What a spectacularly fun car to drive. The dynamics are so well put together... it's extremely easy to drive at the limit and the limits are quite high for a stock car on crappy tires. I was really impressed with the stability over undulating pavement and the turn-in. Holy crap the steering feels as if it's directly connected to your brain. A lot like the previous gen M3 in that respect. I dig it. I'd have a hard time putting lowering springs on it and risking a detriment to that whole "feel". It's cool to drive a car with that much suspension travel that still exhibits excellent body control. Very little roll, doesn't do anything stupid. The chassis could definitely handle an increase in horsepower. It didn't feel very quick or fast while rolling and especially when out of boost, but it was REAL quick through first gear if you dump it at high revs. I just kept thinking what a perfect autocross car it would be with some good tires and a little boost increase. 8 months of Maxima lease left and counting down. It's between the new 3.5 Altima and the WRX now. I think I can learn to love that ugly WRX face if it's that much fun to drive every day!

 

I hate to admit it but the WRX has some potential... All I have to say is TURBO. With some quality coilovers (like TrueChoice) the suspension would stay the same if not get better. Its just $$$ and I am sure you could fix up the face with a little surgery...

 

I was watching some rally the other day.. and they were running stock WRX's. the only change was some ECU monitoring and stiffer springs... thats it! oh and a roll cage

I was amazed how much punishment stock parts took. One of them missed a turn and ran the right front into a huge rut at pretty high speed. They changed out that side as a precaution at the next stage, but up till then he was still driving hard, no failure. thats pretty cool