Lieberman: Full disclosure right up front: I’ve owned one Subaru WRX or another for the past seven years. Hopped-up, hot-handling little rally cars are my bag. That said, I wasn’t mentally prepared for how screamingly competent the new EVO X would be. If you think of cars as athletes, you can call a Viper a sprinter, an FX50 a linebacker and a Ford F350 a weightlifter. The EVO X is a gymnast, as pound for pound male gymnasts are the best athletes around. And this sucker definitely has balls. I’m still in a bit of a shock after our canyon run this past weekend. Little Tujunga Canyon is without question one of the most extreme roads in the country — if not the world — and the EVO simply handled it. No fuss and absolutely no muss. Shocking, really.

Levy: Likewise, I also go for the rally reps. And have been, like Jonny, a Subaru guy. I owned a breathed on STI for a couple of years that was running around on Spec C suspension and throwing 400 horsepower at the wheels. I drove the EVO X MR on track late last year on the press launch and was thrilled by it then, but had limited time — just a few miles — on the road, so I’ve been reserving judgement on it as a daily driver. After spending a week tooling around, driving kids to school, running the morning commute and then spanking it really hard on mountain roads that would be a challenging WRC tarmac stage, I’m now floored by how excellent this car is. There are a few flaws that at first glance are inexcusable in a $40,000 car, but they are are eclipsed by the parts that are done well.

Lieberman: Let’s look at the flaws first, just to get ‘em out of the way. With that trick electric limited-slip differential you do not need the goofy wing. It only serves to block rearward visibility. The interior is quite cheap — nasty plastic, cheap switchgear and the cabin’s ugly. With the battery and the washer fluid in the trunk, there’s essentially no trunk. And the gas mileage… calling it bad is an understatement. I had an Audi RS4 for a week and was getting just over 11 mpg. That’s a 420 hp car with a V8. The 4-cylinder, 2.0-liter EVO returned 9.2 mpg. But, as you said all of those annoyances are totally forgivable in light of how impressive the whole package is.

Levy: Yes. The dash is junk. Though my memory of the non-EVO’d Lancer is that the interior materials and textures were better, and the look of the dash moves slightly upmarket with the navigation system, which our car didn’t have. The wing I can live with, its part of the package. But the gas mileage — well, it was shocking, nothing else to say about it. But onto some good bits. The front seats by Recaro are perfection, as is the steering wheel. The rim diameter is spot on, the glossy black leather snug over the rock solid rim, like a bouncer’s fist in a tight leather glove. Jog left and right in the seat and you go nowhere. Close your eyes and reach for the steering wheel and you’d think you’re in a Ferrari — just don’t breathe through your nose.

Lieberman: One more word on the front seats — they’re so good that as a passenger I was drinking a Dr. Pepper while you were flinging the car to Hell and back. I didn’t budge an inch or even spill a drop. And man, did we fling it, or what? Little Tujunga, Bouquet Canyon, Green Valley — severe, extreme roads, and with the exception of an oncoming Honda or two — and that one rock — there wasn’t any drama. But, just as important, the EVO X is still involving to drive. I wasn’t bored and I didn’t feel like computers were doing all the work — even though they were. Instead I felt as if there was nothing between me and the road save for the steering wheel. I loved it.

Levy: Here’s the deal. Yes there’s enough multi-initial, electronic trickery designed to keep us pointed the right way going on in the background to launch a few chimps into space. But you wouldn’t know it. Unlike a couple of other “sports sedans” in this price range (Infiniti G35, BMW 135i, Lexus IS etc.) the seat adjustment is manual. A key goes in the the ignition and you have to turn it to start. There’s no back up camera — and so on. And I missed nothing because the EVO has one purpose — fly down the road like the proverbial scalded cat. The forum chat is that the X has lost previous generation’s edge. Yes, a little. But when I made my buying decision for my STI, it was because I knew I couldn’t live with that edge day to day. Over the “base” EVO GSR, the MR has a set of trick Bilstein shocks, lightweight and handsome BBS rims and of course the SST. The ride is hard, but you don’t crash around. You find yourself bracing for bumps that don’t come. Whereas steering is new razor sharp in the IX, its merely used-for-two days razor sharp in the X. Once you dial into it, with your shoulders jammed into the Recaro bolsters and you’re hands always on the wheel because of the SST tranny, get into a flow and directional change is a look and think proposition. So it may not be quite as sharp, but it’s way more usable as a result. And my bet is I’ll go down a road faster in it. And then there’s that magical gearbox…

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