This weekend our new 2008 Subaru WRX STI did little more than daddy duty. Hate to say it, but our black STI spent its 72 hours with the Oldham's without once laying rubber on a curving mountain road, a dedicated racetrack, or gravel covered fire road. Instead we used it like a car. Just a car...
It made a late night run to the supermarket for orange juice with calcium and a half gallon of 1% milk. It hit McDonald's for a chicken McNugget happy meal with apple dippers and a HiC. And the best part, it got myself and my two rug rats to Angel's Stadium in Anahiem for a little dose of the national past time.
Incredibly, it performed these menial tasks as well as any base Impreza. No, better. Angel's Stadium is a good 50 miles from home, and the STI relished in the trip's frequent high-speed accident avoidance manuevers. Um, that is we passed a lot of Prius owners saving the world at 60 mph. But the speed, while impressive, was expected. It was the STI's comfort that suprised.
It was so comfortable on the way to the ball game both my kids sacked out. On the way home too. And the driver's seat, which is too flat for racetrack use, is ideal around town. Very comfortable.
This is going to be a fun year.
Scott Oldham, Inside Line Editor in Chief @ 2,487 miles
tlcruz says:
05:48 PM, 05/ 5/08
Um, that is we passed a lot of Prius owners saving the world at 60 mph.
I love that!! :)
rsholland says:
05:56 PM, 05/ 5/08
As we all know, Subaru, as brand, has some of the most loyal followers anywhere on this planet. I'm hoping that this year that Edmunds spends with this car will hopefully shed a little light on this.
Yeah, we all know the STI is fast, but what's it like to live with day in and day out? I think Scott's posting here sort of touches on that. Heck, who knows, maybe even these SoCal car guys (and gals) will even learn to appreciate AWD on warm sunny days. :)
SubyTrojan says:
06:02 PM, 05/ 5/08
I'm guessing the editors have a pool on how many times I or Bob (rsholland) will be the first to comment on STI blog entries. If they haven't started one already, they should! And I want in on the action, too! I can even make an Excel spreadsheet for it and e-mail the said spreadsheet to Donna to "manage."
If Scott had a Lightning Red STI for the weekend, it would've blended in even better at Angel Stadium, home of the *Anaheim* Angels (none of this Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim garbage). 0:o)
rsholland says:
06:08 PM, 05/ 5/08
Well, I'm really interested in the "devil is in the details" sort of stuff, as this is on my short list for my next ride. So yeah, I'll be posting a lot, I'm sure. :)
730 says:
06:43 PM, 05/ 5/08
You should go to a track and pit this one against the M3.
stovt001 says:
07:14 PM, 05/ 5/08
I love this car, but I wished it looked more like the older versions and didn't cost so much. It nearly hits $40K!
vertigospiral says:
08:03 PM, 05/ 5/08
Man, I'm getting some kind of flashback here! No, wait, this one's still it's factory color and still has a wing....
And that black is gloss, not flat, right?
Must've been thinking of somebody else.....
blankfocus says:
05:15 AM, 05/ 6/08
love this car.
dragonflight says:
09:15 AM, 05/ 6/08
@SubyTrojan: You should bet that, if you can achieve say 70% of first posts, you get to take the STI home for a weekend :)
SubyTrojan says:
10:06 AM, 05/ 6/08
I don't think that'd be right/fair, dragonflight. It'd be too easy given how religiously I refresh the LT blog to keep my sanity while looking at numbers all day.
louiswei says:
10:36 AM, 05/ 6/08
Hey Suby, you can just hot wire the car you know...
SubyTrojan says:
10:55 AM, 05/ 6/08
That goes against everything I uphold. :o)
skierx420 says:
12:57 PM, 05/ 6/08
I think that in order for Suby to drive the STI he should first have to find a Brat, drive it for a week and blog about it. I think that would be great.
opfreak says:
01:44 PM, 05/ 6/08
no he should drive the new evo :-p
desmolicious says:
03:58 PM, 05/ 6/08
You ain't kidding about Prius drivers. Last night, 8.30pm, 405 North fast lane Prius driver with cruise control set to maybe 63mph. Big stream of cars behind him. Would not pull over. I see this all the time, it's as if they have taken it upon themselves to police any gas consuming behaviour..
dragonflight says:
04:38 PM, 05/ 6/08
@SubyTrojan:
Fine, then let's bump it to 90%, and add the trial of 'fix the Ferrari's electrical issues in under an hour' for the final challenge ;)
SubyTrojan says:
05:12 PM, 05/ 6/08
With its sweet V8 exhaust note, the Ferrari doesn't need any fixin'. :o)
ewxlt says:
07:49 AM, 05/ 7/08
Those Prius owners you passed pay for their own gas I think. They wouldn't care about mpg either if they had a company gas card.
louiswei says:
08:30 AM, 05/ 7/08
"They wouldn't care about mpg either if they had a company gas card."
Ding ding ding!!!
felonious says:
08:42 AM, 05/ 7/08
Scott, thanks for this post! I have a 3yo son and am a former 04 STi owner, so this directly speaks to me.
SubyTrojan says:
09:59 AM, 05/ 7/08
I don't care about fuel economy and I don't have a company gas card. =Þ