A6turbo530

friend of mine just got a new WRX (5 speed, thank god) and hes always loved my car so he let me take it out for a spin...

to preface this, my brother works for Subaru of America and is looking into getting an STI for himself so last week we took one for a test drive and i was totally impressed in almost EVERY aspect of the car. the power was all there, suspension was very firm and responsive (definitly a "sporty" ride), and everything else seems to fit perfectly.

so when my friend threw me the keys to his WRX i figured what the hell... i wasnt as impressed with the power as i thought id be, still a quick car but didnt strike me as a sports car. granted i have over 100hp more than the stock wrx, ive driven cars and this wrx seem about "average" as far as outright speed... i didnt expect anything like my stage 2+ 2.7T but i thought i would have been a little quicker than it was. oh well

the suspension was ok, not quite like the STI, but still good. this is about the only area where i felt the wrx was superior to the A6

my main gripe was the steering!! the steering wheel was so light that it was actually a struggle to keep the car straight over 30mph. with every tap of the wheel (or everytime i drove over a crack in the road) the car basically sails off into another direction... not fun. granted i pulled to 402 on my car so im used to a heavy steering wheel in the parking lots, but at higher speed the A6 feels like its on rails, where the WRX tended to "wander" a lot.

also, the shifter had almost as much side-to-side play when in gear as mine with 100K miles (this wrx had 250 miles on it). obviously my shifter had more play in it but neither one i would consider "bad"... i just found it suprising that a car with 250 miles would have ANY ****er play at all...

and the clutch. like the steering, i thought the "power" clutch was WAY to powerful for the clutch... by that i mean, the pedal was extreemly soft (felt like a pillow under my foot) however the clutch engaged very stongly. starting from zero it wasnt a problem, but i found it nearly impossible to engage 2nd gear without the car literall bucking back and fourth after shifting hard from 1st (i.e- 0-60 pull). the STI had a very similar clutch, soft pedal, STRONG engagement. my clutch is very soft in general (i think its about to check out) so i dont have much to compare to...

lastly, the interior. well again, i didnt expect an Audi interior, but for a "sports car" i would have expected some mildly sporty seats... not the case. the sport pkg seats in my A6 have excelent side bolstering whereas the WRX seats felt like an open pizza box... expreemly hard (maybe becasue they were new???) and almost no side bolstering/lateral support at all. and if you think the gas pedal in the A6 was close to the right-side wall, you aint seen nothin'... the right side of the gas pedal couldnt have been more than 2mm from the wall, i dont even think the left side my my shoe sole touched the pedal (no i dont have giant feet). other than the seats and "pedal situation" the interior was alright. functional and easy to read dash and nice center console/radio.

i didnt start this post with the intention of ripping th wrx apart (for the record, i love the STI) but i wasnt impressed with much of anything it had to offer, still an ok car though... <shrughs>

April

Thanks for the report! Totally different car. Autobahn cruiser vs canyon ripper

5speed6 v.2

...the STI on the other hand was more cut out from the start to be in that class of car.

A6turbo530

but other than the body its a totally different car...

SNAFU 4

For the money... the are fun cars to toss around (if you do not mind harsh and bare bones)

Potomac-Greg

... today, and even though it's a smallish car with 225HP, it seemed pretty pokey compared to my everyday car (C32 -- 350HP). So, everything is relative. I've never been tempted by the WRX, but the STi is tempting; and if Saab made their Saabaru (9-2) with STi power, I might be a Saab driver.

Things like steering sensitivity and clutch engagement cannot be judged until you have put a solid 2 or 3 hours behind the wheel.

After a few hours, your steering will feel sluggish!

Ming 2.7T

I have been toying around with the idea of getting an Evo RS.