CTC Review: 2008 Subaru WRX STi

[Blueprint]

Subaru's website says "rebates of up to 4000 $ on all 2008 Imprezas (*)"

...and in fine print : * : except STI

Can't seem to get details however on the "up to" part.  If the rebate applies to the WRX, the sedan would go for 28,995 $...

[Blueprint]

Subaru's website says "rebates of up to 4000 $ on all 2008 Imprezas (*)"

...and in fine print : * : except STI

Can't seem to get details however on the "up to" part.  If the rebate applies to the WRX, the sedan would go for 28,995 $...

Got it now : you have to go through the "build and price" process, then click on "cash purchase".  I only tried two combos : WRX manual sedan and base manual sedan, and for both a 4000 $ cash purchase rebate showed up in red.  Dealers probably have some margin in the STI's steep price, so that may be where Wing's rebate came up.

[Snowman]

FFS 99.9% of the people bitching about the US/Cdn pricing will never buy one of these to begin with. Who cares which one is cheaper, how does the car drive!

 

[Turbo Bob]

Can't wait to hear your full conclusion, and the track report!

[Giant Dwarf]

Wing, I think you need to do a road-trip down the Hamilton area this weekend. 

[Cortina]

The styling of these Subarus, Just don't do it for me. 

[sailor723]

Obviously taste is subjective but I've always thought the weakest area in Subaru's cars was styling/colours etc (and especially interiors) This WRX is better than the last one (gold wheels anyone?) but still a little on the tacky side for me.

 On the other hand it would be a dull old world if everyone liked the same thing

[halrav]

Also i find all Japanese dealers in Canada  (Toyota, Honda, Subaru) take nothing off the price of the car....maybe like $500, while in the USA no one pays MSRP they all pay slightly above Invoice which is usually $1500-$2000 less off the MSRP price.   So there is more savings there too.   Way I see it the more people and complain the sooner prices will come down and be closer.  I dont mind a $1000-$3000 difference but anything over that is crazy.  I work in a similar industry and trust me everything is done in US dollars so when the Car Mfg sells a car in Canada today and the dollar is par, then they are making huge gross profit margins and got a big smile on their face for every car sold in Canada.  They are gonna milk it for as long as they can and really you can;t blame them as they are in business to make money!!!

[Mitlov]

FFS 99.9% of the people bitching about the US/Cdn pricing will never buy one of these to begin with. Who cares which one is cheaper, how does the car drive!

Agreed.  I've heard three big complaints in test-drives, especially track tests:

(1)  Understeer understeer understeer.
(2)  Excessive body roll.
(3)  The e-diff doesn't seem to make a real difference, despite the multitude of settings.

Let us know if you experience the same.

[zoobaru]

Is it just me... I've noticed that most if not all articles I've read on the 2008 Imprezza mentions how the interior is a vast improvement over the old one... I compared a 2007 Imprezza Sport with an 2008 Imprezza SE at the local Subaru dealership last fall and drove away with the 07 mainly because the 07 had better seats (sport bucket) and better interior quality. The 08 had hard plastic dash and cheap looking carpet with poor fitting plastics... I liked the look of the 08 wagen but couldn't live with the degraded interior. The salesman told me that's why the price was cheaper on the 08 vs the 07... STI must be better?

[Zombie]

I think there are pro and cons for both the 08 and 07 interiors. From an aesthetics POV I would vote for the 08 (and not just because I own one) because I think the silver (but cheap plastic) piece really pulls the dash together and separates the upper dash with the lover panel.
The softer plastic used in the 07 (06 in this picture but I think its the same) might feel better but the overall look of the dash doesn't seem to flow well and kind of reminds me of the interior of my 2000 civic.

2008


2006

[lostcomma]

lostcomma, the STi in the US does not have NAVI and BBS wheels standard.

Yup
your right.
What your point?

I did mention in my post about accessories covering exactly this point.
Paying stuff that I dont want. Not my idea of choice. Navi in car is way over
priced anyway.

[The Mighty Duck]

I prefer the look of the 2006 interior, going by those pictures.  I remember getting into the Impreza at the autoshow and being very bored with the interior, whereas the EVO interior was basic, but seemed nice overall.

OTOH, I quite like the interior of my 99 Civic (same as your 2000). 

