I went to the car show Friday afternoon and saw that black Legacy GT with all the STI parts on it,..It had 19" rims, STI dual exhast (idk if its a tbe though), wing and sti pedals, shifter ****, and door sills,..)They listed prices for their "STI" package for $5k which is typical dealer prices,..Im sure you can save by buying your own parts and putting them on,..but I wasnt surprised at how awesome the Legacy can look with aftermarket parts on it,..

I was thinking about getting an STI cause it has the ultimate drivetrain setup, but since 05 prices are getting out of my price range and that it really is a little small for me interior wise and utility wise, I was looking at getting a Legacy GT LMT and doing my own mods. Im just wondering what differences for 06 the Legacy will make since the Altima R has 260 hp and a nicer interior and gauge package and how the Infinity G35 has improved too,..a 270-275 hp Legacy GT with a better quality feel interior would be nice if they can still keep it under $30k. Subaru IMO cant keep up with the Infinity quality wise, but then again there is the price difference,..

http://tinypic.com/2kigz9 (Legacy STI better view)
http://tinypic.com/2khsm1 (Legacy STI)
http://tinypic.com/2khvle (Altima R)


Wish I took guage pics from inside the Altima,..they looked great and seperated it from the Legacy's guage package,..

 

get a legacy...

 

I wouldnt buy their version of the GT w/ the Sti stuff on it. The markup is recockulous. Just get the Regular GT Lmt and add those items later if u want it. Save some cash to do other stuff.
I have an 05 Legacy GT Lm. It is Pearl White w/ the taupe interior. I wasnt really liking the taupe when i first started carshopping but it has really grown on me.
Ask any questions u want and ill try to reply as best i can.

As for the Altima R. Meh. It would take more than gauges to make me like that car. Havent been a nissan fan since the 240,the 280 and the 300 were killed. As for the hp diff. I can get the cobb or the vishnu ecu tune and make 280hp and 300ft/lb tq. W/ an exhaust Cobb says that they can get u 300hp and 340ft/lb tq.

 

theres not as many mods for the legacy than the impreza's though yeah? so if i were more into modding would a wrx be a better choice?

 

Not yet anyway. It took some time for the WRX market to get rolling and the same will apply to the LGT.

 

I'd get the LGT but pick up the Blitzen body.

 

If you get that then u also have to buy the JDM bumper (metal rail) and all the ancilliary equipment. The USDM bumper is 4" longer than the JDM one. Just FYI incase anyone is actually going to do this. Schuman didnt realize this or the Car show LGT would have had a body kit on it too. They bought a JDM kit but couldnt get it to fit.

 

I've driven both the Altima R and LGT (both manuals), personally I'd rather have the LGT, the performance is comparable, and personally, ~260 hp w/ FWD? Not my cup of tea. Styling on the LGT is a lot classier too, the Altima looks like a cheap Caddy.

 

The only reason that Im looking at the Nissan/Infinity are that they have improved the last several years due to a change in leadership,..thus the Z car, g35, altimas, maximas etc,...A G35 being so heavy can hang with a WRX on a race track,..not bad for being a sport luxo-mobile,...I think that interior wise, the Nissan seem to be better quality as well as the Infinity too,..but like I said, it costs more too,..So, if I need to spend 30K for a car, it should have a "quality feel" to interior materials used and drivetrain reliability..

As for Subaru, no doubt that performance/drivetrain wise I can expect nothing but awesomeness,..As a former turbo owner, its like driving a 4 cyl till you hit boost when you need the power. So, you can always regulate your gas mileage according to how aggressive you get into the turbo,..Also, modding is a lot cheaper with a turbo to get bigger hp gains compared to NA cars,..So, i guess my gripe is that I wish Subaru would add a better quality feel to materials used for the interior like cloth/leather, and door inserts,..

When I get my GT LT, a full TBE, 18 or 19" rim/tire combo, coilovers, and an Accessport should be enough till I put enough miles on it to change over to a different turbo and ecu,..

 

That sure is alot of wheel gap on the Legacy.

 

I feel that you are going to have much more cheap power to be made in a turbo charged car rated at equal or a little less HP than a similarly rated N/A car. A new turbo is anywhere from $300 all the way to $4,000 depending on what you want. For less than $4k total you can add more than 100 WHP to a turbo car. Try doing that with an Altima, or G35 and still keeping them N/A. It won't happen. Talk to Farid, the G35 engine can't handle much power in it's stock form, but the EJ257 block is amazing. Some people are having trouble, Pat is one of them. I think he would agree though that when Kingpin and others are making over 500 WHP on a stock EJ257 block, it is very impressive. It speaks to the strength of the block. As long as your tuning, A/F, timing and boost are all locked on your engine will be very happy. However as long as you are stuck in crap *** Hawaii with no AWD dyno, you'll never get your ignition timing properly tuned. So go with the Legacy GT LTD, or a 2005 WRX. If you want real performance though pick up an '04 STi. They're gettying pretty cheap, and if you are going with big power you're going to need the STi's 6MT!

 

THAT IS NOT A LEGACY STI!

there is no real LGEACY STI parts on it.

 

^^^ i was just going to say that

 

i had to find out the hard way my self. i picked up a full kouki chargespeed kit and found out that yes the front clip does not clear the usdm bumper reinforcement. nothing a little modification couldnt fix, but it did add time to the job. my car should be out on wed.

 

I know that it isnt a true STI Legacy as we dont have them in the US,..just what the dealer called it for the aesthetic package for the show car,..Wish Subaru would make a STI Legacy for the states,..that would be awesome,.