[sperry]

Originally Posted by A1337STI

I agree with the Jist of what Dean is saying. The main specs an average joe looks at are getting closer

Hatch or Sedan/ Hatch
17" rim vs 17" rim (18 optional)
265 HP vs 300 (305)
5 Sp Vs 6 Spd

They should make it stand out a lot for the average joe. I want to see a 2 Door, 350 ish hp / tq. that looks like the sedan. if subaru wants to make a 104" wheel base Hatch for their WRC team, they don't have to sell their 1000 units in the usa. give us a cool 2 Door sedan (i'll take the longer wheel base that the wrc team wants though )

the other details Sperry mentioned do make the STI a better car for sure, esp for a hard core subie fan. and i do like having them be rare, but i'm bias cause i own one. Course since they are rare spare parts aren't going to be cheap..

guess actually thinking about it, i'de rather have it be their best selling model. there would be lots of pick and pull STIs intact, with parts.

any who for a specialized rally fan ...
I think the 17" rims on the new REX are lame! hurts your Rally cross tires choicess,

and If you can't fit 15" rims over the brakes, then you will be forced to do a brake swap for rally tires, which means you can't run in GT / PGT with in Nasa, CRS, and Rally America Straight to open.
doesn't subaru want new cars in those classes?

I really like how STIs are forced into open due to brakes, but WRX's are not... Though rally certainly doesn't drive their sales in the usa. (Sadly)

STi's are on 18's, both the normal and optional BBS wheels. And the average joe can certainly see the difference in sheet metal between the two; namely, the WRX looks like a Corolla, and the STi looks fucking awesome. And *that* is the primary difference that Mr. Avg Joe will notice between the two... not the power, not the brakes, not the 6MT... just the fact that the STi looks sweet and the WRX looks like an econo-box.

As far as the rally stuff... the STi is tailor made for Group N. There's a reason Subaru/FHI/STi makes all this stuff:

http://www.rallispec.com/STi%20Catalog%2007.pdf

And a ton if it is Grp-N homologated specifically for competition use as a "factory" part... like the gravel spec brakes that fit under 15" rally wheels. Your problem isn't that the STi isn't classifiable, it's that you're not running in FIA Grp-N. Move to Europe.