Let me address this right now: I bought the first WRX sold in the state of Florida. It was preordered and paid for 23 minutes after it was even possible. I cancelled an order for a Type-R to get one. Mine is midnight black (read: black with blue). Does it compete? Hell, it kicks the _crap_ out of those other cars. I obviously can't speak to the RSX, but I can absolutely speak to the others. The new sentra is not a comparison car here. Neither is the A4 or the Golf. The A4 (I won't laugh here, but seriously, have you looked at the power to weight compared to the WRX?) is a nice car, but having test driven one for about an hour, I can tell you that even the new A4 chassis isn't as stiff as this new impreza (or certainly doesn't feel that way) and power doesn't compare. The WRX feels light, actually, despite it's weight. Last evening, from 20-100, the WRX was _dead_ even with an S4..not an A4. I am not comparing these cars (the S4 is prettier, especially inside), but 23hp does not make up for the fact that it's almost 600 pounds heavier (the WRX actually has superior power-weight to the S4, but the S4 has such a nice flat torque curve). The owner of the S4 and I chatted for about 30 minutes after the run, and he was totally stunned (and grinning as we both laughed about schooling cars unprepared for such wicked sleepers). How does it drive? It is the most confidence inspiring vehicle I have ever driven. You have power in almost any gear (deep in 5th can be annoying, as in trying to go from 1st to 5th), traction is phenomenal (clutch drop from 3k in the wet yielded a mild chirp and much acceleration), and the engine feels so completely willing it's scary. I can only surmise that this is a result of the radically oversquare design. There is a bit of cam shake at idle, but certainly nothing most people would even know to be cam shake. The sound _will_ intoxicate you if you drive it. What am I getting at here? Whether you buy one or not, or even care about the car or not, you should drive one because this car is _about_ the driving. And no, it is absolutely _nothing_ like the 2.5 RS. Nothing. We had it up on the rack this weekend to take a round of digital photos of the entire car (this did not happen, should happen this sunday instead). First let me say that SCC is wrong about there being a cat between the turbo and the manifold. There _are_ three cats, with the primary being this huge 2 foot downpipe/cat thing with a bend in it. There is no sensor after the second cat. The third cat-back section is beautiful, a factory mandrel-bent 2.25" number. I expect serious power when I use it off-road with my off-road only exhaust system *cough*. Full boost is available by about 3500rpm, btw, but the 14.2 psi number quoted is deceiving. The stock turbo is a small mitsubishi one, and there is so much room for another turbo, you have to wonder if there wasn't a larger one in there before. The intercooler is quite awesome, about 3" thick and about 8"x15". The hood scoop that you see is completely gasketed to the intercooler. If you have any questions, please feel free to ask. I am more than willing to answer as many as I can! take care, rob p.s. Oh, and yes, it does _school_ a type-r (these just aren't running the same times on the street that they do on the track...if I have to explain this, go drive one and see for yourself). And yes, the motor is already through the break-in period =). 2002 Subaru Impreza, midnight black, number 120 1985 Nissan 200SX, CA18DET 1988 Nissan Sentra Sportcoupe, CA18DET > -----Original Message----- > From: Benny Boy [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]] > Sent: Thursday, March 22, 2001 7:08 PM > To: Sentra Mailing List > Subject: Re: SML: Re: WRX > > > > Guys, > > This subject is rather old. If you guys actually go to the > freshalloy.com > sentra forum, you'll see that me and every other person on > that site have > been duking it out as far as comments on the subject goes. > Its all in good > fun and I actually enjoy making some ppl hot. The new SE-R > Spec-V will not > hold up under boost, hence the reason I won't be buying one. > The WRX is a > good choice, and also, VW is brining the 24V VR6 w/ 201HP 6 > speed Jetta/Golf > here to the states. Another thing that VW is doing is that > they are bumping > the HP in their 1.8T motor to 180HP. In my mind, the race of > the "sporty > compact" car segment has been on fire lately and I like it. > Now that all > the dust has been scattered, we'll see early in 2002 who > comes out on top. > My money is honestly on the WRX, VW second, Nissan third, and > the RSX being > last. Now that the Civic is a turd and the Prelude is dead, > the RSX has to > carry the "torch" for 3 cars (Civic, Integra, and the > Prelude). Thats a > heavy burden and I doubt w/ the size of the car growing and > the new motor > having no torque, it'll be able to do anything stock. > Aftermarket is gonna > have to step up to keep it going against the STOCK Gold, WRX, > and the SE-R > Spec-V!!!! Just my $.02... > > > BEN > > > ______________________________________________________________ > ___________ > Get Your Private, Free E-mail from MSN Hotmail at > http://www.hotmail.com. > > > > +------------------------------------------------------------- > ---------+ > To unsubscribe, put "unsubscribe" (by itself) in the subject > and send to > [EMAIL PROTECTED] or use the form at http://www.sentra.net/sml > > +----------------------------------------------------------------------+ To unsubscribe, put "unsubscribe" (by itself) in the subject and send to [EMAIL PROTECTED] or use the form at http://www.sentra.net/sml
