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(Enlarge photo)
Two fast and agile sedans fit for a pair of superheroes. We'd imagine Superman behind the wheel of this blue WRX STi and the Flash inside the cockpit of the red Evolution.
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Road Test: Comparison Test
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Mitsubishi Evolution versus Subaru WRX STi
Introduction
By
John DiPietro
Date posted: 08-05-2003
The muscle car wars are heating up again. Only now, we're not talking about midsize American coupes with massive V8 engines and rear-wheel drive. Nope, the asphalt burners of today are all-wheel-drive compact sedans sporting turbocharged and intercooled four-cylinder mills putting out up to 300 horsepower. And they do more than just go fast in a straight line; they turn and stop as well as they go.
Subaru was the first to bring one of its World Rally Championship-inspired cars to American showrooms with the 227-horsepower Impreza WRX. When word spread that Mitsubishi was going to follow suit by bringing its rally-bred Lancer Evolution (the street version of their WRC car) to the States with even more power than the WRX, the Subie folks cooked up the even hotter WRX STi. With 300 horsepower and trick features like Brembo brakes, an intercooler water sprayer and a driver-controlled center differential, the STi draws a Pavlovian response from many a car buff, including those on our staff. The aforementioned Lancer Evolution sports 271 horsepower and brings similar hardware (intercooler sprayer, big Brembos) to this real-life version of a hero car from a PlayStation racing game. In terms of pricing, the Evo starts at $29,582, the STi starts at $31,545. Both cars are well equipped with a few exceptions; the Evo doesn't come with cruise control and the STi doesn't come with an audio system.
As is typical of our comparison tests, we lived with these cars for two weeks, driving them on a mix of freeway, curvy two-lane and city roads. We also threw in a lapping session at the Streets of Willow road course so that we could safely explore each car's limits.
It's hard to call either one of these cars a loser, but in the end we had to choose an outright winner and a not-very-far-behind runner-up. So put down that game controller and check out what it's like to drive the real thing as we compare these compact overachieving powerhouses.
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