I learned to drive a truck like the above last year and as someone who has never owned an automatic transmission, I can attest to two things:

It’s finally got a meaty enough wheel an tire package to make those haunches not look much too big for the rest of the car.

I hope to lose <$10K (CAD) over 4-5 years.

It is indeed slightly different in that the front diff is underneath the clutch/torque converter instead of beside it but there is still a shaft going from the centre diff to the front diff. I didn’t bother making the distinction in the previous comment because the principle is the same. The reasoning is for equal…

The centre diff is at the back of the transmission, then there is a driveshaft within the transmission to take power to the front diff, which sits pretty well beside the clutch or torque converter, like so:

In longitudinal Quattro systems, the transmission sits behind the front axle and there is a transmission tunnel. In transverse Quattros (A3, TT, maybe the smaller Q cuvs) the engine/trans are ahead of the front axle so there’s only a smaller driveshaft tunnel.

No trans tunnel, only a small tunnel for the driveshaft and exhaust. The transmission is beside the engine instead of behind it so it doesn’t intrude into cabin space.

Packaging. A fwd/awd transverse layout allows for more interior space as it lacks a transmission tunnel intruding into the front footwells. You only need a small tunnel for the exhaust and driveshaft in the awd variant.

My car is a base model too and I’m usually faster than STIs as well, though that’s a small sample size in my region. I’m staying in D-stock because building it for STX would have me void my warranty with a tune, which I’m not willing to do as it’s my first turbo Subaru.

17x9 RPF1 with 255s would just be my daily driver summer setup, I should have clarified that. For autoX I’m staying on the 17x8 and 245s in D-street, where the car can be competitive.

I run 245/40R17 on 17x8s for autocross:

Just FYI, that second Instagram post, the one with the R34 sedan, is a Photoshop and not a good one at that.

That depends on the wheel width and offset. As long as the spokes aren’t convex, I think it looks great.

I’m not a fan of them because they tend to fill up with snow (as you can see in my first picture) and then because they are black they will warm up a bit in the sun during the day, snow that is exposed will melt a bit and I’ll end up with a vibration because the snow inside the wheel is now lopsided.

I like your choice of wheels. Ive got a set of those too for autoX:

Diesel sold in winter normally has additives to keep the fuel from gelling in the cold.

There is plenty such work going on throughout the industry.

Agreed. This is mine:

I got that. I was just saying there’s no way in hell I’d be one of those people.

I would park it in a garage if I had one, but only at night. It’s way too much fun when the white stuff falls to leave it parked.