Ah man. This is horrible timing. I talked with the VP of my division yesterday and it looks like they'll probably shift me up to Canada (Alberta) this summer for a couple of years. This would be such an awesome year-round car up there. I just don't want to buy anything until everything is confirmed.

 

It's actually 5. I talked to the finance manager of Cherry Hill Subaru on Saturday trying to get a deal done. A smaller dealer can get the deal as well, but they must sell 5 STis. And the big kicker, the dealer gets the discount on EVERY STi sold, not just from 6 on. But if they don't get 5, they get nothing.

 

You can also add Byers Subaru in Dublin (Columbus), Ohio. PM me for the salesman's name - he said he would offer the $5k under invoice to anyone who called, and he's pulling cars from other dealers upon request. I was debating between blue and white, so he pulled a white one from Indianapolis and a blue one from Cleveland and put them side by side and let me choose.

Anyone's who's interested should act very, very fast. The remaining 08s are going quick and once they're gone so is this deal. I can't imagine that Subaru will import as many STIs for 09 given the market and what it's taken to move them out...

 

nala, pretty much dead on. Initially I was dealing with out of state dealers but their color and option selections were severely limited already. I could have gotten a little bit better deal by taking some more time but I knew what color/option combo I wanted, and these things are flying out of dealers right now.

Short review for now, until the motor is broken in:

Exhaust note is the best I've had so far, sounds awesome. Stock exhaust is just loud enough to hear it, not too loud, and not muted.

Handling is excellent, I've been running the diff in auto, traction control enabled, and swapping maps back and forth from I to sport. I'm staying away from sport sharp for the most part, but yesterday I had to try it and let's just say BOOST! Damn does this car pull. The feel is much different to a RWD or FWD car, AWD feels so planted and stable. The grip out of a corner is sick. I'm averaging 20 MPG during break in so far. I'm told for the first 3 thousand miles it will eat a little more gas compared to a fully broken in motor. Shifts are just slightly longer than my Si Sedan and definitely longer than the S2000 but they are crisp, and the feel is really good. There is no ambiguity about hitting a gear with the shifter.

Some people complain about the seats, the fact that they aren't Recaros, but personally I like them. I'm 6'2" and this is easily the most comfortable I've been in a driving position. Since the seat extends so far back, I don't have to lean it back. I'm sitting almost upright, like in the S2000, the backrest of the seat is almost straight up, quite a contrast to the Si Sedan where I have to lean it back, gangster style. Brakes are excellent, I think 106 feet stoppage from 60MPH. I'm still bedding them in a little, no rapid decel yet. Power is really nice, and I'm just giving it 50-60% throttle openings up to 4-5k and shift. I can only imagine sport sharp mode (map with the most power) and 100% throttle, shit, hang on! 0-60 times averaging 4.7-4.8 seconds puts me close to a lot of automobiles. Not bad for an AWD 5 door hatchback Suspension is very good for a DD. Nice and tight, but not bone jarring tight. You round a corner and it holds the line nicely, freeway cruising is excellent. On the freeway it reminds me of a BMW 335i with the sport package, similar.

Forward visibility is the best I've had in a car. The rake of the windshield is very nice, excellent view forward. Some people complain about the rearview, but it's good for me, hatches are a little different, just have to get used to them. Overall my visibility has increased over the Si Sedan. layout of the cockpit is also quite good. I will install my D3 nav unit into the dash, in a few weeks, and I'll be all set for a while. \

Lastly, good MPG can be achieved (25MPG +) if you stay out of boost. Much like staying out of VTEC on a Honda. I've already noticed how boost affects MPG. If you are laying into the throttle all the time, your mileage is going to be shit. Short shift in I mode (efficiency map) and good MPG will be there.

YMMV

 

Excellent purchase. Love my Forester XT...if I had to trade it in tomorrow, an STI would be first on my list.

 

is this really neccesary?? Id like to hear your take on it since you have an 07 sti (which "supposedly" is plagued with the same problems)Ive been reading on nasioc quite often now and it only seems to have affected a TINY i mean TINY population of the 08 sti community. Those who have had bad ringlands were most likely due to the bad tune it had in the first place and that it was not a manufacturers defect in the composition of the piston itself. I mean the main thread describing this so called problem is only 3 pages long with more than half of those only inquiring about the problem and not even experiencing any symptoms whatsoever.

 

the new STi's also have (not sure if it's still ongoing) a problem with the factory tune...a local owner popped his engine at 13k miles IIRC but of course subaru gave him a new engine. he went stage 2 as soon as he broke in the new engine

stock exhaust note is decent, but i have the prodrive roundtip on my 05 and it's not loud at all and the boxer rumble is just excellent. i love the boxer rumble; one thing that i do not miss about my old Evo was that the exhaust note sounded almost like any turbo honda ...

not sure what exhuast isn't too loud for the new STi but the boxer rumble adds so much more fun to the driving experience IMHO

 

Fusionchickenleg

when that person went stage 2, did he have supporting mods such as a tbe/intake or did he just run the stage 2 tune on his completely stock ej35?

 

You need supporting mods to run stage 2. Stage 2 just requires a TBE and reflash.

 

I agree, even if the Evo were a touch better drive overall (not saying it is), I'd still probably go STi for the boxer 4 rumble. Very unique and cool sound, especially with boost and a decent BOV.

Good write-up, Tommy.