Seriously considering this car, but at $40K new and equipped I am not sold yet. Most of the drive will be a 70 mile daily commute largely 4 lane highway and then city freeway traffic. Driving conditions will be mostly dry pavement but will include some hellish snow/ice/wind/rain (occasionally all at once).
I drove the 2007 Impreza WRX STI and loved it, but passed because of the racer boy looks and what I felt was cramped interior, front and back. But the 2008 is supposed to be bigger with more room in the back because of the longer hatchback body.
http://www.autoblog.com/photos/2008-subaru-impreza-sti-jdm/454060/
Performance looks 'imprezive': 0-60 in 4.8 seconds, 60-0 in 106ft.
Still $40K new, that is entry level Acura/Lexus/Audi money round here and I promised myself I would buy used this time around. The 2008 Subaru Impreza WRX STI isn't even in the show rooms AFAIK, so waiting for used means probably another year and likely the car will be driven pretty hard in the meantime.