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I'll let Kevin Allen answer this, but out of the box the car is set up for off roading. Look at the ground clearance and wheel well gap.

edit(no punctuation, holding my son now):
obviously, not offroading in the4-wheel truck sense, but dirt/gravel/grass....non-tarmac.

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Beauty is in the eye of the beer holder.

Ok, completely stock, you can take it off road "OK". RallyX it CAN do, but I would not go any further than that. If you prep it for rallyX< yea, it is fine and fast (with good tires, smaller brakes to fit smaller rims, etc)

As far as the difference between a WRX (pre-06) and the STi is.... well, huge.

The STi ratios are uber short (for a stock road going car), as in you need to shift twice to get to 60, and you will autoX primarily in 2nd and 3rd. It has a front and rear limited slip with a variable CPU controlled center differental. Automatic is the best place to leave that.

As far as driving them -- they are completely different. The addition of the front differential makes them VERY easy to turn in, and very point in shoot.... and Mach 2. They take a little while to 'catch up to', but if you drive them everyday, it is very managable. The 04-05s drive similar to a RWD car when loose, and the 06s are more front biased.

02-03 WRXes:: They have 2.0L engines and are VERY laggy. Stock, they are kinda a pain to drive, but not 'bad'. The 5 spd tranny has wide ratios, and after second, in an STi, you would be WRX + 1 gear to have the same 'ratio'.

Blech. Honestly, once I bought the STi, the comparison to the 02-03 WRX was.... they had the same body, but that was it. It is a completely different car. The low end torque is really what makes it awesome.

Now, compared to a 06 WRX, the difference is much more minimal. They have more low end now, lower rev limit, but i have been told they are nice and 'flat' power wise to drive. Ask Kevin Allen about this as he has driven one.

I think with a WRX 06+, the difference is marginal, but the active center diff and front diff make the STI hard to pass up. However, the 06+ WRX doesn't get to autoX in STX (it goes to STU).

Well, that is a random explanation, but the difference is obvious. Try it yourself.

- dow

Some people are just too damn funny. I'm guessing "off road" means rock crawling, because they handle cow pastures and stuff just fine.

Rodney, drive a DS WRX, then drive an AS STi. Then YOU tell US the difference. I expect there'll be a lot of exclamation points on the end of your comments.

If my STi makes it to Sanford you can drive it. It's stock except for a few bushings.

Missed that one - not even close. The new WRX is just a WRX without the turbo lag & with better brakes. I've driven an 06 and my STi back to back and the difference is staggering.

Staggering how.... that your STi still beats up a 06 WRX? Thanks for the recommendation. If Simon is there, I'll see if I can drive his WRX and then your STi provided we have time.

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Rodney

'08 Bullitt mustang, CAM 7
Autox VP '09-'10, President '11-'12, interim President 2nd half of ‘14
proud recipient of the Bowie Grey service award '12
Now just a guy driving a mustang....

Yeah you can only really decide after driving the cars yourself.

I'm one vote for the WRX though - even the "anemic" 2.0l cars. Yes, they have turbo lag. The nice thing (at least for me, I'm definitely in the minority) about them is that they are a very bipolar car. Drive aggressively and keep above the lag and it's a high performance car. Drive calm and it's a 25-30mpg commuter car. I can't justify an STi personally as it's really hard for me to stomach getting less than 20mpg daily driving.

If I could have three cars for myself it might be different - say an insight for commuting, the RS for rallycross, and an STi for everything else. That would be nice.

--Kevin H.

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2003 WRX (again!)

Bingo!

So, no matter how you drive the STI -- 18 - 21 mpg (21 mpg IFF you stay out of boost those whole time and lots of highway driving).

WRX: It can get really close to 30 mpg, and you just have to drive it 'normally'. I *really* liked my WRX for this, and that is something I miss. I agree with Kevin's assesment about the bipolar nature of the car, and I did enjoy it.

The reason for my step up? Hub redesign, better brakes, and most importantly, stouter transmission. For me, the transmission was enough of a reason to step up.

Regardless, after having daily driven the STi for 1.5 years, I would like to state having 'another' car to drive is a good idea. It is not like you CAN'T do it, but it just 'wants' to be driven a certain way, and it isnt conducive to 'nice' driving -- you will understand once you drive it.

Anyway, good luck with the decision. I still think a nice Impreza L or a boring BMW would fit that role fine

- dow

So do all reg WRXs have the crappy trans? If not, what years are better?

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2001 Honda S2000 - SOLD
2012 Boss 302
2003 BMW 330i

The newer the better on the non-STi transmission. There were significant changes between the '02 and '03 MY with smaller changes between '03 and '04 apparently.

--Kevin H.

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2003 WRX (again!)

Rodney...

The difference is staggering in that the STi does things totally stock that the WRX can't even dream about - no matter how much power you tune out of the WRX.

The WRX could be made to do the same things as the STi, but you'd need the 6-speed transmission, rear diff, computer, etc. and when you were done it would've been much easier and cheaper to buy an STi in the first place (as many people have found out the hard way ).

The 06 WRX is definitely the best one that's been sold in the US, and would be a great dd/autox/rallyx/track car, but drive one of those and any model year of STi and then you'll understand what I'm talking about. It's just a totally different experience.