Well it's been about a year since I've been out of the Subaru and it's time to jump back into one. Now the hard part is deciding on the year. Was hoping to get some opinions from y'all. I know the changes in the interior, gearing, clutch, brakes, suspension, wheels, etc..... But is the 18 really worth the price tag; that is still basically the same as the 17...??? Yeah it looks cool, and the changes seem to be nice, but overall whats the real difference. It's still the same motor, same internals, same car. Please keep in-mind that this would be the WRX not the STi (never going with the Ej Motor ever, ever, ever again)
Could probably find a decent deal on 17, wheels only matter if you keep them stock, as far as I know the calipers are the same just painted with different pads, the recaros are nice but you pay for them, interior wise aside from the recaros the screen on the head unit is a little bigger and still probably sucks. In the end if you really liked the front end that much I cant imagine swapping the 17 front to an 18 front is that expensive personally though the grill shape reminds me of a ford fusion actually the 18 legacy has fusion hints too so not really a fan of that. Suspension again only matters if you keep it stock and like you said the same motor I haven't really heard of any trans issues other than people not liking the first to second but I don't really race the car so maybe that is something to think about, either way I'm sure the STI trans is still better.
I'm probably selling mine, Base with the good OEM improvements. I needed a base for the lack of a sunroof, but got suspension and brakes off a build at Forged with 100mi on them, so it has Brembos and inverted struts and sti springs. I added the fogs and put the Limited BBS wheels on to clear the brakes.