takes circa 7s, the EVO FQ-360 when stock is circa 5.5s and with 400 horsers its sub 5s and the EVO has far far quicker in-gear acceleration and is more explosive. Basically the EVO's acceleration is relentless in all gears due to three facts, shorter gearing, turbo spooling earlier and obviously more power. In comparison put your foot down in the Subaru in 4th gear at 2000rpm and it will pickup like a normal 200BHP saloon, 3000rpm approaches and boost is building, 4000rpm comes and the car is in its stride and it pulls well towards 6000rpm which is where the power dies off again and the acceleration in such gears is poor. To compare with the EVO the turbo is spooling up from 2000rpm, by 2500rpm its pulling hard and continues pulling right upto 7000rpm and the acceleration is much quicker. The Impreza needs 400BHP for sure and even then in higher gears due to gearing the EVO will still have the edge. The plus point of this long gearing is the Subaru is far better on the motorway, mainly due to a 6th which makes cruising at 70mph a pleasurable experience, wheras the EVO is revving a good 1000rpm higher, though the EVO does have less road noise.
Handling of the Impreza is very good, its chassis leans heavily towards understeer even with the diff setup and everything on manual. Infact with everything off the car is a lot of fun when power round corners or roundabouts, you just have to remember its going to push wide but its very easy to control on the throttle. I tried like crazy to put the rear out and got close but this car really wants to understeer so much more than oversteer which means it pushes a lot wider than the EVO. Grip wise, well I was shocked, the EVO with thinner Winter tyres has more wet and dry grip, I expected the Subaru to be better simply because it had Summer tyres on and the outside temperature was 11c and several hours into my test drive roads had dried and were very grippy, but still the Subaru had less outright grip. What did improve as the roads dried out was the steering was more communitive when you were at the limit or sliding around, but no better than the EVO even when wearing winter tyres, the EVO on Summer tyres has a lot more feedback and is quicker and more precise on the steering by quite a bit.
What the Subaru did seem to struggle though from a lot was bump steer, basically fast 60-70mph bend full of bumps and awkward cambers the EVO will just eat up and remain planted. Try the same corner at 60mph in the Subaru and you get lots of bump steer, the steering wheel you literally have to fight with and the car seems to get out of shape, this really put me off the car I can only assume I was feeling the diffs doing their magic or the front suspension setup on the Subaru suffers from bump steer. The Subaru was also more of a handful in such situations and just felt out of control.
The brakes are certainly a plus point they are more progressive and have a lot more feel into them, infact they reminded me of driving a Porsche, not quite as good but not far off, so under braking I had huge confidence. The brakes did feel less powerful overall but again this could be simply due to lack of servo assistance, I preferred the Subaru's brakes for feel but preferred the EVO's for overall stopping ability.
Now MPG wise, well I could not find an average MPG counter, but the instant display seem to read 2.5MPG far too often.
During my driving today I've covered circa 150 miles and put £50 worth of petrol in, this car drinks the petrol and is certainly no better than the EVO running 400 horses and the EVO aint exactly great on fuel either. So by 3pm I start heading back to the dealership to return their now rather dirty car.
So time to summarise:-
Engine - EVO wins, Impreza is too laggy and run out of puff beyond 90mph.
Sound - Subaru much better engine sound, but EVO nicer turbo/exhaust whoosh, but overall Subaru wins here, as with an exhaust it would be epic.
Handling - EVO wins this quite easily, it oversteers on demand and has far less understeer and still remains composed right on the ragged edge.
Gip - Another win for the EVO, it simply has more grip too.
Brakes - This is a win for the Subaru, brakes not quite as powerful as the EVO's but they are more progressive with more feel.
Steering - EVO's is quicker, more presice and more feelsome and allows you to place the car on road better. Only win for Subaru here is the steering wheel is far nicer.
Ride quality - Subaru wins this, handles holes/bumps better and cruises better due to longer gearing and 6th.
Interior - EVO more room in the back, both similar quality. EVO slightly better Hi-Fi, SATNAV etc. I'd rate them even here.
Price - The Impreza STI is £29,995, the FQ-330 is £32,699 and FQ-360 is £36,799, so the Impreza is cheaper to buy.
Summary
If I was to compare the two in one sentence, the Subaru is a better cruiser that can be used to motorway mileage without been tiring and can be a great blast on the B-roads and superb for traffic light grand prix. The EVO is more rawer, more capable and always wants to be in full attack mode, but does not calmd own so well making it not as suited for motorway/cruising use. Basically EVO's grew up a little with the introduction of the X, but the Impreza has grown up even more and I'd say maybe gone a little too soft.
