As much as I know I don't need an STI, part of me thinks I should own a car that fast just once in my life, otherwise I may regret it. Especially since it may not be around forever. I know I said I wouldn't get one, but lately it seems it would make more sense to go past the 06 WRX and right to the STI. Lately it has just been calling me.

Is it easy to be patient on the road and just cruise sometimes. In other words, when the traffic is in the way does it do a decent impersonation of a daily driver? Or is the urge to blast past that slow driver just too great to resist. Honestly do you drive too fast because the car always begs you to?

Does it come with the option of all season tires, and if so does anyone use them and does it suck? For those with performance tires, what do you do for the snow?

This has been asked before but here goes anyway. I am not great at driving stick, I have driven before but never owned a manual car. I have been driving for 14 years and am an excellent driver who is a fast learner. I also have access to an auto car if I need to drive somewhere and I don't think I can handle the STI right away. If I intend to drive in an area with no traffic (closed post office grounds) until I get comfortable - could I take the plunge right to STI?

And last, what are some cons about the STI for those who have gone from WRX to STI.

Especially since it may not be around forever.

Whether the STi will be around forever, there will be other very fast and cheap cars. The more prevalent things is that you and I won't be around for ever. You don't want to get too old before you buy your fast far as you might die of a heart attack driving it, and therefore really drive it then.

It's like in the opening of the Steve Martin movie, L.A. Story.


I am not great at driving stick, I have driven before but never owned a manual car. I have been driving for 14 years and am an excellent driver who is a fast learner.

Since you are a fast learner, this shouldn't be a problem.

And last, what are some cons about the STI for those who have gone from WRX to STI.

The STi is more expensive to start with, but regardless of whether you buy a WRX or STi, you will want to mod it. Better have the funds first.

My STi is THE best car I have ever owned. I have hot-rodded and raced shifter karts for many years and the car just fits me like nothing I have ever experienced. I do, however, have little resistance to the cars urgings to flog it. I find it almost impossible to use what is there and believe me, there is alot there. I really have not found the limits of the car yet and it is spectacular to own something with limits so far out on the ragged edge. I have, however, begun practicing "normal driving" because I have two speeding tickets pending and was pulled over recently by a cop just on his way to work! He said, "man, you were flying!"
I get stuck in rush hour traffic regularly and find that the manual transmission with gobs of torque is no hassle at all. You will have a little trouble getting used to a stick but as far as sticks go, the STi has to be one of the easiest to drive. All you have to do is give it little (or no) gas while letting the clutch out and it just takes off. VERY EASY and fun to play with.
As far as tires, I am pretty sure the STi only has one type of tire available new. Most people who live up north buy a set of snow tires immediately upon purchase.
Hope this helps.

Lemme start by saying I've NO, ZERO, ZIP, NADA patience in traffic.. Hence the reason my license was suspended for 6 months, (just got it back today infact). I think the formula goes something like this ...

300HP + 300FTLB + LEAD FOOT = NO LICENSE

For some reason Cops just don't like it when you blow by them @ 100+ .. Yes I've learned my lesson, I hope, or it's 90 days in da clink fer me ... I'm sooooo not going through no license again, let alone sitting in county jail for 3 months.

I can not emphasize enough you must have restraint to own and drive this car. It is a beast and will beckon you to do bad things all the time. In the car or out of it. STi's are da debil and will try to turn you to the darkside, you must be strong in your resolve young padawan.

Peace
Jason

by the sound of what you are saying, it doesn't seem as if you are confident enough to drive that STi around with your lack of experience with a manual transmission. If you mess up and bog a 300hp car, you might crash into something. Or you could start to take off and stall and get rear ended...the possiblities are endless as to how you could hurt your car or yourself. Go take a buddy's manual civic out or something like that, the best way of teaching someone to be proficient with a manual and not just bog all over the place is to let out the clutch on an even surface, without even pressing the gas. Once you find the catch point in which your car idles and rolls you forward, adding the gas to this equation becomes much easier. Primarily people push the gas to far down and burn the clutch(it's classic). I learned how to drive a manual on a right hand drive suzuki when i was 12 in Thailand....

-the only cons to going to an STi is the price(insurance as well)
-yah

I bought a black 2005 Sti new, after a year of deliberating the pros and cons. I am glad I did. There is an urge to drive fast etc. but with a car like this comes responsibilty. Should a 16 year old own this car? Maybe not. You do find yourself going faster than you would in other cars and holding back takes restraint. If I were younger I might ignore whatever prudence might exist.
As far as learning to drive the transmission it is easy and a weekend behind the wheel will make you a pro. Go for it.

