If you were going to buy a new Daily Driver, that ...

[Bob Beamesderfer]

Anyone have a Consumer Report '09 Car issue? What's the Cobalt's Reliability Record ... as compared to a WRX?

About equal.

[Jason Isley BS RX8]

From Leslie:

Yes we did. That was at about $1100 per set of tires = 9 sets. Max. 80
runs per set until corded. We were running 2-3 weekends per month.
Practices and championships, pros and tours. Ah the good old days.....

If you ran Kumhos instead of Hoosiers you could cut at least one set off of that. And unless you are contending for the big event wins like Leslie was, there is no reason to use up that many tires, and certainly not the ones that wear out quicker.

[Steve Ekstrand]

I would think the Subie is going to have a much better resale.
But, no car has good resale right now, so counting on that may not mean as much as the amount saved up front. I don't know how Subie dealers are dealing, but the Chevy dealer is paying you to clear the lot.
If that $2K is off the top of your best negotiated deal.... Wow!
But that does give you the ballsy attitude to try and crush the Subie dealer in negotiations.

I think you'll enjoy autocrossing either car, can be competitive in either car and you'll enjoy either car on the street. The subie has more room, is safer in bad weather, and will have better resale. I'd imagine its several thousand more though. I think you'd ultimately be happier in the Subie. How much is that worth? It would be nice to be able to prep the car right and afford to race. If saving money on the purchase is enough to help you achieve the other goals, then that might be enough to put Mako in a bowtie.

[Jason Uyeda]

From Leslie:

Yes we did. That was at about $1100 per set of tires = 9 sets. Max. 80
runs per set until corded. We were running 2-3 weekends per month.
Practices and championships, pros and tours. Ah the good old days.....

If you ran Kumhos instead of Hoosiers you could cut at least one set off of that. And unless you are contending for the big event wins like Leslie was, there is no reason to use up that many tires, and certainly not the ones that wear out quicker.

Agreed... The C5Z is one of the easier stock cars on tires... Anything on 18's is going to be over 1k per-set... Tires for the WRX will be cheaper only because they're 17s, but squeezing 245s onto 7s isn't going to great things for tire life... You can argue that with F/AWD you may get away with crappy tires on the back but setup will certainly have an influence on that... And most F/AWD cars are compromised by struts and a lack of camber.

A6s aren't much more $$$ (generally somewhere around +5%) but they also don't last as long on most stock cars (or any that I can think of...).

[Sebastian Rios]

If it's only between the Cobalt and the WRX, you'd probably be happiest in a WRX, but I think the Cobalt is the quicker autocross car.

[Eric Clements]

It doesn't have to be on the same line as the earlier WRX, but it's way too slow for BSP unless it's on the same line as the STi. An older model can still get it done, it will just cost a lot more in transmissions.

Letters come in, conference calls happen. Watch for the upcoming Fastrack...

[Mako Koiwai]

Jason ... "back then," wasn't Leslie still on 710's

LESLIE says ... 710's only for a short time ... then Hoosiers ... of course the Jason's would know that.