New to the subaru scene got myself an '04 wrx. Installed a perrin double catted downpipe and srs exhaust with a short ram intake. But I been woundering on trading it in for a sti. Seen post of ppl talking bout a wrx and sti are bout the same but seen a whole bounch of ppl doing conversions of wrx into sti. My question is would it b worth it trading in my wrx for an sti or doing some of the conversions?

The conversion I been thinking bout is dropping a sti tranny in my wrx for the most part.

 

Go get an STI. If I had it all to do over again I would have gotten an sti to start with....

 

sti forsure

 

an Sti is not just an additional gear. It is a better platform to start with. If I could do it all over again i would never have bought a WRX. I would have paid the extra. If you can get out of your WRX and into an Sti for under 8 additional thousand, I would do it.

 

I am in the process of a swap so turbo injectors etc.... Then 5k for tranny, the 1.6k for brakes. Paying 15k for car ttl for car with swap will be almost 30k when all is said and done.

 

my friend bought a brand new sti with less than 10miles on it for 33500 out the door back in 2006. the new sti starts at about 34... you pick 30 on a swapped car or 34 for a brand new?

 

The reply on this was quick thanks for the input. Imma look into getting in a sti and put on hold the upgrades I had in mine for the wrx. This is what I wanted to hear ppl wit wrx giving real thoughts about which is better.

 

I have an 03 there was no option

 

STI is a waste of money.
Unless you are trying to be a hot shot and go fast with cool looking squeaky Brembo brakes that aren't any nicer than the 4pot/2pot brakes. Go for it.
I guess in your case if you want to do a swap, you might as well have just gotten an STI.

I didn't choose my rex because of the price difference though. I liked the interior much better as well as the wing and brakes. I'm not into Brembos. Plus it sort of fell into my hands with only 11k miles on the car. I guess to each his own though. If I had gotten an STI, I would have instantly swapped interiors and trunks and I didn't want to deal with that tbh. It is a nice platform to start from though if you have the extra 10k and like the stuff inside.

 

I have to agree with some of what he said. The interior of the 06 wrx (none TR) is the same as the STi but just different material and color. So if you don't like the blue interior and you don't have the money get an 06 wrx.
From someone who has owned two wrx (02/06) and is buying an STi, I can only say that doing a swap is difficult to justify when you think about how much money it cost for parts, time and labor. There is a lot of pride in doing something like that yourself but you have to have the space tools and time. I would love to have an old coupe RS and do something like that with some friends but no $ or space for it. To me getting rid of the wrx and just buying an STi made more sense, putting work to change the tranny from 5 to 6, the diff to match, the dccd, the extra water resevor, top mount, injectors, turbo, dp, engine management, swing arms, knuckles brakes, etc etc... it would have been the same cost and taken many years to do part by part for me.

To me it is an easy choice. I wouldn't say a wrx is bad but I wouldn't say an STi is a waste of money (unless you are talking about 08/09/10 models.. who wants those? JK!

 

06+ wrx got the same engine as the 05 Sti. Just a smaller turbo and it's 5 speed

 

Well at least me and Wingless06 can agree with each other. lol

 

True, but the STi also has (above the 04 STi) the 5x114.3 bolt pattern which massively opens up the wheels available and sizes. 5x100, it's hard to get good wheels that go beyond 8.5" wide. Go with the STi if you are able to, financially. You will be much more satisfied with it.

 

I don't think you're correct on this. The STi block has forged internals, the WRX block is just your standard 2.5L turbo engine.


As for a STi vs. WRX, there should really be no comparison. The quality of parts on the STi outweighs any part on the WRX. Forged internals in the engine. Better turbos, and bigger TMIC. Go compare WRX axels to STi ones and tell me you don't see a difference. Alluminum front control arms and rear lateral links. Bigger diameter strut bore then the WRX. Front and rear diffs and the ability to control the centre diff. The design of the 6 speed alone is a great reason to buy a STi. As for the interior, the seats in the GDA/B chasis STi look the same as some WRX seats, but the cushions under the cloth is what makes the difference. The STi seats are firmer and more enjoyable for longer trips. As well as the sportier steering wheel with the "quick steer" steering ratio. The STi is really the enthusists car, it's built for purposeful driving and rally inspired.

 

I've been reading that without opening a sti engine and just bolt on u could achieve higher gains. since the internal components are of a better build. another thing I been hearing bout is the weakness of a wrx transmission compared to that of a sti. not just b cuz of the extra 6th gear but that its a whole lot stronger is there any truth to this?