slammin86

Actually drove 4 cars today.
All of these cars were new 08 model year.

Saturn Sky Redline turbo 5 speed
EVO X
STI
Mazdaspeed 3

Evo X
OMG X is sweet. After some persistence and like the 5th visit to the local mitsu dealership I was able to get a test drive without any paperwork and without a credit check. Unfortunately it was a very short test drive.

First thing I immediately noticed was that you feel everything. The car feels like an extension of you and you feel every dip and bump...not a bad thing at all. Very connected to the road. Steering was very sharp and precise. Loved the seats and the position of the seats, as well as how natural the steering wheel felt in my hand. The seats and steering wheel are superb but the rest of the interior quality is meh.

Turbo spools quickly at 3000 and power comes on immediately. Unfortunately at about 5500 rpm it dies off. Once we got back to the dealership I was able to find out that the first flash had been done, but the second had not. From what I have read the second flash seems to resolve this issue. Every gear had this same issue.

The connection to the road and the steering response felt great.

Out on they highway the need for a 6th gear became very apparent. 75-80 mph was roughly 4000 rpm in 5th. Good for instant power...bad for sound.

OMG so connected to the road.

STI.
Had a great experience at this dealership. The guy who I was dealing with just sold his gto. He was a member of LS1gto.com and knew my car. Because of this I did not have any trouble driving a new STI.

He told me right away I would be disappointed with the car. He said that the ECU limits boost for about 300 miles and the car feels like a turd. More on this later.

The fit and finish on the interior was awesome. Everything felt put together nicely except for the center console/ armrest area. The steering wheel felt great. The only problem I had were the seats. WTF is this a sporty car or a cavalier...based on the seats there was no sign that this was a sporty car.

The radio sucked ***** too.

Onto the drive. I was able to get a decently long test drive on this one.
When I get on it I think...wtf...I thought this was turbo. There was no sign that there was actually a turbo on this car. Now I know it had a turbo...but the car felt N/A. To me this felt like a solid mid 14 sec car. Pretty weak. Did I mention no power what so ever. I am hoping he was right and the ecu changes the tune after 300 miles or so.

Handling seemed good. Seemed like there was a lot of usable interior space.

But based on what I experienced I am going to say EPIC FAIL.

Mazda speed 3

Drove this right after the STI. Interior is great. Stereo was great. Felt very solid and well built.

Car had great power down low but died off at 5500 or so. The thing felt really good when I shifted at 5500...don't know what the point of the extra 1000+ rpm is for???

Handling was decent. I would take this car over the STI any day of the week.

Saturn Sky turbo 5 speed.

Fit and finish seem great. No complaints with any of the interior except it is small. Huge blind spot with the top up, but great with the top down.

Had drove its N/A brother, and an auto turbo solstice in the past. I love the handling of this car. After driving the auto solstice turbo I had high hopes for the 5 speed counterpart. Unfortunatly I was very let down. I think I had just set the bar too high.

The digital boost gauge is pretty sweet. 18 PSI is pretty sweet.

0% for 72 months on this car make it a sweet deal.

Based on what I saw today the only car I would take over the GTO would be the X. Unfortunatly each time I drove a car today, I got back into the GTO and was still impressed by the quality and craftsmanship of the 4 year old interior. The straight line acceleration of the GTO wins also.

Got to hear the yellow 7.0 ltr Z06 idle and reved it up a few times. OMG SIK.

I still want the evo. People at mitsu are very difficult to work with and get answers from. They are supposed to be trying to locate a white one and call me letting me know. Still unsure why they cannot just order a white one. They want to do a dealer trade and charge me like 1300 to ship it here or some crap. Who the f**k knows.

The end.

kRT

I really wish they'd put a 6th gear in the GSR. I spend too much time on the highway to listen to 4-cylinder engine drone for a hundred miles at a clip. Surely it's not so difficult to source a 6-speed stick in a $35K vehicle. Even the Ralliart has a cruising gear, which is why I intend to give it a more serious look, despite the appeal of the Evo.