[dasiuyan]

I think there are pro and cons for both the 08 and 07 interiors. From an athletics POV I would vote for the 08 (and not just because I own one) because I think the silver (but cheap plastic) piece really pulls the dash together and separates the upper dash with the lover panel.
The softer plastic used in the 07 (06 in this picture but I think its the same) might feel better but the overall look of the dash doesn't seem to flow well and kind of reminds me of the interior of my 2000 civic.

i think the 'look' is subjective. But the interior design, i.e. cup holder, cubbies, is much better in 2008 than 2007, at least the space is more useful.

[Jameel]

I have info from a good source on the discount.

Now regarding the price (which seriously who cares)... but anywho.

This is how I did my math, I washed off the PDI/Freight and exchange which is pretty much nil.
US price is $38,995 + 6% = 41,334
CAN price $44,995          = 44,995
                                   -----------
                        Difference = $3660

That's $3500 ISH. 

Yes PDI is more here, so the difference creeps up to $4000, but don't forget there will always be other small costs to incure.  So I rounded off.

Gotta love critics, don't mention the US price and they go ballistic, mention it and they go ballistic.

Thanks Zombie for those more detailed numbers, which even if you remove the $4000 discount shows the difference to be around..... $4000. .

If you live on a border town, great if not think about flight/gas to get to US to pick it up, or shipping etc.

Might as well buy this one in Canada IMO.  Unless you don't want NAVI!

Great response James. I went through the same thought process when I purchased my recent vehicle. I was going to buy a car from the U.S. but when you factor fees, bumper mods (until recently), MISC expenses, flight / travel expenses.  The $2,000 savings wasn't worth it for me.

Until recently you also had to do bumper mods (~$500 to $1200), plus the RIV fee (~$250), the CanadianTire inspection (around ~$65), A/C tax ($100), money conversion (remember whatever the daily rate is, the bank will ding you another 2%. So that could be ~$800 to $1000) and what about travel expenses or shipping. That could range from $500 (if the car is close to the border) to $1,500 (to either ship or fly down and drive back).

[84im]

Can't wait to hear your full conclusion, and the track report!

I'm taking a two day driver training this weekend.  The list of cars for the course include three STi's.  One of them is a 2008.  I hope I get into the same group as the 2008 STi.  I'd like to see how my monster Miata compares.  I imagine I'll get my butt kicked, unless the guy can't drive. 
Ron

[hotrodder]

The styling of these Subarus, Just don't do it for me. 

I agree with you Cortrina.  Subarus have always had their own qurky kinda look to them and that's something I liked about them, something a little different.  James, the writer of the article say's it looks like an M3 to him.  The M3 Coupes are a beautiful car, especially the 1st generation.  This new WRX STi looks like the new Toyota Matrix/Pontiac Vibe with a hood scoop.  And for $48k I'd rather have many other cars. 

I feel that the Sti have lost it's edge it use to have.  So many other cars have around 300hp including your mom and dad's Honda Accord and Toyota Camry's with 280hp.  The Mazda Speed 3 is $10k cheaper and the Dodge Caliber SRT4 is more then $25k cheaper.  Throw in The Dodge Magnum wagon with a hemi and MDS and there are many other cars to choose from.  Not to mention the new Evo which is bound to steal sales away from the STi.  You can even get an SRT8 Challanger cheaper then this Subaru.

[dasiuyan]

The styling of these Subarus, Just don't do it for me. 

I agree with you Cortrina.  Subarus have always had their own qurky kinda look to them and that's something I liked about them, something a little different.  James, the writer of the article say's it looks like an M3 to him.  The M3 Coupes are a beautiful car, especially the 1st generation.  This new WRX STi looks like the new Toyota Matrix/Pontiac Vibe with a hood scoop.  And for $48k I'd rather have many other cars. 

I feel that the Sti have lost it's edge it use to have.  So many other cars have around 300hp including your mom and dad's Honda Accord and Toyota Camry's with 280hp.  The Mazda Speed 3 is $10k cheaper and the Dodge Caliber SRT4 is more then $25k cheaper.  Throw in The Dodge Magnum wagon with a hemi and MDS and there are many other cars to choose from.  Not to mention the new Evo which is bound to steal sales away from the STi.  You can even get an SRT8 Challanger cheaper then this Subaru.

i believe James is talking about M Coupe

[tortoise]

I was thinking this M Coupe.

[wing]

Mostly sitting sideways it looks similar in the way the rear bulges out... that's probably about all though.