Hey, my name's Josh and I just signed up on here because I'm thinking about getting an STI. Right now I have a 2003 BMW M3 (sick car) and a 2002 Honda S2000 (never drive it since I got the M3). The M3 is sick but there's not a lot you can do to it other than cosmetic mods. The STI is on my short list of cars to replace the BMW and Honda with. Do you think I would regret it? I don't mind NVH as long as the car is well made. As far as what I would do to an STI if I owned one it would be a rotated mount probably a GT35R. To answer the intro thread questions.. 1. Where do you live? Midtown by the Fox and Varsity 2. What do you preferred to be called (not your username)? Josh 3. What do you drive? M3/S2k 4. How modded is your ride? Both stock 5. Where do you usually by parts? Depends 6. Do you visit any other local boards? importatlanta 7. Show, Go, or Stock and staying that way? Gooooooooo 8. Do you wave to other wrx's when you see then coming towards you? Not yet 9. Where did you find out about WRXatlanta? Don't remember
dinan out the m3, my brother has a few mods on his 3 and its freakin amazin... and comming from an m3 you wouldnt like the drive or the interior feel of the STI... dont get me wrong stis are amazing cars!
yea an sti would be a great way to go if your wanting to mod and gain power. There are lots of guys on here that i can vouche for and they can chime in, that have some sick setups. With a GT35R you would be able to gain plenty of power. Dan before he moved had over 600 whp with that turbo.
Dinan mods (or pretty much any mods) aren't worth it. A supercharger on an M3 costs about $10,000 before install and nets just over 400rwhp. That's okay but then you have to deal with overheating at the track and all the other crap that comes along with putting a blower on a car that was originally naturally aspirated.. not worth it unless all you'll ever do is drive on the street.
i've got a 2000 2 door RS with an sti motor, version 6 sti - 5 speed tranny, and a couple of other mods, wanna trade for that M3 of yours ofcourse i would front some cash too
I'm going to sell it outright or trade it in. If I trade it then all the sales tax is covered since the trade in value is higher than the price of a new STI.
what i love about the STi (or the EVO as a matter of fact) is the ease of making a LOT of power with bolt ons and tuning... have you driven an STi to see if you like it in terms of ride and interior quality?
Yeah I drove a stock 05 at Classic about a year and a half ago. I liked it but bought the S2000 instead because I wanted a vert. I've also driven a friend's 03 EVO that's making around 400whp. I've had pretty much everything from Mustangs to a 1.8T Jetta to the M3. The M3 is awesome but it's got no edge to it. As far as STI vs. EVO the EVO is not a consideration on my list. I don't think Mitsu is going to be in business much longer.
with the STi, u will get great performance and the convenience of a sedan... with the gt35r, you should be able to make really good numbers... i have seen close to 592whp on the stock internals, but that was pushing it perrin makes a gt35r kit that sells for ~$2800 but will require the purchase of additional components (FMIC, EWG, injectors, etc.)... if you wish to sacrifice some power for simplicity, you have options of going with non rotated setups which tend to bring the costs down by a decent amount... the biggest direct bolt on turbo upgrade i know of is the deadbolt sz55 which should make ~470+whp with 93 octane and methanol injection... some of the bigger non rotated setups like the fp red can make over 500 whp but might require TGV deletes so basically, theres plenty of stuff you can do without going into the internals... what u get will depend on your budget and what u want out of the car... if these options seem attractive to you, i doubt you will be unhappy with an STi
i wouldnt think that, look at delta they have filed chapter 11 multiple times and they are still flying. Mitsu will not go out of business, there japanese market makes them a lot of money as well as there electronics businesses. Plus theres a 10 year 100k warrnty. The sti and evo drive VERY similar IMO, but the STi won me over.
The only EVO I like is the MR, and in that range the STI is cheaper new. It also seems like the power numbers people are getting out of stock block STIs have jumped way up over the past 2 years as the tuners learn how to tweak the 2.5..
mitsu won't go out of business. they are the auto component of the mistubishi group, a HUGE conglomeration of jap.corps. wether or not they continue to do business in the usa remains to be seen. anyways, welcome aboard. M3s are really nice and also really expensive to mod properly. i would def test drive a few STis, and see how you feel. it is a race-ready car. no luxury by comparison. so if you're looking for a track car, the sti or the evo would make you happy.
Javid is running the SZ65, deadbolts biggest SZ. I dont know what power he ended up putting down though, but im sure he is flying around the track now...as if he wasnt before
i think javid was runing the sz60 and made 498 whp... but the SZs that are bigger than the SZ55 require a new inlet and TGV deletes too i believe
Funny, because I bought the M3 because it was supposed to be a race ready car straight from BMW. It's too heavy, understeers too much, and overworks the brakes due to the weight. That being said it is the nicest daily driver you could ever ask for and is deceptively fast.. on the top end it pulls like a beast, it feels much faster than 333hp. But I'd rather have low end power since I don't like 100mph+ speeding tickets.. and the M3 is made for 100mph+ driving on German autobahns.. kind of a waste in the states. The STI with AWD and tons of power and torque off the line makes a lot more sense. I can deal with a harsh car as long as it's well built. Are squeaks and rattles much of an issue on ATL roads? I have one other possibility I'm looking into but I haven't heard back from the dealer. Whatever I do I need to do it within the next month or so, so we'll see.
