[MaSTi04]

Well I just figure I'd give a quick write up comparing the 08STi to a few past Sti's I've owned.

Background: I've owned an 04 and now an 07 STi. This past weekend I got a chance to mess around with a friends 08 STi. My 04 had: header,up,dp,cat-back,intake,and pro-tune. The 07 I have is stock(other than F&R sways). and the 08 was stock.

MY OWN PERSONAL REVIEW:

The difference between the 07 and the 08 are very minimal. Obviously the looks are the major difference as we all know. IMO, the newer 08 is MUCH less of a cop magnet. The 08 has a lot nicer OEM wheels compared to past models, and wrapped in new rubber. I've never been a fan of the stock Potenzas, so I really like the rubber on the new 08(I think they were Dunlop if I remember correctly).

As far as power goes, the newer STi felt much different. The power seemed much more linear. There was much more tq down low compared to the 07. This was slightly noticable when running side by side. It was as if the 08 could pull quicker down low, but melloed out more up top. The 07 looked as though it had more lag, but much more power once the turbo kicked in.

The handling of the 08 was very nice. I felt very confident in the car and it felt very driver friendly. There was no real panic, even when pushing the car a bit. There was some tire squaling, but again nothing to make you nervous.

Now......here's my overall thoughts. I like the 07 more than the 08 because the 07 feels more "raw" of a car. If you have ever had an 04 then bought a newer model, you know what I mean. Basically it seems much more driver friendly. I personally like the raw feeling since I like to feel every pebble in the raod. I did like the 08 power down low, but it felt a little more flat up top. Finally I think the 08 was quiter while ripping through the gears(either that or I was having too much fun to pay attention to the rev. warning light and buzzer).

Either way the 08 is still a nice car, just not my taste. I just prefer the sedan style over the hatch.

PS The other difference was the 08 had 2,000 miles give or take, while my 07 has 30,000 mile. :P

[Tortfeasor STi]

Coming from an 04 and having looked at the 08 before buying my current ride, I agree with your assessment.

[STi-04]

I have an 04 with too many mods, but have also driven the 05,06,07 & 08 and felt like I was no longer in an STi

[Rootus]

I'm out of popcorn. Damn.

[mofoSTI]

Having a simular modded 04 with a lot of suspension mods I was shocked when the stock 08 out handled my modded 04. I dont really miss the raw feeling of the 04 because of the bad streets in portland and my long commute. The 08 feels like a bmw to me. I would like to have my 04 back, but would not sell my 08 to do it. The 08 feels slow as a pig to me and I am hoping it responds to mods as well as everybody says they do. I plan on keeping the suspension stock untill I have to replace the struts then I will go nutts on it. I plan on throwing every bolton I can including cams just to see how much power the vf48 can make then running a dom 3.

[WRX4ME LE 482]

The 07 will have the same low end power when you remove the CL delay. It feels exactly like severe turbo lag.

[MaSTi04]

I think my over all assesment of the STi is that every year a new on comes out, they get more an more driver friendly. It seems like you just need less driver input for the newer years. I dunno, but that's my opinion.

[Bownse]

Drove my wife's 03 wrx with an after market short throw shifter and bushings as about the only mod. Talk about night and day! A few months in my 08 STi and the WRX feels all loosey goosey.

Even though i know the WRX's shifter is better than stock, it's awfully sloppy compared to the OEM STi.

The seats? Don't get me started. Even though there appears to be more latteral support from the OEM WRX seats, the thigh support is nearly non-existant. It seems as if the depth of the seat is half that of the STi; which accounts for some of the increased long distance comfort that the 08 seats bring to the table.

[Turbo-Enthusiast]

What is CL delay??

[WRX4ME LE 482]

Originally Posted by Turbo-Enthusiast

What is CL delay??

A delay from closed loop to open loop mode. It makes the newer STis feel slow below 4000 rpms and fast afterwards. It's easily removed with pretty much any performance rom flashed on the car.

