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Pastimes : Car Nut Corner: All About Cars -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: SnowShredder who wrote (1782)	8/18/2007 10:36:03 AM
From: SI Bob	Respond to of 5790

Sorry for the late reply. Going through some pretty old messages. Yes, I often instruct in Evo's so I get to drive them a lot. What impresses me about them is that they're much better than the STi at initial turn-in. I have yet to encounter an instructor in an Evo, though. Usually the Evo's are my students or at an open-track event they might be intermediate or advanced drivers in the driving school pecking order. The difference between an advanced driver and an instructor is pretty small, but enough that me in the STi vs an advanced student in an Evo really doesn't give a fair comparison of the cars themselves. I've never driven an Evo at 100%. Just fast enough to notice that it doesn't need as much trail-braking because of its sharper turn-in and that in all other respects, it feels almost identical to the STi in terms of capabilities except that the STi (probably because of its 25% larger engine) makes more usable grunt, and is just sleepy rather than comatose below 3k rpm. My gut feeling is that from the novice level to the early advanced level of driver, the Evo would be the faster car because it's easier to drive and easier to learn how to drive, but that at a driver level beyond that, the STi is faster, though the STi driver has to work a bit harder. I love the Audi TT! It's no match for the Evo or STi at the ragged edge, but it'll hang with them until that point, is MUCH more comfortable, and feels a lot more stable when really pushed. And if I had one sitting next to the STi in the garage, it'd be the one I'd drive all the time. Actually, I rarely drive the STi because it's just that miserable and though I'm young enough to appreciate it on the track, I'm old enough to hate it on the street, and usually go with the 94 BMW 530i. Oh, don't know if I mentioned that I went ahead and got the 07 STi. Haven't had it to the track yet, but when putting the break-in miles on it, it really felt like it had more low-down grunt and 2nd, 3rd, and 4th feel like truly usable gears rather than just a way to build up enough speed to not lug it too much going to 5th. Numerically, the difference is pretty small. 4th is only 10 mph faster at redline (110 vs 100), but it feels like a huge difference. Finally saw a picture that shows what an STi is likely to look like for 08 and though I'll really miss the wing, I have to admit I didn't feel as nauseous looking at that picture as I do when looking at the 08 WRX. I was at the dealership the other day picking up paperwork and mentioned the picture (I think it was a WRC and the text said if you remove the wing, you've basically got the STi) and the sales manager said that when he saw the same picture, he thought of me and that he'll get the first one in silver since I'll probably be camped out there waiting for it to arrive on the truck. He might be right.