Posted by Dan Nixon: [I am interested more in "on road" performance. 4WD is a great advantage in mud & gravel but really not for the road beyond bad weather and hard launches. I don't drag race and the FWD is pretty good in bad weather in its own right. The downside of 4WD is weight (WRX is 100 lbs more than the larger SVT), complexity (more to break), and that 20-25% power loss to the ground (from 227 crank HP to 168-180 wheel HP per 2 recent dynos)]
I like on road and everyday performance too, and the WRX is supperior in that respect. Yes there is a lot of turbo lag in my Wrx, but guess what, it is still way easier to drive and faster than my Csvt without breaking a sweat! The all-wheel drive is an asset, not a liability. The WRX has a very long travel suspension and tuned much softer than the Csvt, but it corner just as well, and dare I say better entry and exit speed from a a turn. The all wheel drive actually allows me to accelerate harder into a turn and pull out quicker even with the WRX's softer and longer suspension travel. I believed if I want more conner capability, a sway bar and better tires would works very well for the WRX. But IHMO, I like it the way it is, very practical, refine, yet still very capable. There is no tire spin osccilation at quick start, slighty imperfect road surface will not upset the chassis. You have to experience the control of an all wheel drive to see its advantages. The reason I said Ford did a half baked job is they never intended to keep the Csvt competitive. They could have put in a 3.0, Or they could have put in a quaife for that matter. What Ford did was cost cutting to the core. If you look at the Contour chassis, even the thin metal subframe is cut short before reaching the back suspension.