Fair warning...If you're worried about rattles & squeaks, don't get an STI. My 06 is creaky & squeaky, despite only 2k miles. But don't automatically assume that body groans mean that the car isn't built well or that it won't be reliable. I had a 330i when I got out of college that was tight and rattle-free...but was taken back under AZ's lemon law. My GF's 5 series was in the shop more than she drove it. And a buddy of mine in NY has a new 6 series that has stranded his wife on the L.I.E. 3 times in 6 mos due to a gammut of faulty sensors. Buy the Subie and know that it will be relatively trouble free & durable. I also dropped the EVO 9 MR from my shopping list, despite the fact that I loved the way it handled and preferred its looks. I am honestly not worried about Mitsu motors pulling out of the US. When it came down to parting with the $36K, I did not want to buy a car from a company that has such a sordid history of trying to hide serious product engineering defects from its customers, shareholders, and gov regulatory authorities. I also doubt that Mitsu has actually solved the crank walk problem that has plagued the 4G6x series since the early 90's. Good luck with your decision.
Turbonater, did you buy your STI in Atlanta? If I do this the car must be aspen white and I've seen invoice is pretty much standard pricing. I would trade my M3 in and my S2000 (though I may sell that privately) plus put some $ down on top.
Yes, I bought mine at SOG. In terms of pricing...Not sure what the remaining 06's are going for, now that 07's are probably not far off. Talk to Gary at SOG. I'm sure he will be competive with other dealers. SOG has been good to deal with, overall. Funny but I was absolutely convinced that I wanted a white one as well. There was one available at the time, but I bought a black car that came with the short throw shifter, etc. If you want that kind of option, it is a little cheaper if you get it that way from the factory, rather than have the dealer add it.
My M3 was gray w/ red interior.. but it's now gone. I traded it on an 06 EVO MR. Yeah, I'm just as surprised. I got a deal that was too good to pass up. I guess I'll eat my words about not considering one. I will say this - the difference in the insurance quote was massive. For some reason the EVO was -much- cheaper to insure, which was the final deciding factor..
Congrats on the Evo. Love that car, despite my distrust for the company. Yup, State Farm quoted me ~$35 less per month on an 06 Evo MR vs my STI. May have something to do with the fact that the cars weigh the same, yet the Mitsu has a lower *rated* hp (which we all know is pure BS). Interesting to note that at the time I got my STI, Carsdirect.com's price on the 9 MR in zip 30096 was invoice. Hope you were able to do better than that. Good luck.
The STI would have cost me significantly more to insure than either the EVO or the M3, which were about even with each other. Strange, isn't it? I got a decent price and a decent trade in value. I could have worked it down another $500 but it probably would have meant going through the whole "walk away and wait for them to call me a day later" routine. I wish car dealerships would realize that when the worst part of the car ownership experience is buying the car that there is a fundamental problem with the system. Are WRXAtlanta functions like track days and autoxes open to WRX owners only? I ask because it seems like the EVO owner community in ATL isn't as organized and I would like to be able to participate in some events..
thats so counter intuitive to me... ok, so i can push myself to understand why the STi costs more to insure than the EVO but costing more than an M3? out of the box, the M3 is more powerful, a coupe and a LOT more expensive... i guess the STi gets extra points for having a hood scoop and a big ass wing?
It's ALL about how prone the cars are to getting into accidents/damaged and the cost to repair them. For instance, when I checked insurance costs some years back, a 1997 Corvette would be cheaper for me to insure than a 1997 Firebird Formula. I'm guessing that STi people tend to get into more accidents and/or the STi costs a lot more to fix.
Insurance rates are modeled based on all kinds of statistics about the insured person and the insured vehicle. Crash and theft statistics, cost of repair, driving history, credit history (sometimes), where the car is kept and how often it's driven.. they crunch numbers right and left to get their rates. The M3 is lower to insure than the EVO and STI because the theft and crash rate is much lower, despite the fact it is an expensive car to repair. If I'm not mistaken the EVO and STI have two of the highest crash and theft rates in the business. To give you a little further insight, I was looking at buying the following cars: 2005 M3 ZCP (comp package) 2006 Lotus Exige 2006 Porsche 997 Carrera S 2006 Subaru STI 2006 EVO IX MR I had all of the above quoted as daily drivers, 10k miles per year of use on average. Guess which was far and away the most expensive.....? The STI. By a big margin. The Lotus, BMW, Porsche and EVO were all within a few dollars of each other despite their widely varying purchase prices and cost to repair. There is -something- about that car in GEICO's modeling that sets off a red flag, obviously. I'm sure an underwriter could tell us why. To me, it makes no sense. Logically speaking the EVO and STI should have identical insurance rates because they are basically different answers to the same question.
the EVO is one of the most stolen cars according to statistics: http://www.edmunds.com/insideline/do/News/articleId=115678
Intresting, even with the safty rating of the sti's the insurance is still high,my 02 wrx was a consumer reports best buy and with safty rating and stuff my ins. is pretty decent...being a wagon helps too