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Why so much hype about the SRT-4??

18K views 89 replies 45 participants last post by  bgSti 
#1 · (Edited)
I'm not trying to start a flame. But after I test drove the 2004 SRT-4 today. I really doubt their ability!!:confused:

The one I test drove is 2004 Srt4 which is the most powerful one right? Tho the car is still not break-in yet, but there shoudn't be that much difference right??

I punch it in 1st & 2nd gear(power shift) 1st to 2nd the tires chirp, but the car just doens't have those turbo kick in feel. I don't have much space to try to 4th gear & so on.(Test on city street rush hour). But even the 3rd gear feels sluggish. The stock Sti is so much faster & powerful than the srt-4. Though my Sti is mod now, but I can still remember how the stock Sti perform. I can says that the Sti is the horse compare to srt4 is the pig!! Realli, someone plz chime in and tell me did I test drove a SXT 2.0 or something??:confused:

I can't imagine how a stock 2004 Srt-4 pull on a stock sti from a roll?? Sigh..........I'm very disaapoint of this car after so much reading about it said how fast it it and such....

:(

andrew

*Onece again, I'm not starting a flame/war........I'm just telling what I've experienced. :/
 
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#3 ·
What I mean is I don't understand how can a Srt-4 hang with the Sti on the highway from what I've experience about the car by test droving it myself :/.

I just don't understand where the power come from??
Or maybe the Srt-4 is just like the M5 I drove. It doens't feels fast, but it's actually very fast in "speed". You know what I mean??

andrew
 
#4 ·
yea, but u cant just trust ur ass-dyno. Espically after driving a modded STi around, which is faster than a stock 04 SRT-4. Even driving around a similar powerd car will slowly numb the power feel ass-dyno reading after awhile.

Roll with one on the highway, then you might be a bit more impressed.
 
#8 ·
Fresh from the factory, they aren't killing machines, but one trip to Home Depot, they purchase a $3 spring, and get quicker. If they upgrade to a Stage 1, which is less than $400, they are even faster. I don't believe all of the Ferrari killing stories I read, but I have several videos on my computer where an SRT either keeps up, or slowly passes modded STi's. That is a pretty good deal for not a lot of $$$.

The whole, "If I put the $11,000 I saved into the SRT, I can smoke nearly anything" is nothing but weak. If I put $11,000 into my HMMWV (Humvee, for you non-military folks) I'm sure I could squash most cars too.

I bought an STi, because I could afford it. If I wanted an SRT, I could have gotten that, with much lower monthly payments. I think it's great that the SRT owners are proud of their cars, but like anywhere else, they tend to get a little overexcited about it's capabilities. It's bang for the buck value is the best on the market. I think the biggest problem with the STi and the EVO is that most of the people who are in the market for these cars, can't afford them. Hence they have fewer choices to make. The little neon that could (and CAN) is in the price range of many younger people who want to go fast. If I were 21 years old, I most certainly would be driving (and modifying) one myself.
 
#9 ·
True True!!

anyways here's a joke from the Dodge salesman who ride with me in the test drive today.

Salesman: So you drive a Subaru Sti right?

Me: Yea.

Salesman: Is that a auto or Maunal??:rolleyes:

Me: Manual no auto in that model.

Salesman: Oh yeh, I shoud'nt ask this question!!

Salesman: So how do you like about this car??

Me: Not bad, the stock exhaust & bov sounds good, of cuz you
can't expect much about the crappy interior and pedal feels esp: the clucth & steering wheel.

SMan: Well.....this car is design to be a performance car, so bear with that.

Me: Yea, true.

SMan: So which car is faster this or your car??

Me: Of cuz mine car is faster, it has 300/300 stock.

SMan: Yea, it's twin turbo right or supercharge??
:confused:

Me: It's just single turbo.

At that time-------Me & my bro have already started :rolleyes: & :confused:

The best part is after the test drive we drove back to the parking lot and let the car sits for a while (He know that turbo car need to cool down :eek: ) while we were checking out the car, my bro saw him putting his finger on the brake disc :confused1 . I'm like OOOOOOk.

hahah...hope you guys like this story!!


andrew
 
#10 ·
The srt is a great car for not only the $$$ they charge but even if it were more expensive. If you care about performance then its a really great deal minus the fwd.

2.4 iron block
16g stock turbo

From a roll it will take an sti. It usually dyno's at around 230whp w/240-250 tq. An sti dynos around 230-240whp. The srt is lighter then the sti. SO there is your reason why it pulls it at higher speeds. I would never buy an srt nor choose it over the sti but you gotta give credit where it is due. IMO I dont care about the cheap interior, I am probably buying that car to put work into and smoke alot of cars. ....Mopar and dodge hit the bulls eye w/that one.
 
