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3L svt vs...

the rex is cheaper at first, until you hit the limits of the stock fuel, turbo, and timing. then it get pretty expensive. honestly, if your thinking like that, get an sti, and wait for about 6 months for one to come up for around 20. 100 dollars more a month is better than 600+1000+500+790+2000 here and there. imho.
 
PaulDaJedi said:
I have a 99 cougar mtx that I did a 3.0 swap on. only engine mods I have are exhaust and high flow cat, and a CC cold air intake stage 2 clutch and SVT flywheele. and with just that I am faster then a WRX. I have some SVT parts. I eat WRXs and RSXs alive.
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Really no offense. I have both so I think I can make some justified comments. I am much more emotionally attached to the CSVT and I have spent a lot on the CSVT this year. That includes fully built 3L and HMS tranny, intake and exhaust, and the entire suspension front and rear. It pulls much stronger than bone stock CSVT. It may be faster than a stock WRX (5.5 - 5.9 sec 0-60), but not a modified WRX. At Cobb's site, a nominal stage 2 WRX (only a reflashed ECU and catless downpipe as a minimum requirement -- less than $1000 including labor) nets close to 285 hp at crank. A lot of WRX you meet at autoX or track have way more mods than those. With driving skills equal, it's hard to beat a modified WRX.

I know for a fact that when I drive my 92X, it's faster than my 3L CSVT. And, if I had spent the money on the 92X rather than on the CSVT, I will be outperforming the STi (stock of course) with larger turbo, intake, header, FMIC with sprayer.

One guy at the saab92x.com was a convert from LS2 F-body cars. He only did a basic stage 2, with a cheapo FHI rear sway bar, springs and endlinks, constantly beats Corvettes, 911s and M3s on the auto-x and tracks. We saw many video footages as proof. But it may also because he is a skilled driver.
 
If you like an easy way to get power, buy the Subaru, with no complains.
But if you are of those guys (like almost the CSVT owners) that prefers make mods and work in a car to make power get a CSVT. I guess that if you have 20k as budget, you can make a super CSVT. With that budget you can do almost whatever you want with an CSVT, LOL.
 
You said your budget was at 20k right? well i'm just throwing this out there but an SRT-4 would be less than that and with the extra dough you can buy mods and make it pretty fast.

But it were me I would def. go with the WRX,after modding the CSVT I don't think it is all that great of a car(when it come down to perfomance per mod or the cheapest and easiest way to make the car a contender against some respectable cars)Don't get me wrong I love my CSVT but I would NOT buy one again.Go for the WRX I have Driven and have rode in one stock and modified,they are nice and fast.Someone said somthing about there trannys well look at our trannys(contours) they are not the greatest in the world either and the WRX def. has a stronger tranny than ours. just my 2cents
 
chrisl311 said:
good info everyone. thanks. as far as the reliability thing on the subarus, ive always thought they were supposed to be good cars. thing about the contour is the interior rattles, its 4 years older than a 2003, so its in worse shape. the underneath is rusty, body in good shape for a car with 100k, this is stuff that cant be changed with a 3l swap, plus, thats cash out of hand, where as more expensive cars are payed out in the loan, so an extra 100 bucks a month on a 48 month is like 5000 grand, so if you dont have 5000 right now, you can spend 100 a month for 4 years, which is easier for most (except for interest). but anyways, im wondering if i should just wait a year for the sti's to get cheaper... not sure. but regular wrx's before 04 are ugly, inside and out. rsx's beat it for sure, except drivetrain. dunno.
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Of the cars you mentioned, I'd pick the RSX or the WRX if reliability is a primary concern. Between me and people I know, I've had experience with a lot of Honda/Acuras, Subarus, Fords, Dodges, GMs, Nissans, and Toyotas. Of those, the Toyotas, Honda/Acuras, and Subarus were far and away the most reliable.

In terms of what will be the fastest, that always comes down to how much money you want to spend. If cost is at all a concern for you, I guarantee you'll get beaten by cars that you didn't think could beat you - simply because they spent more money on modifying their car.

A reasonably modified Contour can run the 1/4-mile in the 13-14 second range with a 3L swap. If you go forced induction then the sky's the limit, though your reliability or your cost will be impacted severely if you go that route.

As they say, "Fast, Cheap, Reliable. Pick any two." This applies to ALL cars, regardless of manufacturer.

On Subarus, if it's reliability and performance that you want, I still think that the WRX is the way to go, but then that's why I bought one myself. However, if will still break if it's abused, and if you want to put any serious amount of power into it, you'll want to swap up to the 6-speed at some point, because 2nd gear is a weak point (relatively speaking) in the 5-speed transmission. At factory power levels - and even a bit above - the 5-speed is rock solid. Heck, ask Barge - he's still running the stock 5-speed. But for heaps of torque and good launches, you'll get more reliability out of the 6-speed. Speed-wise, since you're dealing with forced induction out of the box, it's fairly simple to reach 12-13 second in the quarter, but at a sub-13 second 1/4-mile you're pushing the limits of the stock 5-speed. Aftermarket gears or an STi pull-off 6-speed would be the way to go at that point.

I've seen RSXs that can run 12-13 seconds in the 1/4-mile, but they were expensively modified. Not a cheap way to go. You can see 14 seconds in a reasonably modified one, similar to the Contour. They'll be pretty reliable, but again, costs will increase dramatically once you go forced induction to get serious performance out of it.

Now to throw you a bit of a curve. If a smaller car like a Miata would be of interest to you at all, consider going that route. Smaller, yes, but performance is easy to squeeze out of one, including with forced-induction. 200-250 hp in that light of a car will be seriously entertaining.

FWIW....
 
well the car is for sale now, but unfortunately i wont be able to get either of these cars for awhile. =(
 
Sorry to hear that...I would have to say go with a WRX...It's what i did...As for them being ugly, i love my bug-eye and most people who own them do too...I bought a used 02 wagon with A/T for 12k and put about $2k to go stage 4 and i'm putting down about ~300whp which is good for mid to low 12's with my built tranny (torque converter and valve body)...I sold my contour with 3L to my buddy...Trust me, if you're on the bench, go test drive a WRX (especially an 06) and once you feel that 12 psi of stock boost kick in, you'll want to buy just to upgrade it...If you want a good site check out www.nasioc.com its everything wrx/sti...
 
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