My driving is not just good, but award-winning.

Maybe. The WRX certainly makes more sense on paper, but it can’t touch the STI on feel and overall fun IMHO. It’s just a matter of how much and/or what sort of excitement a person is after and what they’re willing to give up for it.

I went on a similar search a few months ago for something new that could seat four adults, have a stick, and be fun to drive for ~$40k or less. There were a lot of genuinely good options out there (and even more if you don’t need as usable of a rear seat), but I landed on the WRX STI and think it’s worth at least a…

Sounds about right. I had a chance to drive one in anger around a short autocross event at a demo event a few years back and this car was push city. It was reasonably communicative and intuitive to drive in general, but it practically took a Scandinavian flick to coax any helpful rotation out of it on dry…

Ah, most unfortunate :-(

If yours happens to be a 3rd gen, you could try checking with this guy:

Not driving education related, but occurring in that same period of time:

I got curious to see how bad it was, so here’s some quick google-fu and napkin math using the two methods provided in the SCCA Solo Rulebook (section 3.1.A):

I just started using a Hit Box, so this has me wondering how much of a leap one of those would be. If only I hadn’t sold my Rock Band stuff a few months ago...

Thankfully, their journey was only ever making progress at idle speed, so I was able to catch up and take that second picture without having to be a sprinter.

I’ll see your hood cat and raise you two roof lizards:

Ah yes, my first car! It was a ‘94 Sundance coupe with the anemic 2.2 bought for $1700 in 2003. The driving experience was moderately more interesting than just about every other option I could find at that price point at the time and it was “safe” enough to satisfy the parents. I learned how to perform all manner of…

I was pretty big into anime and binged on quite a lot of it in college. I still watch a decent amount of it, but find myself drifting further away from the popular lot and finding more enjoyment from the ones that can slow down a bit to present a truly engaging story with pleasing aesthetics. Some recommendations…

As a few others here have mentioned, 09+ is the way to go. Stronger engine internals (with 500 more RPMs to play with), better ratios for the 6 speed, and improved suspension hardware and geometry make it a no-brainer. Also the sport suspension package (not sport trim) is a must in order to get a LSD. Look for a…

Mynd you, internet famoose bites Kan be pretti nasti.

None as far as I can tell. It’s a larger weight penalty (110 vs 80 lbs), slower (13 vs 12 sec), and likely just as bad, if not worse at potentially fitting a roll bar (the NC at least has a viable, if somewhat impractical solution for track days that would never work on the RF). Top-up noise levels seem to still be…

Wow, thanks for the info on this gathering (not to mention all of those glorious pictures). I’ll be in Japan again in October and will definitely be checking to see if I can work one of these in during my visit.

Oh hey, a Gradius game. If I use the Konami Code, I’ll get a ton of lives. Ha! Fooled you! Inputting the Konami Code in Gradius III will instantly kill you. That will teach you for trying to cheat your way through our difficult arcade shooter.

Watching this routine repeatedly unfold:

Wound up going with ‘DE GOZAIMASU’, as in...