General consensus is it has something to do with meeting emissions requirements.

[sosik]

I'm the owner of the '08 STI MaSTi04 is talking about. I had an '05 STI and loved it, but traded it in - I was sick of getting hounded by the cops. Any STI is a great car, and I love the way the traditional STIs look, but I did not appreciate the added attention from the po-po. They're TOO awesome looking IMHO

previous '05 STI - Invidia cat-back, Perrin/K&N ram-air intake, NO AP

current '08 STI - Stock, only 2700 miles

I agree with MaSTi04's points, 'cept I like the '08 better It IS a bit softer. More power earlier, peeters out a bit in the high end. It's a hatchback, get used to more space and added utility.

I just took a drivers class - braking distance test, lane change, skid pad, road course. What I learned:

First stop 30-0 in a puddle, like 8 feet. The car stops fast.

Lane change - Yes, the car is somewhat softer. I hate to compare it to an Outback. Despite the understeer, the car does go where you point it. Even in the double lane change. It did feel wild, and I had to trust the car, but it always followed the path I wanted it to.

At this point I'd like to highlight one of the downsides to the new '08s - too many computer systems! Turn off the traction control? I've got 3 settings. Wouldn't just On and Off be simple enough? Then there's the I-Drive system, which again has 3 settings - Mom-mode, Semi-Sport, and Yes-This-Is-an-STI mode. And of course! VCCD - front-back diff split control. VCCD could be breathtaking, but it's not.

Skid pad - Zero oversteer. This is where the VCCD let me down. I could not get the backend to break loose by just throttling around. At all. Yanking on the e-brake either caused a small deflection, or the car to spin around completely. Profuse e-braking by an over zealous Instructor caused some obscene noises from the rear-left side and me needing to spin the car back around. Otherwise, the car stuck pretty well, and it was good practicing understeer control.

Figure Eight skid pad - _Totally Awesome_ Got the back end to break loose naturally while powering out of the corner, and had a few nice transitions into a power slide going through the next corner. This is where the '08 starts to shine, surrounded by BMWs. It's much happier transitioning it's weight around and dealing with corners.

Road course - Again, awesome. The car just felt great, and went where I pointed it. When I got the weight transitions just right, the car responded extremely well, snap snap snap. It's soft and it understeers a bit, but it still felt like it was on rails. The only worry I had was on my last launch when I heard a clunk from the rear-end seems Ok.

Overall - I'm glad I got the new one. I'm taking it to an autocross event next weekend to continue having fun figuring out how best to get my car around a corner

[SWALPI]

eh whatever!

Originally Posted by sosik

I'm the owner of the '08 STI MaSTi04 is talking about. I had an '05 STI and loved it, but traded it in - I was sick of getting hounded by the cops. Any STI is a great car, and I love the way the traditional STIs look, but I did not appreciate the added attention from the po-po. They're TOO awesome looking IMHO

previous '05 STI - Invidia cat-back, Perrin/K&N ram-air intake, NO AP

current '08 STI - Stock, only 2700 miles

I agree with MaSTi04's points, 'cept I like the '08 better It IS a bit softer. More power earlier, peeters out a bit in the high end. It's a hatchback, get used to more space and added utility.

I just took a drivers class - braking distance test, lane change, skid pad, road course. What I learned:

First stop 30-0 in a puddle, like 8 feet. The car stops fast.

Lane change - Yes, the car is somewhat softer. I hate to compare it to an Outback. Despite the understeer, the car does go where you point it. Even in the double lane change. It did feel wild, and I had to trust the car, but it always followed the path I wanted it to.

At this point I'd like to highlight one of the downsides to the new '08s - too many computer systems! Turn off the traction control? I've got 3 settings. Wouldn't just On and Off be simple enough? Then there's the I-Drive system, which again has 3 settings - Mom-mode, Semi-Sport, and Yes-This-Is-an-STI mode. And of course! VCCD - front-back diff split control. VCCD could be breathtaking, but it's not.

