Imagine my surprise when I open up the "Please subscribe today and get a free gift subscrition paper cover" to the real front page of Hot Rod and see an STI vs Cobra Mustang headline. Well of course the STI was blue, seems to be subarus signature color for magazine demos. Anyway the article was interesting, it shows just how much out of the loop hotrod is on the AWD rally car loop. Espically with the sidebar that explains how the aftermarket can somehow increase the power of your STI from 215 hp to 260hp with slight mods. Yeah your read that right 215hp, I am think they ment that to be the WRX, although that would still be wrong. Did anyone else catch this article yet?

 

I am not defending the Cobra by any stretch but it did also say in the article that if Ford had equipped the Cobra with better tires from the factory it would have easily won the drag strip competition. The Cobra in that issue was running 2.25 60ft times which is what my bone stock 95 Integra would do. Go to any track and you will see bone stock Cobras running mid to high 12's with good tires with trap speeds in the 110mph range. The Sti definitely outperforms the Cobra overall though but really isnt any cheaper because you have to spend money on a radio in the Sti. Once you add that in they are pretty close but the Sti is still a great value.

 

My friend payed $33,890 for his Cobra and the Sti's are going for $31,545 making the price difference slightly higher than $2000. Im not saying the Sti isnt a great car but comparing these two cars is really actually silly. They have totally different purposes and appeal to two entirely different crowds. The Sti is definitely a monster from the factory but keep in mind that to extract the kind of quarter mile times you would need to stay with the Cobra you have to launch the Sti at around 5k rpms which in turn doesn't make for a very long clutch life. My friend ran a 12.79 at 110mph on the stock tires. The Cobra will run high 12's all day long with much less effort than the Sti. The Cobra's are very underrated from the factory. My friends Cobra dynoed at 367rwhp making Ford's factory claim of 390 a joke. Like I said, both of these cars are great at what they were built for and we all should be happy that we live in this time with some really great choices out there.

 

It's telling that the Cobra was beaten around Willow Springs race track by almost 2 full seconds, by a 4 door sedan that makes 100 less horsepower.

It shows you that Cobra's are all power, no handle.

Mod the Cobra all you want, and it will still be a 3700 front heavy rear drive car with poor traction and an outdated chassis and suspension. That's why Hot Rod couldn't get it around the track in spite of all the power.

 

I agree with you that the Cobra does not handle well compared to the Sti. However, keep in mind that most people that buy Mustangs care more about torque and straight line thrust than they do about going around Willow Springs raceway which most if not all of us on here will never have the chance to do. Most racing that occurs on the street is from traffic light to traffic light which the Mustang and the Sti do very well. The Mustang has never been a spectacular handling car but has sold incredibly well despite that because it has a very loyal following. I don't care how well the Sti performs. You will never get a loyal Mustang owner to even consider driving an Sti and the same goes the other way. They are two very different cars with two totally different purposes that just happen to be close in price. Again, they are both great cars.

 

I will second the outdated part, especially since the underpinnings date back to the 1978 Ford Fairamont

 

Everyone is free to their own opinion but obviously you guys are the minority when it comes to this. Mustang sales are as good as ever meaning their are tons of poeple out their that disagree with your opinion.

I know this has been beaten to death so far but it is still amazing to me that Subaru can have the ***** to charge $31k for a car and not have a radio in it. I know we are all going to hear "well you can go to a junkyard and get a WRX radio for $50", "most people that buy Sti's dont want one anyway" and all sorts of other rediculous excuses. No matter what the excuse, when you pay $31k for a car it should have a damn radio in it. At least then if you dont like the radio you have an option to have a different one installed at your own expense but there are some people out there that dont mind the factory stereos. The excuse by some that factory radios suck anyway is complete crap. Go listen to the stereo in the new Acura TL or the stereos that Lexus has in some of there cars. Or even the Mazda Protege. How Subaru can try to spin this by saying that the car would not pass the gas guzzler tax with a radio in it is absolutely laughable. I sure hope this fix this blunder when the next near of Sti's come out.

 

re: Everyone is free to their own opinion but obviously you guys are the minority when it comes to this. Mustang sales are as good as ever meaning their are tons of poeple out their that disagree with your opinion.>


That is exactly what GM kept saying about the Camaro right up until the day they killed it.

 

GM kept saying what??? That the Camaro was selling well??? All you had to do was look at the numbers and you would see that the Camaro was selling less and less. Fords sales on the Mustang havent declined at all so your statement makes absolutely no sense. As a matter of fact I recall reading statements from GM up to two years before the Camaro was discontinued saying that sales had slowed and that it would more than likely be discontinued. Where did you read anything where GM said that the Camaro would not be discontinued?????