Not everyone lives in the US!! And extracting that power isn't magic. Subaru does it by more boost. Nothing stopping someone from making some improvments to their WRX's drive train, and engine and upping the boost. Which is all subaru does. Also, subaru is bring the a version of STi to the US in 2003. It will have 275 HP and price range is the around 33k. Not too shabby.

 

[QUOTE]Originally posted by elanderholm
[B]

Rally cars roll..the have much softer suspensions...this gives them a lot of travel and roll.

 

[QUOTE]Originally posted by elanderholm
[B]

Not everyone lives in the US!!

 

I recently drove a WRX as well. We were looking for something for my wife with a little more "go power" than her 2.slow Golf. Our requirements: 5 speed, 4 doors, decent gas mileage, good handling, decent acceleration, fairly small (<180in), <2yrs old, and sub $30k. We looked @ Jetta, 3 Series, A4, & WRX. Finalists were the WRX Wagon and the A4 Avant. We ended up going with the A4.

My impressions of the WRX:
*Good accleration- but significant turbo lag
*Hugs the corners well- but lots of body roll
*Pretty good seats, steering wheel, & pedals
*Subraru put all the $ into the drivetrain, shut a door and the whole thing rattles- no solid thunk, also the interior made me realize there is a difference between spartan but well made (S2k) and cheaply made (WRX).

Would I have picked the WRX for myself? Maybe- if I couldn't have my S2k.

 

Like Rick said, apples to oranges.

But as I said recently to my brother in law, I'm going to have a hard time this fall if I decide to pick up an all weather/daily driver. It will be a tough choice between the RSX-S and the WRX. Perhaps those two are a better comparison ( in the US at least )

 

May be a neat little box in some ways but to me it looks like a Echo with glue-on body stuff.

227-HP in a turbo car can be impressive if its done right. Look at the '89 Pont Indy turbo 3.8L (had one!) 6-banger rated at 255-HP would turn a 0-60 stock in 4.8 seconds and a low 13's in the 1/4. Minor tweaks would put you in the 11's at over 450-HP. I doubt however this little squirrel box can turn out any impressive ET's.

Give me 3.8 liters, 6-cylinders, and a pair of turbo's and I'll show you 1400-HP. Now that's impressive.

Dave "The Turbo Man"

 

Rick, I agree completely. But, I've never seen the value in straight line speed if you can not handle it in the turn. The challenge of the S2000 for me, at least, is and always will be mastering the total package. Otherwise, why screw around - just go big bore and multi-cylinders, V-12 works for me. Oh well, different strokes for different folks.

Wife's Outback is all-wheel drive and it does deliver confidence in the turns. Don't know squat about the one being discussed.

 

[QUOTE]Originally posted by dlq04
[B]Rick, I agree completely.

 

"but the thing is...big bore cars can handle the corners just fine. As long as the suspension is tuned well and the car balanced. I mean look at the F550 maranello, cobra 427, corvette Z06..etc. the are aen't big blocks per say, but very large displacement engines."

I totally agree, but look how many $$$ it takes to get that combination - more than I have for a toy.

 

Yup, money is always an issue!!