Wants to buy an ugly betty but shoots down bug eyes, uhhhhh
In all seriousness, I like my 08 hatch. They don't look the sharpest, but with some nice wheels, a bit of low, the STI rear wing, colour matching of chrome, and fixing of the tail lights it doesn't look too bad. That's actually a terrifically long list to make a car look acceptably nice.
Suspension is sloppy/soft from factory, which makes for a comfortable daily drive but really lacks when you push it. The usual suspension mods will take care of this.
Power, will probably feel the same as your 05 wrx. I think they use the ej205? If so you'll feel the 2.5l engine is a little more torquey down low, but it's not going to make much of a difference as the td04 runs out of puff really quickly.
TBE and tune helps a lot if that isn't done already, made a nice difference on my car.
I have probably spent around the $10k mark on my car now with mods to get 325hp and I'm very happy with it. I need to do some more handling upgrades now which will come in time, but it has turned out to be a nice ride with enough dollars thrown at it.
If it is what you want, go for it.