i know what you all are thinking: oh no, not another ITR vs... thread, don't worry, im not magazine racing here.

I am a new WRX owner, and my friend is a new ITR owner. (he has a garage, i don't). We took the cars out this past weekend to an autox. i have been autoxing for about 2 years, and this is my friend's second time.
We got six runs each, (3 morning, and 3 after lunch), and we decided to drive our own cars in the morning, and switch them up after lunch.
both cars were on junky street tires (no azenis or anything...yet)

To start off, i must state the obvious: as much as the ITR is thought of as sooooo much better of a handler, the fact is that the two cars are both in Dstock.

On this particular course, each car had it's shining points. The R killed the Wrx in the slalom, but the scoobie pwn3d the lane change. Driving the two, i noticed a few major differences. The R, due to its great stiff suspension and lighter weight was able to transition more smoothly and i could carry more momentum from one sector to the next. The WRX, due to its higher horsepower and torque, was noticably better coming out of tight corners. While more body roll was experienced with this car, it still sticks to the road remarkably well due to AWD.
The R was much more "tossable" and would clearly respond more quickly, although it must be said the subie was not too far back in steering response.

I went to the autox that day expecting the WRX to feel like a bus after driving the R. This was not the case. It definately felt bigger, but it's not that much slower.

My best time was with the R and was about a second quicker than my best time with the WRX. My buddy's best time was with the WRX by 3 seconds, but i attribute that to him just understanding the course better in the afternoon.

Conclusion: Both cars are clearly performance oriented, and both preformed quite well (to my suprise). while the R is the better autox machine (in Dstock at least), it is not THAT much better.........like i expected it to be. I think the problem is that most people do not understand that the WRX must be driven differently to be quick, and as you all know, driver makes more difference than car. (a guy in a Sentra Spec V (slicks) beat my best time in the R by 2.5 seconds just because of his excellent driving abilities.

Sorry if this post was too long, but i thought i would share my experience with both cars.

to both cars!

 

Cool write-up.

 

I auto-x'ed this weekend. I came in last to a fat Chinese kid in an R and a few sc00bies. I attribute the loss to bad tires and excess weight in the caR

 

I primarily compete against Wrx's on the local level in STX, and I am usually the only R at my events. I recently moved to SM and at the Atlanta tour event got my *** handed to me primarily because I was on Azenis and all other cars were on hoosiers or other R compound tires. In DS, a fully prepared R will trounce a fully prepared WRX given the same driver. This has been shown for the last 4 years at nationals and I expect will continue to be the case. The WRX currently owns STX on a national level, which I personally believe is a direct result of the ECU mod rule which allows aftermarket programming. On many WRX's in STX, the cars will Dyno in excess of 230 at the WHEELS, with no supposed Boost modifications, (that for another discussion altogether)...On the local level, I normally place top 10 in PAX out of 100 or so drivers and in STX have always been able to place 1st or 2nd against the Gaggle of Rex's that show up. Once you get out of the Stock class and start into Suspension and other bolt on mods, I think the WRX and R are dead even, it all comes down to driver. The R has a weight advantage which is given away to the WRX because of it's available horsepower and 4WD. Personally, I know I would not have half the fun I do at events if it wasnt for competing against Scoobies. Without them, I dont think I would be as pumped up to go faster as I am now.

 

Good reviews guys. Nice to see people not be so biased just because of what they own. I had a GSR and recently sold it for my 05 WRX. Still haven't autocrossed yet, but in daily driving and some spirited driving, I can see some things that I liked more about the Integra and some I like more about the Impreza.

As you both said, the lighter weight of the integra makes it easy to toss around (I had upgraded my GSR 14mm rear sway to ITR 22mm as well ) and also liked the faster revving motor. In my WRX, I like the higher power and the constant grip from the AWD (just need to ditch the crappy stock tires ) Also prefer my stock 2 piston WRX brakes to my GSR brakes with Axxis pads.
In my WRX, I love the EM that I purchased called Accessport. No wiring, ust plugs into the OBD2 diagnostic port. It allows simple switching of different preset maps. So I can switch between stock, different stages of power, and even a specific STX map. AutoXing should be fun heh.

Loved my Integra, wished I had had an R, but I needed something new and the higher power and more interior space swayed my decision

R
WRX

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by chris1866 &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">My best time was with the R and was about a second quicker than my best time with the WRX. </TD></TR></TABLE>

There ya' go... A second is equal to infinity on the autox course...

 

I cant stand the way a stock WRX feels. Feels like my DX civic hatchcrap. not to mention the crappy brakes. with some improvements though the WRX is a fun car

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by SMZ GSR &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">
R
WRX </TD></TR></TABLE>

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by RTW &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote"> with some improvements though the WRX is a fun car </TD></TR></TABLE>


so is a dx hatchcrap

 

I totally agree with Slapsmack. I compete locally (and this past weekend, Nationally) against WRXes in STX. If I were *smart*, Id run DS, but Im not...hehe. DS, the R pwnz the WRX no question, but in STX its a totally different story. The "problem" is that the WRX gains a ton with the STX legal mods, whereas the R doesnt gain nearly as much.

We have a large turnout at Atlanta events (~220 avg) and there are usually 8-9 cars in STX, most of them WRXes. More often than not, I can beat them, but thats b.c of driver only. I ran my first Natl level event this weekend at the Atlanta Pro-Solo, had a blast. I finished 4th out of 10 drivers, about a second behind current Scoobie Driver and STX Natl Champ Tom Hoppe. Yeah, a second is a long time in Autox, but considering the caliber of driver he is, Ill take it any day of the week!
Also, esp at Pro-Solos you got to figure in the R you are giving up as much as .5sec at the start due to the AWD launches those guys can pull off.

At any rate, I welcome the challenge of running an "underdog" car in an WRX class. Makes it that much sweeter when you win.

 

STX WRX =

1) Can run 245 tires
2) Makes around 240hp @ the wheels with STX "legal" mods
3) Has AWD
4) Can weigh 2900lbs (pretty light all things considering)
5) Decently short wheelbase (shorter than the DC2)

No, it's not the perfect autox car because it is vulnerable on tight courses and courses with slaloms, but it more than makes up for those differences on other areas of the course.

The ITRs are still tire limited and that's going to be a problem unless someone makes a 225/45/15 or 225/40/16 in a sticky street tire compound.

 

Nice review. I went a similar path as you. I went from a GS/DS ITR for 3 yrs to a daily driver WRX (which became an STX beast). Now I'm driving my '05 STi in A Stock and wow is this car fast. I'm still on stock wheels and tires and I'm right up there close to FTD locally. FTD is becoming a possibility if I go to a full race tire. We'll see.