Got to drive an 06 Sti today

[ZfrkS62]

Nothing special, just a quick sprint around the block, but WOW! I am impressed!

Louisiana has a mandatory state safety inspection that has to be done on every road going vehicle. New cars geta 2 year certification, everything else gets 1 year. Nothing huge, but if you knew how many cars were out there with shot bushings, brakes, tires, etc. You'd start wishing your state had one too :P

Anyways, the guy who owns this car is a friend of one of my coworkers and somewhat of an aquaintance of mine. He just got it 2 weeks ago, and for some reason the Scooby dealer never did the state inspection. So, he shows up at about 5:15 needing one, and luckily i was the only one there at the time who is certified to do the inspection :D One of the checks you have to do is make sure that from 20 mph the car will stop under normal braking within 20 feet. I mentioned this jokingly to him, but he tossed me the keys anyway :D (the car only has 830 miles!)

From my 2 mile jog with the car, i was really compelled to go to Baton Rouge and test drive another one :lol: The clutch is absolutely perfect! I didn't feel like i had to hunt for the bite point at all and my god does that thing grab!

The brake and gas is set on the border of being too far apart for my tastes, but they are just close enough to roll between them to blip the throttle under braking, which is so much more than what i was expecting. The pedal is pretty firm and is quite easy to threshold brake, which i still think i was safely below.

What took me by complete surprise was the grip and response when i made the quick right hander. This was the first time i had driven an all wheel drive car that didn't have a foot and a half of ground clearance :roll: so i didn't have much to compare it to, but i have never felt anything like it!!

The giddy-up was fucking awesome! Felt like an M3, but without the sound. IMO, the exhaust is too quiet. Even though the butt dyno approved, my ears were less than impressed. The steering felt pretty neutral as well. Didn't require a bunch of effort, but didn't have any extra play in either. Granted i've probably gotten too used to the Servotronic in the BMW's so my assesment of the steering may not be dead on, but for a japanese car, i am impressed.

Dingo, i can see why you love your WRX so much. I just wish i could afford to pay $548/mo for one :? I'm starting to get the feeling i'm not going to be able to afford a decent car anytime soon :(

(EDIT) The owner was riding shotgun and laughing his ass off at how much fun i was having.

[sentra_dude]

Sweet write up, too long the 'test' wasn't longer...you should call up your friend and go for a longer drive! 8)

[Pehtren]

Nice writeup ZfrkS62, i too like the impreza 06, but you drove it you lucky sob :lol:

And i hope one day you could afford it, or better an M3 :P

[dingo]

Another WRX fan - good to see! :D

They are alot of fun to drive, the grip is immense and I just love the way you can blast out of a corner. You are right about the sound of the stock cars, definately need an exhaust upgrade to unleash the boxer rumble.

When you say $548/month what are you referring too? An 06 STi? You can always get a 2nd hand car, anything from an 03 onwards is great and looks better than the 06 IMO.

[ZfrkS62]

Another WRX fan - good to see! :D

They are alot of fun to drive, the grip is immense and I just love the way you can blast out of a corner. You are right about the sound of the stock cars, definately need an exhaust upgrade to unleash the boxer rumble.

When you say $548/month what are you referring too? An 06 STi? You can always get a 2nd hand car, anything from an 03 onwards is great and looks better than the 06 IMO.

The guy said the Subaru had made leaps and bounds in terms of improvements over the 05 model which tells me that it would be worth it to wait for the 06's to start showing up used. But i'm really at odds to what i want right now because there's nothing in my price range that really excites me. I have a tendancy to look at maintence costs, which fortunately, being a tech, i get the labor for free, but there's still the costs of parts, upgrades, tires, yada yada yada. I'm just going to sit back and see what pops up in the next year or so. Trade in on the Yoda is 0 so i'll have to ditch that to a high school kid who just got their license for like 500 or so. i'm kind of content where i'm at right now anyway and the thought of a car note is just too much at the moment becuase along with a $300+/mo payment, also comes a $300+/mo insurance payment. I just got out of the barely scraping by stage. I'm not in a rush to re-enter it :|

[666fast]

Another WRX fan - good to see! :D

They are alot of fun to drive, the grip is immense and I just love the way you can blast out of a corner. You are right about the sound of the stock cars, definately need an exhaust upgrade to unleash the boxer rumble.

