I had a short drive of the above on Saturday morning in Waterford. It was the EVO with the flappy paddle gearbox and the full fat 300 PS engine (unlike Irish EVO X's which only come with 280ps).
First impressions were positive. Like all EVOs I've driven V, VI & VIII it felt razor sharp and like it was up on its toes so to speak. The steering was also very quick and darty but apart from that this was a very civilized comfortable car, certainly the first EVO you could use every day without having to try to ignore the bone shaking ride. The Recaro seats were excellent too.
Performance wise, it was quick but the car is quite refined now so the impression of huge speed is a lot less than in an equivalently fast Scooby. The brakes were powerful and look great behind the gorgeous fat 18" Alloys. The car I drove was import from the UK by Bolands BMW-Mitsubishi with all the whistles and bells including a top of the range pop up Sat Nav/DVD/CD/MP3 system and a giant sub woofer in the boot! Speaking of the boot it was a lot smaller than I expected notwithstanding the sub-woofer.
And now for the best bit, the car was regsitered in Ireland just before the 1st July 2008 so it's road tax is still 590 p/y. If I was in the market to change my car I would be severely tempted at Eur 56,900 with only 4,000 miles on the clock (she's in MPH as she' was a uk car). This car would be 72K new today so that's a price drop of 15K in just 5 months.
Two weeks ago I had a really good look around a max spec new Irish STI. It was black 08 D 113..reg parked outside a hotel in Trim. It had all the extras form the Subaru Catalogue such as Recaro seats, Silver 18" 245 wheels, Sat Nav, Performance exhaust and aluminium exhaust shrouds and the must have front fog lights. From the front you can see right up into the intercooler as the scoop is much nearer the front of the bonnet than Scoobies of old. I have not been a fan of the new STI but in this spec it looked fantastic and more aggressive looking than the EVO X. Given a choice between the two I would take this STI but anyone in the market for a new fast turboed 4wd would be crazy not to have a look at this EVO X at this price.
Frawls
First impressions were positive. Like all EVOs I've driven V, VI & VIII it felt razor sharp and like it was up on its toes so to speak. The steering was also very quick and darty but apart from that this was a very civilized comfortable car, certainly the first EVO you could use every day without having to try to ignore the bone shaking ride. The Recaro seats were excellent too.
Performance wise, it was quick but the car is quite refined now so the impression of huge speed is a lot less than in an equivalently fast Scooby. The brakes were powerful and look great behind the gorgeous fat 18" Alloys. The car I drove was import from the UK by Bolands BMW-Mitsubishi with all the whistles and bells including a top of the range pop up Sat Nav/DVD/CD/MP3 system and a giant sub woofer in the boot! Speaking of the boot it was a lot smaller than I expected notwithstanding the sub-woofer.
And now for the best bit, the car was regsitered in Ireland just before the 1st July 2008 so it's road tax is still 590 p/y. If I was in the market to change my car I would be severely tempted at Eur 56,900 with only 4,000 miles on the clock (she's in MPH as she' was a uk car). This car would be 72K new today so that's a price drop of 15K in just 5 months.
Two weeks ago I had a really good look around a max spec new Irish STI. It was black 08 D 113..reg parked outside a hotel in Trim. It had all the extras form the Subaru Catalogue such as Recaro seats, Silver 18" 245 wheels, Sat Nav, Performance exhaust and aluminium exhaust shrouds and the must have front fog lights. From the front you can see right up into the intercooler as the scoop is much nearer the front of the bonnet than Scoobies of old. I have not been a fan of the new STI but in this spec it looked fantastic and more aggressive looking than the EVO X. Given a choice between the two I would take this STI but anyone in the market for a new fast turboed 4wd would be crazy not to have a look at this EVO X at this price.
Frawls
... had an evo 8 fq320 for awhile and i hated the drive of it the turbo lag was desprate bad nothing one minute then everything of a bang... driving a twin scroll turbo at mo and love the drive of it you can leave it in 6th on a main road and will pull if you want it to..... if was i was ever to change again to an evo it would be that one but to be honest i will prob never change from subaru the drive and feel of the car cant be beaten.. 
