Mitsubishi Lancer Evo X vs Subaru WRX STI VA
We watched 10 videos from 8 reviewers. Want the sedan that talks to you? Evo X: more steering feel, a rear diff that helps it turn, and it takes fun 4 to 1. Want the one you'll drive every day? VA STI, for the better cabin, the comfort and the six-speed. Pace is too thinly covered to call.
Counts are head-to-head calls: each time a reviewer picked one car over the other.
Performance
4G63 is a stronger, more forgiving platform for high power.
Handling
Evo is more dynamic and playful.
Where reviewers split. This is a thin page, so read the tallies as leans. Handling has one dissent: Bobbi Niemela says the Evo "doesn't turn worth anything," about its turning radius. Performance shows 3 to 0 for the Evo, but it barely holds up. RevZone's quote is about the 4G63, the engine in the Evo VIII and IX, not the X's 4B11T, and Bobbi Niemela's "way faster" Evo is a lightly modified 2008 GSR against a 2019 STI. That leaves Motor1's note that the Evo's torque is "way more readily available." On daily drivability, the Evo's lone point is actually Engineering Explained noting the Evo has even less range than the STI, so that category is all Subaru. Value rests on two calls, one an aside on TFLnow's buyer-advice show. Fitment Industries' cars were both lightly modified, and none of the head-to-heads weighs the MR's twin-clutch against the STI's manual.
“Overall, the Evos just seem a bit more dynamic than the Subarus, whereas the Subarus feel more stable and more livable.”
“the evo does have the slight edge of using a torque vectoring differential so it can send more torque to the outside wheel”
“what you give up in smoothness you gain in like the best handling ever like this car is just fantastic it pretty much feels like it's on rails”
“the steering is extremely sharp extremely direct super quick also has zero body lean whatsoever”
Fun to drive
Evo is the more engaging enthusiast choice.
“I've noticed that that's tends to be the common theme, which is that the EVO is a bit more of the enthusiast choice. The driving is more engaging”
“the Evo on the other hand is almost like the Four Loko of the car scene when you compare it to the STI, it parties more, it's more aggressive, it's louder.”
“First thing you notice is the sound. That iconic boxer rumble fills the cabin, a constant rumbling reminder of the weird engine up front.”
Daily drivability
STI is more livable with better ergonomics.
“the steering wheel itself doesn't have any telescoping... I'm always hitting this with my knee”
“the STI had the shortest range of any of the vehicles I've tested, until this and then this you know has like 50 m less range than the STI”
Value
Subaru is cheaper to buy and maintain than the Mitsubishi.
Hear it in the reviewer’s words
“The Evo X is the sedan you take out to drive and the VA STI is the one you drive everywhere: Mitsubishi's last Evo is the sharper, more talkative car with a rear diff that helps it turn, and Subaru's STI is the calmer, better-finished one you can commute in.
They barely overlapped. The Evo X's last US model year was 2015, the VA STI's first, so the head-to-heads mostly put a run-out Evo (a 2014 GSR, a 2015 MR, the Final Edition) against a 2016 to 2021 STI. Under the hood it's Mitsubishi's aluminum 4B11T 2.0 turbo against Subaru's EJ257 2.5 boxer. Underneath, it's S-AWC with Active Yaw Control at the rear against the STI's driver-adjustable DCCD center diff. The Evo came as a five-speed manual GSR or a twin-clutch MR; the STI was six-speed manual only.
The Evo's case is feel. Motor1, driving a Final Edition back to back with a 2016 STI, says "you feel the road a lot more through that wheel," and Motoring.com.au says the Final Edition "feeds back through the steering wheel as well as any car I've ever driven." Engineering Explained gives the Evo "the slight edge" for its torque-vectoring rear diff, and Jubbal & Cars finds the Evos "a bit more dynamic," while the Subarus "feel more stable and more livable." On fun, Jubbal & Cars calls the Evo "the enthusiast choice" and Fitment Industries calls it "the Four Loko of the car scene": "it parties more, it's more aggressive, it's louder." The STI's one fun point is RevZone's "iconic boxer rumble."
Live with them and it's the STI. Jubbal & Cars calls the Evo's ergonomics "way more compromised," Engineering Explained keeps hitting the non-telescoping wheel with his knee, and Fitment Industries calls the STI's interior "leagues better" and prefers its six-speed to the GSR's shorter-geared five. Motor1 calls the STI "the better car to live with every day," and Engineering Explained found his Evo MR's range even shorter than the STI's, already the shortest he'd tested. Engineering Explained's overall call goes to the Subaru: "the STI's many small victories make it the champion."
Motoring.com.au puts the choice best. The Subaru is "far better value despite being priced higher," but for "a collectible weekender that won't wilt under more concerted hard driving," the Final Edition Evo "is more up to the task."