07 STi for that money... I wish I would have gotten an STI with what I have put into my WRX and being limited by the 5 speed......I would tell anyone to spend the extra few thousand dollars and get the STI.....

 

Why you mentioning the 08 WRX, it was by far the worst model ever built by Subaru. It's fugly, underpowered, has soft suspension, engine problems, etc. Stay away if your smart, 09+ for sure, the 265 hp bump should be convincing alone. There's a reason Subaru quickly changed the WRX from 08 to 09, even the 08 STi had problems & was inferior to later model years. If there's one thing you should know, it's that Subaru constantly tweaks & changes many things from year to year, ie the 06 STi from the 07 STi, they look the same basically but have many different changes all around. Def go with 09+ WRX, but if you possibly can i would try to get an 04-06 Sti, saves you the trouble of modding to be fast cuz they already are, plus all the extra goodies you get with them. The 08 WRX is a fluke, it should've never been made, it's a sore eye for Subaru for sure, nothing positive came out of it.