Years ago when I had an EP3 I wanted a blobeye STi with PPP, I drove one and was impressed with it but the Evo's are superior to STi's and many impreza converts will tell you the same. So I went and drove an Evo 6 and bought one. I do like an Evo but Honda is where my heart is, though in years to come I would probably have an Evo X -low mileage SST Model that has had all the issues ironed out as I like the idea of a semi auto performance car (showing my age ?)
That being said you can pick up blobeye STi's for 7k now and that's a lot of car for the money.
Edit. Just found a post I made about an Evo X, not an 8MR or 9 but it may help.
So another car on my short-list, unexpectedly however was an Evo X, now I have read up on these over the last couple of days and have concluded that the model I would most likely be interested in is the 330SST.
So I looked online and found one 20 minutes away..
It was advertised as a 300 SST but is in fact a 330 SST, so I popped along.
First impression were " I love the blue!
I got given the keys and took it out..
Initial thoughts when I sat in it were " is this an Evo" having owned a VI in the past it was obvious this car was designed with a bit of comfort in mind. Buttons everywhere, little cubby holes etc
Lovely Recaro seats, I turn the ignition..it sounds nice no noise but some flashing lights and initially confusing display panels, but after having a fiddle around it was all plain sailing, the GSRs also comes with a decent head unit, Rockford fosgate sub is standard and a very good (from what I read) sat nav system, climate control etc etc, the boot space was not great but it was good enough. Adequate space in the rear for passengers, not that I tend to carry many.
On to the g/box, the three modes you can select are Normal, Sport and Super Sport. The harder you drive, the further up the sport ladder you'll want it
- DSG will change up for you, even in manual mode, if you are near the red line. SST doesn't. It will only change to prevent the engine stalling and, in Super Sport mode especially, the changes are almost violently aggressive. Obviously I selected S-Sport.
So I went out, I let the car warm up, whilst doing so I listened out for knocks etc as you do, nothing could be heard, the car was comfy and not bouncing around too much?"! Is this definitely an Evo?
Once the car got warmed up, I decided to see what all the fuss was about, I chose a suitable road for this, a combo of dually's, normal b-roads and back lane twisties!, on to the dual carriage way off a roundabout, I planted the loud pedal first thoughts were "Holy F*ck".. no lift off on the throttle, flapped the paddle straight in to 3rd, and it is flying.. REALLY flying
I gave the anchors a test from there and it stopped in quick time! Brembo brakes btw.
I then gave the car a launch, no slip, no slides just brutal power.. Incredible! On to the back lanes, this is where I thought I may need to air a bit of caution.. Naaah let's go for it, see what is can do? it manoeuvred the bends magnificently, gave me plenty of confidence even though I was new to this paddle shift system, a quick down change and away you go, relentless car but with comfort to go with it.. It is worth noting there is no cabin intrusion, even though this model has the HKS system it is not intrusive at all, in fact I had to put the window down to hear it properly. The roads were a touch greasy but I still felt happy in making progress where safe to do so..
So true to Evo form this greeted me: which cut short my test drive, by all accounts the car was only just above the E marker when I took it out, and I had been in S-sport mode.
I popped the box across in to "D" auto mode and pottered back, I let the turbo cool down, then had a look at my MPG.
That is the only negative point with these cars, the MPG when pressing the loud pedal - The smile on my face kinda made me forget about that though!
ok for me to own a car like this. I also like the fact it has an auto function for when you are on a long journey or just need to potter about in town. I know in the evo world a lot of people have said that this is not a true Evo, this that and the other, but it is definitely a nice place to be! Having said that, and as I have said before there is something special about the Type R marque to me, as I drove home I gave the Teg a good hiding and it still brings a smile to my face.