For the money you'd not be disappointed, its a good car, but only when driven with everything set to manual, but the EVO is better and worth the extra money. Or you could buy an EVO X FQ-300 SST for the same money and to be honest thats what I'd do and then buy chuck and instake/exhaust on for 350-360ish BHP.
Another way I could describe this Sedan is it drove like the EVO X when its AYC pump had failed, maybe kind of harsh but an EVO X with failed AYC pushes wide just like the Subaru Sedan STi. Though I'd rate the Subaru as more fun to drive than the TT RS I drove, but I think the TT RS would be quicker cross country due to its more outright grip levels. As Housey said I think the EVO X is gonna be a very hard car to beat with what Im looking for in a car.
Any questions just ask and I shall post up some photos later.
Well today I've had the day off work to do what I enjoy best, driving cars. Turned up at the Mitsubishi dealership this morning at 10am, grab the keys and got myself into a 60 plate Subaru Impreza WRX STi Sedan with Spec C suspension. Familarised myself with controls, stereo, mirrors etc. and well here are my findings:-
The car had 4550 miles, seemed well kitted out, decentish sound system, aircon, electric everything, cruise control etc. The Recaro seats were part leather and OK but not as supportive as the ones in the EVO. The interior was built using the same cheapish plastics as the EVO which are of an OK quality, but certainly behind Nissan and German rivals. So I set of, roads were heavily wet so I put the car into Sport PLUS and left the DIFF on AUTO with traction control enabled.
The first thing I notice is the clutch and gearbox are simply superb, the throw is extremely short and the clutch is very light and bites very low down and seems like it would happily take plenty of abuse. Compared to the EVO the STi has a much shorter throw and is far easier to get off the mark and damn quick too. The other plus point of the Subaru is the sound from that 2.5l engine, such a lovely note especially at idle and at lower speeds.
So I go hunting down all my favourite country roads and roundabouts, I've got the car for several hours and as such I am gonna find them all and drive this car to the limit, if the worse happens I've got a £500 excess to pay, so its time to have fun.
So first impressions are better clutch, much nicer gearbox and gearchange compared to the EVO, but lets talk steering, this is a dissapoint, its not only slower than the EVO's its less precise and is completely void of any feel at all, which is very surprising considering this car is wearing Dunlops SP 600 super sticky tyres. The steering makes the car hard to place on the road or make quick direction changes and the car does really want to understeer, infact as it is with the diff set to AUTO and traction control on I am finding the car boring, the thing just wants to understeer off every corner which makes it not very confidence inspiring at all, not helped by lack of feel.
So the steering is a let down, my EVO is better on winter tyres/sponges I was expecting better here, lets not give up though, as now I recall a chat I had with Scoobydoo.
So I proceed to set DIFF to manual, push as much of the power to the rear as possible and disable traction control. I now go and cover my same roads again, instantly the car is far more rewarding to drive. Yes it still understeers quite a bit but the diff has helped and disabling of traction control means its easier to use the power to tighten the car up or simply push wide out of a bend whilst on the power. The steering is still void of feel though, but the roads are wet but beginning to dry out.
Lets talk about the power and delivery, OK this car is laggy, unless your above 4000rpm you really need to change down and the gearing is too long for this type of car. In 1st and 2nd gear the acceleration is explosive and fun, plus the car is fantastic of the mark as the car is not boost restricted in 1st gear unlike the EVO which makes traffic light grand prix a lot more fun in the Subaru and far easier to win too.
But once your into 3rd and 4th gear the cars gearing is too long and it actually feels slow for a 330BHP car with 340lb/ft, which is a shame, the speedo also tells a similar story. 60-100mph takes circa 7s, the EVO FQ-360 when stock is circa 5.5s and with 400 horsers its sub 5s and the EVO has far far quicker in-gear acceleration and is more explosive. Basically the EVO's acceleration is relentless in all gears due to three facts, shorter gearing, turbo spooling earlier and obviously more power. In comparison put your foot down in the Subaru in 4th gear at 2000rpm and it will pickup like a normal 200BHP saloon, 3000rpm approaches and boost is building, 4000rpm comes and the car is in its stride and it pulls well towards 6000rpm which is where the power dies off again and the acceleration in such gears is poor. To compare with the EVO the turbo is spooling up from 2000rpm, by 2500rpm its pulling hard and continues pulling right upto 7000rpm and the acceleration is much quicker. The Impreza needs 400BHP for sure and even then in higher gears due to gearing the EVO will still have the edge. The plus point of this long gearing is the Subaru is far better on the motorway, mainly due to a 6th which makes cruising at 70mph a pleasurable experience, wheras the EVO is revving a good 1000rpm higher, though the EVO does have less road noise.
