[LjasonL]

Originally Posted by -Josh-

the STI is a great car and everything but i think it's a little over rated and i think people are finally starting to realize this.

I think you're way off. The STi is a difficult car to just get in and drive. The adjustable torque split and the front differential behave weirdly for people not used to them. It takes a lot of time to get used to it to extract the most performance from it. Even so, magazine testers (who just jump in the cars and drive them for a day or a weekend at most) still manage to outgun the Cobra in your comparison and give the EVO (which is a much easier car to drive fast with no experience due to the open front diff and non-adjustable torque split... and stickier tires from the factory...) a run for it's money. This speaks volumes for the STi's potential with an experienced driver and equivalent tires.

edit: you've also gotta consider the bias in an article comparing a Subaru and a Ford in Hot Rod Magazine or a Subaru and a Mitsubishi in most of the popular import magazines (that have Mitsu ads every 20 pages or so)

Originally Posted by joker1978

I would not do an Evo or STi because they brake too often and modifications
cost a lot of money.

Do you mean they brake too often of they break too often? Serious question... If you really mean break, then I'd have to say you're grossly misinformed, if you do mean brake, well, I dunno what to say

And I don't know how you can possibly use their modifications "costing too much" as justification for not picking them out of this group when they've got the cheapest mods of any car listed and the price of the car + mods is gonna be similar to the price of some of the other cars alone.

Originally Posted by -Josh-

The M3 is a good car, but when it comes down to it the "performance" inspired drivetrain doesn't allow for much room for error while racing, unlike the Vette. However the Evo and STI are far worse.

Eh? Do you mean the EVO and STi are not forgiving at the limit? Cuz I'd have to say you've got it pretty much backwards there. I'f you mean they break, I'd have to refer you to my comment about breaking above.

The STi and EVO aren't intended to be "track" cars. They're rally cars, they're designed to be as fast as possible over every possible situation. They compromise a little in "track" performance (where low center of gravity, stiff springs, and RWD is important and things like powerband and suspension travel are less important) so they can have a setup that works well in all situations. A Vette or Elise may be faster on a smooth dry racetrack, but the rally cars are faster up a twisty mountain road, or in bad weather, or on less than perfect road surfaces. For this reason they're great for "daily driver-weekend racer" cars, but not as pure track cars.

I'd get the Lotus.