Reviewer Consensus · Head to Head
Comparisons
Every matchup is built from real reviewers driving both cars — their head-to-head verdicts, aggregated.
comparison videos analyzed · hours watched
matchups written up so far
compare › Lancer Evo X vs WRX STI VA
Mitsubishi Lancer Evo X vs Subaru WRX STI VA
9 reviewers · 11 videos · updated Jubbal & Cars · 2·Engineering Explained · 2·TFLnow · 1·Fitment Industries · 1
// the short answer
We watched 11 videos from 9 reviewers. Want the sedan that talks to you? Evo X: more steering feel, a rear diff that helps it turn, and it takes fun 5 to 0. 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.
// who each one is for
// category by category
№ 01
Performance
Evo wins2–0thin
Evo feels faster and more like a race car.
№ 02
Handling
Evo wins4–1clear
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 2 to 0 for the Evo, but it barely holds up. Bobbi Niemela's "way faster" Evo is a lightly modified 2008 GSR against a 2019 STI, which leaves Motor1's note that the Evo's torque is "way more readily available." Lovecars' fun point comes from a UK-market FQ-400 in a three-way test with a Focus RS. 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.”
▶22:37Jubbal & Cars
№ 03
Fun to drive
Evo wins5–0clear
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.”
№ 04
Daily drivability
WRX STI wins9–0clear
STI is more livable with better ergonomics.
№ 05
Value
WRX STI wins2–0thin
Subaru is cheaper to buy and maintain than the Mitsubishi.
№ 06// the footage
Hear it in the reviewer’s words
Jubbal & Cars
Posted Oct 19, 2025Open on YouTube
Moments worth your time
Motor1
Posted May 20, 2016Open on YouTube
Moments worth your time
Engineering Explained
Posted Oct 11, 2015Open on YouTube
Moments worth your time
// the long version
“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." Lovecars, in a UK-market FQ-400, adds that the Evo is "incredibly analog" and "you feel very very connected." No reviewer gives the STI a fun point.
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. Automobile Magazine says the STI "does a lot of the same things the Evo does with a bit more class," Motor1 calls it "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."