Skid pad - Zero oversteer. This is where the VCCD let me down. I could not get the backend to break loose by just throttling around. At all. Yanking on the e-brake either caused a small deflection, or the car to spin around completely. Profuse e-braking by an over zealous Instructor caused some obscene noises from the rear-left side and me needing to spin the car back around. Otherwise, the car stuck pretty well, and it was good practicing understeer control.

Figure Eight skid pad - _Totally Awesome_ Got the back end to break loose naturally while powering out of the corner, and had a few nice transitions into a power slide going through the next corner. This is where the '08 starts to shine, surrounded by BMWs. It's much happier transitioning it's weight around and dealing with corners.

Road course - Again, awesome. The car just felt great, and went where I pointed it. When I got the weight transitions just right, the car responded extremely well, snap snap snap. It's soft and it understeers a bit, but it still felt like it was on rails. The only worry I had was on my last launch when I heard a clunk from the rear-end seems Ok.

Overall - I'm glad I got the new one. I'm taking it to an autocross event next weekend to continue having fun figuring out how best to get my car around a corner

[///M Power]

Originally Posted by Rootus

I'm out of popcorn. Damn.

: passing some of my popcorn to Rootus :

[MaSTi04]

Originally Posted by sosik

I'm the owner of the '08 STI MaSTi04 is talking about. I had an '05 STI and loved it, but traded it in - I was sick of getting hounded by the cops. Any STI is a great car, and I love the way the traditional STIs look, but I did not appreciate the added attention from the po-po. They're TOO awesome looking IMHO

previous '05 STI - Invidia cat-back, Perrin/K&N ram-air intake, NO AP

current '08 STI - Stock, only 2700 miles

I agree with MaSTi04's points, 'cept I like the '08 better It IS a bit softer. More power earlier, peeters out a bit in the high end. It's a hatchback, get used to more space and added utility.

I just took a drivers class - braking distance test, lane change, skid pad, road course. What I learned:

First stop 30-0 in a puddle, like 8 feet. The car stops fast.

Lane change - Yes, the car is somewhat softer. I hate to compare it to an Outback. Despite the understeer, the car does go where you point it. Even in the double lane change. It did feel wild, and I had to trust the car, but it always followed the path I wanted it to.

At this point I'd like to highlight one of the downsides to the new '08s - too many computer systems! Turn off the traction control? I've got 3 settings. Wouldn't just On and Off be simple enough? Then there's the I-Drive system, which again has 3 settings - Mom-mode, Semi-Sport, and Yes-This-Is-an-STI mode. And of course! VCCD - front-back diff split control. VCCD could be breathtaking, but it's not.

Skid pad - Zero oversteer. This is where the VCCD let me down. I could not get the backend to break loose by just throttling around. At all. Yanking on the e-brake either caused a small deflection, or the car to spin around completely. Profuse e-braking by an over zealous Instructor caused some obscene noises from the rear-left side and me needing to spin the car back around. Otherwise, the car stuck pretty well, and it was good practicing understeer control.

Figure Eight skid pad - _Totally Awesome_ Got the back end to break loose naturally while powering out of the corner, and had a few nice transitions into a power slide going through the next corner. This is where the '08 starts to shine, surrounded by BMWs. It's much happier transitioning it's weight around and dealing with corners.

Road course - Again, awesome. The car just felt great, and went where I pointed it. When I got the weight transitions just right, the car responded extremely well, snap snap snap. It's soft and it understeers a bit, but it still felt like it was on rails. The only worry I had was on my last launch when I heard a clunk from the rear-end seems Ok.

Overall - I'm glad I got the new one. I'm taking it to an autocross event next weekend to continue having fun figuring out how best to get my car around a corner

Sounds like you had some fun. Also sounds like you gave that STi a good beating too!!! I'm sorry but any e-brake IMO is bad. Like you said, too much computer info would make me hesitant about yanking the e-brake unless it was a DIRE situation. Glad you hear you like the new one. Now you need a TBE and AP.