As much as I know I don't need an STI, part of me thinks I should own a car that fast just once in my life, otherwise I may regret it. Especially since it may not be around forever. I know I said I wouldn't get one, but lately it seems it would make more sense to go past the 06 WRX and right to the STI. Lately it has just been calling me.

Is it easy to be patient on the road and just cruise sometimes. In other words, when the traffic is in the way does it do a decent impersonation of a daily driver?

No. It teases me and haunts my dreams if I don't do at least one WOT pull any given gear each time I drive it.


Or is the urge to blast past that slow driver just too great to resist. Honestly do you drive too fast because the car always begs you to?

yep, that's about the size of it.


Does it come with the option of all season tires, and if so does anyone use them and does it suck? For those with performance tires, what do you do for the snow?

Get some rotas and slap some good all seasons on 'em.


This has been asked before but here goes anyway. I am not great at driving stick, I have driven before but never owned a manual car. I have been driving for 14 years and am an excellent driver who is a fast learner. I also have access to an auto car if I need to drive somewhere and I don't think I can handle the STI right away. If I intend to drive in an area with no traffic (closed post office grounds) until I get comfortable - could I take the plunge right to STI?


Patience young Jedi - practice before you take the plunge. Keep in mind there is a BIG difference between driving stick in an empty parking lot with no other cars or traffic lights or hills or potholes or dips or morons or idiots or slow moving moronic idiots than there is driving it on the street.


And last, what are some cons about the STI for those who have gone from WRX to STI.

Sorry - went straight to STi so I can't answer this one.

STI is the best car ever. I went straight to the STI, from the moment I test drove it i was hooked. The performance is incredible. As far as all season tires as an option, no dice. It comes with performace tires and real nice rims. The day I bought my STI i bought a set of four new snow tires and rims for around 1000 from tirerack. Its a good deal to get extra set of rims for the winter for an easy swap. THe only complaint i have about my STI is that the seats are kinda rough on the lower back for long rides. I use mine as an every day car and commute to work about 40 min each way. I cant wait to get in my car every day. If you are thinking about an STI, go for it. you wont regret it.

After getting pulled over a couple times I was having serious buyers remorse to the point of wanting to sell it and just get an RS. But I convinced myself that there was no reason I couldn't just drive it like an RS instead. (no offense to RS owners intended...) So it took some willpower but I got myself to just slow down. Obviously the power still gets used when warranted :)

Reminds me of the guy who posted asking if he could disable the turbo for his kid...

Thanks for the replys so far, keep em comming! :)


I don't know why I thought there was an all season tire option. See that is a big con of the STI for me, since I have no place to put 4 extra wheels it would almost be like having an AWD car that doesn't go in the snow.

Could ultra high performance all seasons be put on the STI rims? And if so would that suck? How much does the STI change in the winter when you put the winter tires on, is it night and day?

After getting pulled over a couple times I was having serious buyers remorse to the point of wanting to sell it and just get an RS. But I convinced myself that there was no reason I couldn't just drive it like an RS instead. (no offense to RS owners intended...) So it took some willpower but I got myself to just slow down. Obviously the power still gets used when warranted :)

Wow never heard of anyone experiencing that side of it, thanks.

Sure...you could put all seasons on the STi's stock wheels. There are no real ultra high performance all season tires though. No matter what the marketing geniuses at the tire companies tell you. No all season will come near the performance of a good summer ultra high performance tire.

That said, there are a bunch of all-season options in the STi stock size:

http://www.tirerack.com/tires/Compare1.jsp?width=225%2F&ratio=45&diameter=17&startIndex=0&search=true&pagelen=20&pagenum=1&pagemark=1&x=56&y=12&performance=UHPAS&performance=HPAS&RunFlat=All

Just sell your RE070s as new takeoffs and it'll help with the costs of the all seaons. Hell I might even be interested in your RE070s.

Of course another option is to move your ass out of the cold and come on down to the sunshine state!

For some reason Cops just don't like it when you blow by them @ 100+ .. Yes I've learned my lesson, I hope, or it's 90 days in da clink fer me ... I'm sooooo not going through no license again, let alone sitting in county jail for 3 months.

Dude did you get thrown in jail for that, or are you just saying that is what can happen?

