2008 STi Drive :) & Pics (56k at own risk)

STi Nut

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Joined
Dec 30, 2005
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988
Location
Adelaide, Australia
Car(s)
2008 Toyota Yaris 1.3L 5 Door Auto
the other night we were given a 2008 STi to drive for a little time, well my uncle was given the car and then he passed it onto us for an hour since he wasn't really interested in the car. It is the only one in the country at the moment, the actual lunch for the car isn't till early February in australia, the only reason we got the car was because the dealer that lent it to us is very high up in subaru and managed to pull a few strings to get one here for himself.

The car when we got into it only had 300km on the odometer..... The car in total is a spectacular car and is a very big step up over the previous generations. this car had the optional BBS rims and full sat nav, the interior is to such a higher level to the previous generation, covered in leather and higher quality plastics. The twin dual tipped exhaust just look crazy and definitely turned plenty of heads.

Ride comfort is much better then the previous generations as the leather reccaro seats are a good fit, but if you were to put a coin on the ground and drove over it you could tell what side it is up :p,

One thing that i found disappointing is that the exhaust note, i assume because of the stricter emissions laws that they have had to restrict it a lot, as inside you can just hear it and from outside it is still very quiet. Inside you hear the whining of the gearbox over everything else.

Other then that it is noticeably a little bit faster then the previous STi but we found that it was understeering a bit, we believe that this is because we hadn't played with the diff settings, since we only had it for an hour we just wanted to drive the thing.

http://img149.imageshack.**/img149/3857/92156235ne0.jpghttp://img149.imageshack.**/img149/7822/23749482zj0.jpg
http://img149.imageshack.**/img149/1847/34ry3.jpghttp://img149.imageshack.**/img149/4104/11yg4.jpg
http://img149.imageshack.**/img149/5899/13vn0.jpghttp://img149.imageshack.**/img149/412/52gf1.jpg
http://img149.imageshack.**/img149/4779/43la4.jpg
http://img149.imageshack.**/img149/4029/40ot9.jpg
 
:woot: looks great in World Rally blue, all the pictures I have seen of it are in somber black or silver.
 
Indeed, it looks VERY nice in blue...I still like it! :mrgreen:
 
Wow...awesome uncle to get that car for you guys to test! :mrgreen:

I have to resist looking at too much stuff about it...makes my wait worse :p. Were you able to give it some good beans? That car is very much in the infant stages @300km :lol:

Very nice pics.
 
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trust me, you will not be disappointed. we gave it a bit and OMG! it kicks, but the scary thing is that a few times we were driving at 140km/h and it felt like it was going 60 or so, it was just that comfortable, same thing from 160km/h, felt like the car was doing nothing. on of the interesting things was pick up from 3rd, doing 60km/h in 3rd, then foot flat. a second delay then bang, your gone! incredible car
 
Ha! You bastard! That is a very very very rare opportunity and I don't think Subaru Australia would be very happy to see this thread!!!

Good scoop mate.
 
Screw them! :lol:
 
i can delete it if you want........

Oh god no thats not what I meant to imply, fuck Subaru haha!!!

You can see my point though. you have basically put an amateur review with detailed pics on the internet before any Australian motoring magazine has had a chance to produce anything, let alone a month before the actual release of the car!!!

For example I assume the motoring mags have driven this car (or will do very shortly) but no doubt they will have an embargo on them until after the launch date. Internet has no such embargo, welcome to the digital age!!!
 
^ Wheels mag have had drive reports in the last two issues - the first was the JDM version, the most recent being an Oz-spec vehicle driven in Japan.
 
it is good to see every one enjoying it, i did take one safety pro-cation and took out the number plate, but also i would assume that subaru australia would be brining in at least a few more, like 1 for every state with in the next few weeks, to gear up for the launch....
 
^ Wheels mag have had drive reports in the last two issues - the first was the JDM version, the most recent being an Oz-spec vehicle driven in Japan.

Very true, as have MOTOR. My point was that this is the first road test of a 2008 STi on Australian soil. Australian car in Australian conditions etc. etc.
 
Neg rep me all you want, but that is one fugly-ass car. What the hell was Subaru thinking when they designed it......

Oh well, at least it drives well.
 
I'm a huge fan of noisy exhausts, but i think it makes more sense for a car like that to come rather quiet from the factory, its not like the hardcore people weren't going to replace the stock stuff anyways, although with that said the best solution is to just give it active exhausts, the R32 has that, so why not the STI?

Other then that it is noticeably a little bit faster then the previous STi but we found that it was understeering a bit, we believe that this is because we hadn't played with the diff settings, since we only had it for an hour we just wanted to drive the thing.

Can you give a little more detail, was it under steer all the time? what about during mild decel, or during acceleration? Thanks!
 
Neg rep me all you want, but that is one fugly-ass car. What the hell was Subaru thinking when they designed it......

Oh well, at least it drives well.

I don't think any Subaru Impreza was good looking, in the classical sense.

I think what makes the Impreza so beautiful is the purpose behind it. When you watch WRC, it changes your perception. When Subaru did the last redesign, everyone said it was ugly too. But as soon as WRC started using that bodystyle, the detractors started to die out. And today most people would consider the previous bodystyle to be very cool and good looking.

So I think once we start seeing Petter Solberg tearing up the gravel and tarmac in his new hatchback Impreza STi WRC car, watching it get covered in mud and catching incredible air, most people will start calling this latest car beautiful as well.

http://img87.imageshack.**/img87/5351/0708z2008subaruwrcimprehm0.jpg
http://img125.imageshack.**/img125/5387/0708z2008subaruwrcimprehw1.jpg
 
uglee as sin, even the rally spec.

sorry for being so negative on the car, but the design is just revolting. it totally killed the good old subaru design.
 
Can you give a little more detail, was it under steer all the time? what about during mild decel, or during acceleration? Thanks!

well i am not aware if you know about the dial that can change the diff, as in how much power is sent to the rears, as we hadn't driven the car and only had the car for a short time we didn't want to adjust the diff, we left it on auto and when we went round a sharp corner and put the power down it did what all had a small amount of understeer, not too much just enough to be noticeable. but that being said it is typical of all AWD cars to have a hint of understeer. after discussing this later with a few other people they all said that if you start playing with the diff controls you can eliminate this problem.

hope that helps....
 
I did a really crappy edit, but what do you think of red taillights?

https://pic.armedcats.net/2008/01/06/subbiered.jpg
 
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