congrats on the new sti and welcome to perth-wrx. You will find that most everyone on the forum here has an opinion about the 08 but not many have driven it or even seen up close in the flesh. I have done both and cant fault it mechanically. The styling is well another issue all together. I truly believe that the hatch was a commercial decision for Subaru world wide and time will tell if it was the right move. I too am looking forward to the release of a sedan version. I will say that with a bit of cosmetic modding, lowering and zorst that you will have a cracking car. The hatch though just screams out chick car though. Even my wife likes it compared to my old pig sti so that tells me something. Good luck and enjoy the betty sti.

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Funny looking German Subaru