#11 ·
My friend's Stage 1 SRT4 has made me a believer. The car can hang or beat lightly modded Evos, Sti's and stage 3 WRX's from a roll. Obviously the car would not fare so well from a stop, but when you are just comparing sheer HP, the car is tough to beat for the $ (excluding V8's of course).
The mods that are coming out for the SRT are pretty exciting, larger turbos that will move the turbo from the stock location, cams, ECU's, etc. It will be little time before we start seeing a bunch of 11 sec street driven SRTs.

I thought the interior was pretty decent and it definitely looks better than the EVO inside.
 
#12 ·
Im still trying to figure out who is hyping the SRT4?

Definition of Hype: To publicize or promote, especially by extravagant, inflated, or misleading claims.

No one has done that here. They have stated factual outcomings of the SRT4. Stock for stock, from a roll, with equal drivers, the "2004" SRT4 should win.
 
#13 ·
bgSti said:
Me: Not bad, the stock exhaust & bov sounds good, of cuz you
can't expect much about the crappy interior and pedal feels esp: the clucth & steering wheel.
The SRT-4 you drove had a BOV?

And yeah, it's very hard to make comparissons on an engine that hasn't had a chance to break in yet. I'm sure you never went WOT in your STi the first dozen miles, so you wouldn't really know if it makes a difference. The PCM still needs time to learn the boost schedule, fuel timing, etc.

Did you happen to look at the boost gauge and see what the car was boosting? Should've been 13-14 PSI for an 2004.
 
#14 ·
Again if you want straight lie performance and do a little autoXs and you want a sweet deal then get a SRT4

If you have a little more to spend and want to go through canyons, dirt/snow and gravel and a little now and then a straight line get a wrx/or sti.

both are great cars, but different in applications
 
#15 ·
Up in Canada, there is almost a 20K difference between the OTD price of an SRT4 and that of an STi.

I agree, driving a modded car dulls the butt dyno bigtime.
I recently testdrove the Volvo V70R (with the 300HP 5 cyl engine), and I wasn't impressed at all with it's straighline power to be honest, even though my friend who was looking at the car was scared crapless....

It's all relative...
 
#16 ·
A few comments:

This subject has been discussed, and can be viewed ad-nauseum here:
http://www.srtforums.com/forums/showthread.php?s=&threadid=29011&highlight=going+to+be+racing

I'm the driver in the STi discussed in the thread.

The starter of this thread has been posting some very odd questions/comments regarding his STi. For instance: Who can I get to give me a 50/50 lock on the center diff (adjustable for those who own one would know). He was glad that he bought the 6 speed STi and the not the auto.

These questions, and this thread, lead me to believe we have a "wannabe" amongst the crowd. Maybe I'm wrong. If so, please post pics of you and your STi and I'll humbly beg your forgiveness. If not, please stop with the inane comments, rediculous questions, and poser stories. Maybe you have driven an SRT4, and quite honestly, I would agree with you that it doesn't feel as strong as the STi. But for some odd reason, I suspect you are posting subjects like this to associate yourself with an STi, which you don't actually own. I can't blame you, but dude...c'mon..it's just a car.

Abrigado
 
#18 ·
From a stock WRX owner who was killed by an SRT from a ~30mph roll...they are that fast! (and cost a lot less than an STi) Your buttdyno must have been miscalibrated!
That said, I would still buy an EVO or STi if I had the cash over an SRT-4
 
#19 ·
I for one, think I have a pretty fair view of both cars. I have driven a friends STi several times in the past few months (stock) and I myself used to own a modified WRX and now own a slightly modified SRT-4.

Here's a dyno graph of my car. The red line is bone stock with 119 miles on it. The blue line is with your basic performance upgrades. Just a downpipe, wga (the stock wga spring on the SRT-4 is pretty weak. The wga mod allows more boost to be held to redline), boost controller, intake, stage 1 ecu.



All in all, the mods cost me about $1050 but could have been had for alot less (spring mod, etc) and I'm pretty happy considering it is untuned and on the stock turbo. I'm confident that once my e-manage and e-01 arrive I can squeeze 300whp out of this puppy on the stock turbo.

For the money, its a great car with a great engine but AWD is the ****. On the highway I dont think I'd have any problem with a stock STi (tables might turn against an STi with a TBE and UTEC though) but from a stop I'd still be toast. It would take awhile for me to catch up with a well launched STI.

IMO, theyre two great cars but I think if you poll most SRT owners theyd tell you theyd rather have an STi if both were equal price.
 
