Forester sti vs JDM 2002 wagon sti
Discussion
I've owned both and much prefer the FSTi
The Impreza as standard is shortchanged IMO. It has the 'wagon' look, so front wings and rear arches are not boxed out. Brakes are too small, then you've got smaller rear drive shafts making brake upgrades difficult, big steering wheel, no quick rack, the list goes on
The one I had had been fitted with a widertack front, so had saloon wings. I fitted Brembo's, pink STi suspension lateral arms plus a host of other goodies but still failed to impress. I think it needed a much quicker steering rack to get it on its toes a bit more
The Forester is a whole other story. You get a very well sorted car from STi. Bespoke loads - extended 6th for motorway cruising, wheels, brakes, and the suspension is is great OE with lowering, flatter roll, quick rack, Spec C interior, body work although a bit marmite is fit for purpose. The extra engine capacity gives nice grunt with ~320bhp on tap through short throw gears. It's comfortable too
Sadly, there is the HG issue. Mine let go and I had a refresh when I was there, so cost £3.5K. To its credit the rest of the engine's internals were mint. But if you can find one which has had the HG's changed then it's a no brainer
The Impreza as standard is shortchanged IMO. It has the 'wagon' look, so front wings and rear arches are not boxed out. Brakes are too small, then you've got smaller rear drive shafts making brake upgrades difficult, big steering wheel, no quick rack, the list goes on
The one I had had been fitted with a widertack front, so had saloon wings. I fitted Brembo's, pink STi suspension lateral arms plus a host of other goodies but still failed to impress. I think it needed a much quicker steering rack to get it on its toes a bit more
The Forester is a whole other story. You get a very well sorted car from STi. Bespoke loads - extended 6th for motorway cruising, wheels, brakes, and the suspension is is great OE with lowering, flatter roll, quick rack, Spec C interior, body work although a bit marmite is fit for purpose. The extra engine capacity gives nice grunt with ~320bhp on tap through short throw gears. It's comfortable too
Sadly, there is the HG issue. Mine let go and I had a refresh when I was there, so cost £3.5K. To its credit the rest of the engine's internals were mint. But if you can find one which has had the HG's changed then it's a no brainer
fsti is easier to drive and drive fast engine wise , a long motorway run fsti is better to drive a bit higher up and much better mpg , but i still like both cars , more amusing when the mrs beats me off the lights easily in the fsti me in the wagon , the fsti has got a lot of grunt straight away smaller turbo quicker earlier boost
Thanks for the info guys. Flipping between the two but I think the FSTI is the one to go for as more space, better brakes and that longer 6th. Without the HG issue I would be buying one now but I think I need to have a think or save up some extra cash for the "just in case fund" missus is also very picky about colour so it could be a long search! Even started looking at bmw's but hopefully it won't come to that!! 
vxr2010 said:
correcting myself mpg is pretty much the same on both cars , fsti maybe 1 or possibly 2 mpg better but that would be at its best , 2 litre out the box definitely a stronger more durable lump but can't compare with 2.5 grunt
Remove the 2.0, stroke it to 2.35 and fit it in the FSTi = win/win 
vxr2010 said:
i heard the bigger cc makes a difference i wonder how much and any downsides ? is it literally a straight swap to put a stroked 2 litre in place of a 2.5
Can't see why not, it's fundamentally the same engine, so everything should bolt up. Not sure what the cost difference is between sourcing a 2.0 and converting it to 2.35 with forged parts vs forging a 2.5. Although I have heard of even forged 2.5s failing again.when 2.5 fails i'm assuming it's normally hg going ? unless it's been highly tuned which will always shorten the life of an engine , as both engines block size wise are the same , i'm assuming 2.5 hg are smaller and cover less area due to bigger bore on the 2.5 ? less head gasket area more chance of it failing maybe ? i'm tempted if i have to rebuild the wagon then go to a 2.1 or so
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