that pretty much beats out the mitsu again. even if they make the ralliart.
The Ralliart is THE exact reason this happened.
Until now, the WRX has had no direct competition (I don't call anything FWD competition). With the Lancer, you either got all or nothing, there was no middle ground in models like the WRX
was. Now that Mitsu has a direct competitor, Subaru needed to widen the gap around them further.
I've been on the fence about the new WRX since day one, but with these changes, I'd buy an '09 WRB Rex in a second if I could.
I will say though, I wish there was 2 things they would change on the Impreza line. First, add a gold wheel option to the WRX like the STi. The gunmetal wheels look great on the black/grey/silver and red cars, but do nothing for me on WRB or white. Second, a modern day Gravel Express, an OBS with the IGT engine.