Hi Wally,
The 04 was the first year of true STi's, so there were some bugs that needed to be worked out (that always happens with any brand of "first year" cars...I don't know all of them, but the 2 major ones that I know of are these: Bolt pattern change, the 05's have a larger bolt circle diameter (100mm vs. 114mm), and to over-simplify, that means the wheels are stronger and can handle bigger forces. More importantly, the 04's are known for slightly vague steering on corner entry, which was corrected in 05 by moving the front wheels 15mm forward along with other revisions to the front suspension. Check out netcarshow.com, I think that's where I first learned about the diff's between 04s and 05s, its an interesting website. It looks like I've closed a deal on my car, there is a fellow bringing me a check in the morning.

 

OOps, I am talking about the wheels by the way when I refer to bolt circle diameter....

 

Nope, it wasnt netcarshow after all where i read about the front steering issues, must have been somewhere else. but anyway it had to do with GM buying a piece of subaru at the time, and they got involved with the front steering geometry and made some major improvements.

 

sold. Peace out guys, i cant look at subies now that mine is gone. Sigma Pi is cool.