Handling of the Impreza is very good, its chassis leans heavily towards understeer even with the diff setup and everything on manual. Infact with everything off the car is a lot of fun when power round corners or roundabouts, you just have to remember its going to push wide but its very easy to control on the throttle. I tried like crazy to put the rear out and got close but this car really wants to understeer so much more than oversteer which means it pushes a lot wider than the EVO. Grip wise, well I was shocked, the EVO with thinner Winter tyres has more wet and dry grip, I expected the Subaru to be better simply because it had Summer tyres on and the outside temperature was 11c and several hours into my test drive roads had dried and were very grippy, but still the Subaru had less outright grip. What did improve as the roads dried out was the steering was more communitive when you were at the limit or sliding around, but no better than the EVO even when wearing winter tyres, the EVO on Summer tyres has a lot more feedback and is quicker and more precise on the steering by quite a bit.
What the Subaru did seem to struggle though from a lot was bump steer, basically fast 60-70mph bend full of bumps and awkward cambers the EVO will just eat up and remain planted. Try the same corner at 60mph in the Subaru and you get lots of bump steer, the steering wheel you literally have to fight with and the car seems to get out of shape, this really put me off the car I can only assume I was feeling the diffs doing their magic or the front suspension setup on the Subaru suffers from bump steer. The Subaru was also more of a handful in such situations and just felt out of control.
The brakes are certainly a plus point they are more progressive and have a lot more feel into them, infact they reminded me of driving a Porsche, not quite as good but not far off, so under braking I had huge confidence. The brakes did feel less powerful overall but again this could be simply due to lack of servo assistance, I preferred the Subaru's brakes for feel but preferred the EVO's for overall stopping ability.
Now MPG wise, well I could not find an average MPG counter, but the instant display seem to read 2.5MPG far too often.
During my driving today I've covered circa 150 miles and put £50 worth of petrol in, this car drinks the petrol and is certainly no better than the EVO running 400 horses and the EVO aint exactly great on fuel either. So by 3pm I start heading back to the dealership to return their now rather dirty car.
So time to summarise:-
Engine - EVO wins, Impreza is too laggy and run out of puff beyond 90mph.
Sound - Subaru much better engine sound, but EVO nicer turbo/exhaust whoosh, but overall Subaru wins here, as with an exhaust it would be epic.
Handling - EVO wins this quite easily, it oversteers on demand and has far less understeer and still remains composed right on the ragged edge.
Gip - Another win for the EVO, it simply has more grip too.
Brakes - This is a win for the Subaru, brakes not quite as powerful as the EVO's but they are more progressive with more feel.
Steering - EVO's is quicker, more presice and more feelsome and allows you to place the car on road better. Only win for Subaru here is the steering wheel is far nicer.
Ride quality - Subaru wins this, handles holes/bumps better and cruises better due to longer gearing and 6th.
Interior - EVO more room in the back, both similar quality. EVO slightly better Hi-Fi, SATNAV etc. I'd rate them even here.
Price - The Impreza STI is £29,995, the FQ-330 is £32,699 and FQ-360 is £36,799, so the Impreza is cheaper to buy.
Summary
If I was to compare the two in one sentence, the Subaru is a better cruiser that can be used to motorway mileage without been tiring and can be a great blast on the B-roads and superb for traffic light grand prix. The EVO is more rawer, more capable and always wants to be in full attack mode, but does not calmd own so well making it not as suited for motorway/cruising use. Basically EVO's grew up a little with the introduction of the X, but the Impreza has grown up even more and I'd say maybe gone a little too soft.
For the money you'd not be disappointed, its a good car, but only when driven with everything set to manual, but the EVO is better and worth the extra money. Or you could buy an EVO X FQ-300 SST for the same money and to be honest thats what I'd do and then buy chuck and instake/exhaust on for 350-360ish BHP.
Another way I could describe this Sedan is it drove like the EVO X when its AYC pump had failed, maybe kind of harsh but an EVO X with failed AYC pushes wide just like the Subaru Sedan STi. Though I'd rate the Subaru as more fun to drive than the TT RS I drove, but I think the TT RS would be quicker cross country due to its more outright grip levels. As Housey said I think the EVO X is gonna be a very hard car to beat with what Im looking for in a car.
Any questions just ask and I shall post up some photos later.
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