I'm surprised you liked the Saturn as much as you did. I expected quite a lot more out of the automatic turbo Sky than I got. The interior felt cheap and cramped, and the engine had little kick below 3000 RPM. Pedal to the floor was a blah experience, and that's coming from my V6 Chevrolet that's 3100 lbs and 170 BHP. A friend has a 3900 lb 3000GT VR4 that puts my lungs in the back seat from a roll in first gear. I think the Sky actually has a better power-to-weight ratio (unless his car was tuned without my knowledge), so I'm not sure what to make of the disparity. Anyway, while the Sky looks nice, I'd be more inclined to look at an older M Roadster or something.

Or just buy the damn Evo.

slammin86

A friend suggested I copy this post on the STI forum...wow what a mistake that was.

http://www.iwsti.com/forums/2008-sti...w-sti-too.html

I started getting pm's from people trashing me as well as trashing me in the post. They are some insecure people when you question their almighty STI.

FJF

iTrader: (18)

What a fun thread to read!

iwsti has always been a little (errr...) radical; clubwrx has a more tempered environment.

Noize

iTrader: (24)

Three replies here and nine frakking pages over there, LOL!

slammin86

LOL that's kind of what I thought. Both topics were posted at about the same time as well...

EVO FTW.

xtremeboost

iTrader: (39)

I was about 5mins away from getting the Subbie , I'm so glad I drove down the street and got the X Loving this car

nawaz

I still want the evo. People at mitsu are very difficult to work with and get answers from. They are supposed to be trying to locate a white one and call me letting me know. Still unsure why they cannot just order a white one. They want to do a dealer trade and charge me like 1300 to ship it here or some crap. Who the f**k knows.The end.[/QUOTE]


Yeah, most Mitsubishi delerships that I shopped at for my Evo IX MR are full of it. First, they need the business to survive and then they can't provide the service to get the customers in. Just based on the service and respect I got at the dealerships, it turned me away from getting the car I really liked. At last, I went back and got a deal and took my Evo. I hate Mitsubishi like anything, but I just love that one car about them, the Lancer Evolution. Most likely not going to ever buy a Mitsu ever again in my life.

EvoXstylin

iTrader: (2)

Nice reviews, if possible go for a drive and find another Mitsubishi dealership, and compare the two. You should really look into the X it's a fun car. But you already knew that didn't you?

vaboostn33

STI owners are nothing like us. Me and all the DCevo guys find this to be true everytime they try and arrange a meet. They stay for about 20 minuets then leave. Non of them run their cars, and the ones that do, say they have "x" amount of power then get walked by 10 cars (on video btw). Let them just marinate in their own world and think they are the greatest.

xbox4414

iTrader: (2)

WTF did u expect? And they u start to become a total *** on page 6. I don't see a difference in them and you. Both those members and u turned into being douches.

628

iTrader: (1)

Just got done reading the 10 pages over there, and wow, they're pretty bad.

Over there: sarcastic "just go get the evo!"
Over here: "drive both and choose the one you like more!"

And let's just say one of our members decided to get the STi and posted pics of his car here, we'd pretty much be telling him, "congratulations, take care of it, etc.," while they'd be busy telling one of their members with an evo, "LOL have fun with those broken peddles!"

Denon

Honestly this isn't even surprising to me from a subaru forum. I have been a sti fan for years, and it has been the car i had always wanted to get for years now, but with the new evo x putting down such good numbers with such little mods i don't see my self buying an sti anymore. Along with the fact that i'm starting to dislike the subaru community because of things just like this. I've seen so many people get bashed on their forums just for stating their opinion, it's really childish. I've noticed on the evo forums people seem to be more mature, less flaming and more willing to help when someone ask questions.

RS-0

What this 'review' is lacking may be a caveat at the end stating..."all of these cars I test drove are excellent tuning bases. Stock cars exhibit characteristics that manufacturers build in for vast compromises. Based on one test drive, I can only go off of what car offers me in stock detuned form, but acknowledge that these cars have potential way beyond my capabilities as a driver."

Who cares what other people are saying on other forums? My .02

kellieanne

haha i hear ya on that. i used to date a guy with a wrx n it was terrible.