Despite all the critiques of the styling, I think it's an 80% improvement over the last one (especially the previous 5-door "wagon"). But $40k?

For that price, I can have a Hyundai Genesis!

I think we may be looking at the equivalent of the last Supra they sold in the US.

It started as a decent performance car, but they just kept adding more. It's still massively fast, but massively expensive as well.

At least you can get this one with a stick in CA.

God I love ugly cars.

A three part review for a niche product. Makes sense to me. I want a ten part review of the next Ferrari.

@Mad_Science: ...and twenty years from now, the 25-and-under "tuner" crowd will busy themselves by butchering the surviving cars with fake carbon fiber, ground effects, and 2ft-tall wings.

The external styling doesn't bug me at all. Subarus are fugly. In fact, I find it kinda charming.

What I truly dislike (and I mentioned in part 2) is the price. I'd like to see a review of the WRX wagon/hatch because the STI is more than I'm willing to plunk down at this point in my life.

@ash78: I see what you did there!

@usa1: I'm sure Wes does, too.

I'd love to see a comparison between this and an 07 STI or this and an 08 base WRX, or this and an 08 base WRX with $10k in modifications. You can see where I'm going with this.

@-chet: I think I'll start measuring everything in Geneses from now on. You know, for a relative comparison of value :D

The Number of the Plate is much too high for $40Gs, even if the car comes with it.

I still can't get its Daewooness past the gag reflex.

40K for that? Where did that steering wheel come from? A toy store?

Im sure it is a hearty performer, 40K for a turbo hatchback?

My flaming EVO tribal tattoo is across my buttocks, so I'm totally in the market for this car. Hey I have a question of the day, why are my passengers always screaming when I'm driving them around? I mean I always keep it a 5/10ths when I have a passenger who's not my girl... (she gets 7/10ths). Last night I drove two friends to queens and had quite enough of "omigod we gonna die" by the time I got there.

I'll reserve judgment until I drive it. This is one of those cars for which the blat of the flat-four, the wastegate hiss, and crunch of gravel slipping under the tires could erase any negative impressions you might have.

But then I'll have to walk away after recovering from sticker shock. I would sooner buy a Miata and a used Forester and use the remainder as road trip money.

Cars get more expensive. In other news, the sky is blue.

OK, here's a back-to-basic video, featuring the first Subaru ever, the 360. The "Young SS" model had a 36 ps engine, which makes it a 100ps/cc ratio, which is pretty amazing even by today's standards. This is where the Legend started!

+ Watch video

I like the car. And it looks great in person. The styling is not as over the top, but I think that can be good. I would not want a stock STi because of the whale tail. Yeah the 7 year old boy in me likes it, but I like not drawing the attention from the boys in the "sleeper domestic vehicles".

The real problem with the car is not that it has slipped or gotten soft; rather the car is pricing itself out of its own demographic. Read the parameters above and tack on "has no problem paying $40k for a car. I love the STI, but if I'm making that stretch I'm buying a Lotus. It is good that the STI is a little more palatable to the mainstream, because the are the ones that create the used cars for us to buy.

@akirachan: Woops, that should have been "100 ps/litre" there...Sorry!

"You prefer car sites where the editors wear copious amounts of khaki."

[i31.tinypic.com]

Yeah I think Edmunds is lame too. I sometimes see that bald toolbox (Karl Brauer I think his name is) tooling around Santa Monica.

Anyway I think Brauer would rather drink the transmission fluid out of a BMW than give accolades to a car that doesn't come from Europe.

Everyone's entitled to his own opinion, no matter how wrong it is. I'm just saying I wouldn't use the printout of an Edmund's review to line my hampster cage in my daughter's room.

Uncool, semi-practical, batshit-fast, quirky, reliable, susceptible to door dings. Who says Subaru's strayed from the party line?

Oh and, as to the sticker shock, for Canadians, the new STi is actually about 10% cheaper than the Sedan Version was.

It's the dollar guys, all cars are going to be getting more expensive in the very near future.

Just had my rex serviced which is always a pleasure/pain. Was talking to the guy who owns the shop and he was telling me he test drove the 08 STI yesterday and was blown away by it. Said he was particularly impressed with the ease of use down low compared to the outgoing one. This was from a guy who's built some pretty serious cars too. Apparently the allocation of cars in the UK for the rest of 2008 is almost sold out too. So it seems that whilst it's not a fanboy success for the looks that it is actually a thoroughly good car.

Also - if you're the kind of person who still likes to race porsches whilst carrying the family and ikea furniture then it's definitely for you!

3395 pounds curb weight? Jesus... Fattening the pig up for dinner, I see?

@CodingParadox: About the same as the 07s, and while it's a little heavy, it's typical for a car with a full awd system (IE: it has a center diff, not a haldex-like system)

I love subies...but I got my 03 M3 for less then 40 grand

Just sayin

I enjoyed my ownership of my former 2004 STi, but as this one looks like a squashed poisonous frog and I didn't get much ass the first time around when I owned one, I'll be sticking my Cooper S. Chicks at least think that one's cute.

Plus, 40 large for a car with a steering wheel that looks like a Cyclon from vintage Battlestar Galactica isn't really that appealing to me.

Win, but I may be just as happy with an Mazdaspeed3 + $10,000 in hookers.

@Dr. Spaceman: True, but attempting to control the torque steer while getting a BJ would be pretty tough.

@Dr. Spaceman: Elliot Spitzer reads Jalopnik?

@usa1: Considering that this is more or less a niche site, it is fitting. Jalopnik Consumer Reports.

@Wes Siler: Zing!

@dearyou: Definitely gets an open red circle...or is that black circle with a dot? Man, CR is so worthless.

So your telling me I can pick one up for $10,000 and a "Fair Market Adjustment" for an M3, sounds like a deal to me.

@dolo54: Take your lady to a track day, Mr! (I mean to drive, not watch.) It's even better than watching her make out with chicks. After my wife did one in her A6 2.7t, she lets me take her to 8/10ths. Previously, she would close her eyes somewhere between 5 and 6 on on/off ramps and mountain roads. She went from having a nervous breakdown pre-track-crossing to wanting to go again. She'd be with me this saturday if it weren't for her torn ACL.

Our friends still scream sometimes when I'm driving, especially after chip/swaybars/tires.

I would be challenged to decide between an EVO and an STi. I don't have any tatoos, but if you look at my bruised knuckles and abraised forearms and lose focus with your eyes, you can see the letters "DSM."

I dig the way it looks and i'm sure it goes, stops and turns just fine but $40k is a big nut to swallow for this or the EVO. A lot of other metal to consider at that price.

got evo?

you can easily spend 40large on a new cooper S too if you get all the goodies. I only spent 8k on my classic.

I still think that this was a huge mistake for Subaru. Granted, the WRX was never a looker, but this is just awful. When the new Hyundai Accent Hatch looks better than a your sports car, the terrorists win.

I want to like it. But I just don't. Too much dough for what it is.

Jeebus. I've become a EuroSnob...

How did this happen?

People keep tossing around $40k, but the base price is more like $34k if you can find a dealer so sell one for close to invoice price. Thats in the same ballpark as previous years, if a little higher.
Anyways, toss in $6k worth of options on any car in the same price range and it will sound overpriced.

Yes build many of these Subaru.

This will bring down the prices of the 99 Eclipse GS-x down even more.

I thank the EVO for flooding the market with cheap used DSM aftermarket parts and master-built turbo DSMs.