If so :eek: the STI is da debil! :devil:

I drove like a moron when I was in my 20s... :eek: But I'm 30 years older now and have learned restraint. I bought my STi in March of this year, and haven't gotten a ticket yet. Why? Because I don't exceed the speed limit all the time, I just do it occasionally, and for a brief period of time. I flashed my ECU so I have about 320/340 according to Cobb, and the buttdyno feels like it!!! I LOVE it!!!!!!!!!!!!! :eek: :D

What I'm trying to say is that you can drive a car with this much power on the street and enjoy it, but you have to be reasonable about when, how often, and how much power you apply. Think about it... if you are speeding all the time then the next time you see a cop you'll get a ticket. However, if you only speed occasionally, you're less likely to be doing that when a cop is there... I speed every day, but only briefly... This car slows down as fast as it accelerates, so you don't have to be going fast for very long. Enjoy your bursts of speed and the adrenalin rush when it THROWS you back into the seat, then shut it down.

Also consider a High Performance Driving School, like the one I participated in recently at Pacific Raceways. It teaches you how to drive your car at the limit of traction in a safe environment. That's a very important thing to learn with a car as powerful as the STi. They'll teach you handling charactoristics, how the ABS works, and how to use it to your advantage. And you'll become more comfortable with the performance and handling of your car.

If you've never driven a car with this kind of performance before, I'd recommend working your way up to it more gradually with cars that perform and handle well, but that don't have quite the extreme performance of an STi. My last high performance car was a '73 Porsche 911S, and it didn't have quite the same performance as this Subie. Plus the Subie is much more forgiving since it understeers at the limit of traction. The 911 is rear engine, rear wheel drive, and the handling charactoristics were completely different. It oversteered at the limit of traction, which requires more skill to control. I like the Subie's AWD better.... :D

Finally I'd say that I agree with you about not living forever... If you can afford it, or even if that's marginal... you only live once! If you're REALLY a car guy, this is something you need to do for yourself. My daily driver for the last 27 years has been a severly modified Honda Civic. Now I finally have a real sports car........ :)

PS: The Porsche died in an unintentional offroading experience 15 years ago...

Rocket's two cents...

300HP + 300FTLB + LEAD FOOT = NO LICENSE

For some reason Cops just don't like it when you blow by them @ 100+

Or wheen you run from them at 155 they get even more pissed.
:D :D :D :D :D

Dude did you get thrown in jail for that, or are you just saying that is what can happen?

If so :eek: the STI is da debil! :devil:

Well technically I did get jail time, I've got mucho mucho bad driving record... but my lawyer got me the community service for 30 days, on the weekends raking leaves & mulching at schools & churches and such, not too bad but you loose 30 days worth of weekends, better than sitting on my duff in da clink tying not to drop the soap... So, if I get another excessive speeding ticket in the next 3 years, I could get up to 90 days in da clink, which would suk. Besides I'm 33 years old now, enough being stupid on the roads. I've got a house, a wife, 2 cars, 2 dogs, some fish, and xbox to support :) LOL.. Learn it from your friends and family, or learn it the hard way ... when you play you pay.. i know i did. Now I save my speed demons for the Auto-X :)

Link to new Carbon & COBB goodness...
http://forums.nasioc.com/forums/showthread.php?t=825226

Peace
Jason

the only issue i had is going from a manual N/A to a manual Turbo....It's a little different in shifting and took me about a week or more to get used to it. I only felt 100% comfortable with my STI after about 1 1/2 monthes of driving it and finding out some limits....like that 90 degree turn i took at 40 and barley moved....thats the last time i do that lol but it was a blast to see that the STI could perform such a tight turn so fast and smooth.

Well technically I did get jail time, I've got mucho mucho bad driving record... but my lawyer got me the community service for 30 days, on the weekends raking leaves & mulching at schools & churches and such, not too bad but you loose 30 days worth of weekends, better than sitting on my duff in da clink tying not to drop the soap... So, if I get another excessive speeding ticket in the next 3 years, I could get up to 90 days in da clink, which would suk. Besides I'm 33 years old now, enough being stupid on the roads. I've got a house, a wife, 2 cars, 2 dogs, some fish, and xbox to support :) LOL.. Learn it from your friends and family, or learn it the hard way ... when you play you pay.. i know i did. Now I save my speed demons for the Auto-X :)

Link to new Carbon & COBB goodness...
http://forums.nasioc.com/forums/showthread.php?t=825226

Peace
Jason
wow insurance must suck for you just curious what is it?