When you say $548/month what are you referring too? An 06 STi? You can always get a 2nd hand car, anything from an 03 onwards is great and looks better than the 06 IMO.

The guy said the Subaru had made leaps and bounds in terms of improvements over the 05 model which tells me that it would be worth it to wait for the 06's to start showing up used. But i'm really at odds to what i want right now because there's nothing in my price range that really excites me. I have a tendancy to look at maintence costs, which fortunately, being a tech, i get the labor for free, but there's still the costs of parts, upgrades, tires, yada yada yada. I'm just going to sit back and see what pops up in the next year or so. Trade in on the Yoda is 0 so i'll have to ditch that to a high school kid who just got their license for like 500 or so. i'm kind of content where i'm at right now anyway and the thought of a car note is just too much at the moment becuase along with a $300+/mo payment, also comes a $300+/mo insurance payment. I just got out of the barely scraping by stage. I'm not in a rush to re-enter it :|

I have the same problem, I could probably afford it, but I don't want to (and probably shouldn't) shell out $6-700 a month for it!
My boss has one and I've driven it many times, I really really want one. They are an absolute blast to drive!

Did you get it to understeer? It kind of caught me off gaurd when it first happened to me!

[ZfrkS62]

Another WRX fan - good to see! :D

They are alot of fun to drive, the grip is immense and I just love the way you can blast out of a corner. You are right about the sound of the stock cars, definately need an exhaust upgrade to unleash the boxer rumble.

When you say $548/month what are you referring too? An 06 STi? You can always get a 2nd hand car, anything from an 03 onwards is great and looks better than the 06 IMO.

The guy said the Subaru had made leaps and bounds in terms of improvements over the 05 model which tells me that it would be worth it to wait for the 06's to start showing up used. But i'm really at odds to what i want right now because there's nothing in my price range that really excites me. I have a tendancy to look at maintence costs, which fortunately, being a tech, i get the labor for free, but there's still the costs of parts, upgrades, tires, yada yada yada. I'm just going to sit back and see what pops up in the next year or so. Trade in on the Yoda is 0 so i'll have to ditch that to a high school kid who just got their license for like 500 or so. i'm kind of content where i'm at right now anyway and the thought of a car note is just too much at the moment becuase along with a $300+/mo payment, also comes a $300+/mo insurance payment. I just got out of the barely scraping by stage. I'm not in a rush to re-enter it :|

I have the same problem, I could probably afford it, but I don't want to (and probably shouldn't) shell out $6-700 a month for it!
My boss has one and I've driven it many times, I really really want one. They are an absolute blast to drive!

Did you get it to understeer? It kind of caught me off gaurd when it first happened to me!

I only threw it into one corner and was a baisic 90 degree right which i've done with the Bimmers countless times, and i wasn't really pushing it, so no i didn't.

I should also mentioned this guy owned an E36 M3 prior to this car. He had built the suspension on it but it was a bit too stiff for the rough roads here and the chassis started to crack so he sold it. Last i heard, the new owner had repaired the cracks and was prepping it for the track.

[ae86_16v]

Nice write up Z . . . not bad at all. That thing is a screamer.

Remember a place to live first before the car. . . ;) . Nice to see that you have your priorities straight.

The chassis of the E36 cracked?!?

[dingo]

Did you get it to understeer? It kind of caught me off gaurd when it first happened to me!

Yeah the first time its a bit unnerving......but a new (thicker) rear swaybar helps eliminate most of it. ;)

[ZfrkS62]

The chassis of the E36 cracked?!?


Yeah. IIRC he said it was where the front framerails were mated to the shell, which makes sense since that's the weak point between the front end and the rest of the car (IT'S LIKE THAT FOR ALL UNIBODY VEHICLES SO I DON'T WANT TO HEAR WORD ONE FROM THE ANTI-BIMMER CROWD ABOUT BUILD QUALITY!!!!!!) and all the sprung weight not being able to move with the front suspension the way it was, the flex had to go somewhere. So as long as you don't have a really stiff suspension and decide to go hillclimb Lombard St. every day, your E36 will be fine :wink:

[666fast]

Did you get it to understeer? It kind of caught me off gaurd when it first happened to me!

Yeah the first time its a bit unnerving......but a new (thicker) rear swaybar helps eliminate most of it. ;)

Backing off the gas pedal a bit works as well. The rear end comes around smoothly.