#20 ·
Those SRT 4's rule. was about to get one until i found out you had to manually roll down the rear window. Kinda hard pulling to the side of the road to let some air in for my son in the back. And the number one reason for not getting the Dodge. Neon. Same platform and same poor crash results. The Subarus have a safer and sturdier cabin as the results of recent tests. Forgot where the pictures came from, I think Nabisco?? had someone post it. I know, i know, it doesn't matter about safety and its all about speed.... well I kinda like the look of the STI more than the " HI" of the front fascia of the neon. But they are both fast!!
 
#22 ·
Hhahah.....You guys all have a fairly positive pt. of view about the SRT4, which I like :). Now, I definetly want to ride in a mod Srt-4 :wiggles: .

Bonus: I finally got a chance to race my bro 2001 zo6 which have intake and exhaust done to his car should be yield to about the same as the 2003 405hp zo6 pwer, am I correct??

Anyway, the race me in 3rd gear about 3500rpm and I think he's in the 2nd gear, after 3 honk, my sti quickly jump and pull half a car through 4th, but by the end of 4th gear which is around 120km, by the time I shift to 5th he start to pull even and then you guys know what will happen right??? That is blew by me like I'm standing still LOL!!! Anyway I'm very happy with the result.

We did 3 runs and the same result:)

*I realli hate the gear ratio on the STI especailly 4th to 5th!!!

My performance mods:
Helix catless DP
HKS carbon-ti catback
Blitz SBC-id III set to around 16psi(peak) 5th is 17psi(peak)
HKS SSQV which doens't realli help :/
Unknown brand short ram intake

andrew
 
#23 ·
But yeah, to answer your question, there is no hype over the SRT-4. It's just a stupid Neon with a strong engine, that's it. If you see one on the road, just flip off the driver and spit into his intercooler.

It should feel slow because it is slow. Don't take them seriously because 75% of all SRT-4 owners are kids who can't drive and think it can beat Vettes and Cobras.

w3rd.
 
#24 ·
Khryz said:
But yeah, to answer your question, there is no hype over the SRT-4. It's just a stupid Neon with a strong engine, that's it. If you see one on the road, just flip off the driver and spit into his intercooler.

It should feel slow because it is slow. Don't take them seriously because 75% of all SRT-4 owners are kids who can't drive and think it can beat Vettes and Cobras.

w3rd.
My sarcasm detector is going off like crazy right now :D
 
#25 ·
From a launch, the STi and WRX have a huge advantage. Out of curiosity, how many of these launches can the car surrvive before something breaks or gets worn out (maybe 50 or 60, or more??).

In my opinon, unless you are striclty into drag racing, then performance from a roll is way more important.
 
#26 · (Edited)
jaman said:
From a launch, the STi and WRX have a huge advantage. Out of curiosity, how many of these launches can the car surrvive before something breaks or gets worn out (maybe 50 or 60, or more??).

In my opinon, unless you are striclty into drag racing, then performance from a roll is way more important.
I'm sorry, but SAY WHAT!!!????

OK..lets go that route. How about performance from a roll, from a roll to a stop, from a roll around a corner, from weight transfer, from lane changing, from hell...any other aspect. Basically, if you aren't into dragracing, all of the other performance aspects that come to mind.

I respect your opinion, and if you are buying the SRT4 for it "performance from a roll" aspect, then you are truly suited to the car.

IMO, there is a lot more to a car than that. Not disrespecting the SRT4 in those categores, as it is actually a decent car to drive, even hard in the twisties (assuming you can overlook the feel of the clutch and shifter throws, and you don't mind average brakes for stopping).

Once you compare it to something that actually does perform in the twisties, then its buh-by...regardles of it's "performance from a roll" characteristics. And honestly, I'm not trying to be sarcastic, but can you please reference any motorsport where the "performance from a roll" category is the measurement used to qualify winners/losers? I can't think of a single one...oh wait...maybe the salt flats top speed races...but they are already at their top end upon start and finish. So maybe it's "ability to maintain the roll"....;). Did I just establish a new performance category??:tongue: :tongue:

edit: Forgot one last item. Having driven all 3 vehicles, and having owned 2 of them (not the SRT4), and knowing the weak links of all of them via friends who are owners, and of course, from boards like this, IMO, the STi would outlast the SRT4 in any wearability category, with the exception of the aluminum block vs the iron block of the SRT4. Keep them both stock though, and only time will tell which lasts longer, but I suspect it would be the SRT4. But after 50 or 60 launches, my money is on the STi. Check the boards for SRT4 clutches, transmissions, and axle shafts. Check the board for STi clutches, transmissions and axleshafts. Notice the difference? Yes, you can blame it on the likely age level difference, or launch techniques, or shifting ability, but a difference is a difference, regardless of the reason. If you take that into account, then the WRX would rate better than the SRT4, despite the numerous reports of broken trannies.
PS....check out JD Powers for both, and then tell me the SRT4 will outlast either the WRX or the STi. Nope.
 
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