$15,000 Car vs $60,000 Car [Loser wins $5,000 CASH]

How much better is a $60,000 car compared to a $15,000 car? Today we are going to find out by battle-challenging this Subaru BRZ versus this JDM Icon, a two-door Subaru STI. Both of them are blue. Both of them have two doors. Both of them are made in Japan. Both of them are overrated. Both of them are underrated. But there can only be one winner. And that winner is the loser who will win $5,000 of cash to make their car as fast as it needs to be. That's right. The loser gets the cash because they need it the most. But we're not just doing that. We're also going to be donating $1,000 to Reach Out Australia, which is supporting the mental health of young people and their families. Who's gonna lose? Who's gonna win? Today we find out. We're gonna find out. This is it, people. Expensive Subaru, cheap Subaru. Let's head into battle. Subaru Impreza WX STIs need no introduction. They are one of the most popular performance cars ever made. Subaru created this one with two less doors and sold a limited number in Australia, making them rare and now worth heaps more money, even though they're basically the same as any other STI of the era. Although the market does fluctuate, it's near impossible to find one for less than $60,000 at the moment. And some are going for twice that. An incredible figure for a 20-year-old mass-produced car. If you're into Subarus, a two-door STI is up there with one of the ultimate cars to own. Now, a 22B is the rarest of rare that costs hundreds of thousands of dollars. The next best thing is this, which is a two-door STI. This was made in late 1998. It's the typical sort of rally blue. I've done a couple of mods to it. I've put new wheels on it. I've got Michelin tyres on it, Pilot Sport 4s. I've got Brembo brakes. It's six-speed conversion from a later STI, a DCCD controller, white line sway bars and anti-lift kit. So, it's set up pretty much to do justice. Now, the power, it makes 180 kilowatts at the wheels. It revs to 8,200 RPM. That's factory. And it should be a good contender on the track. Last time, it was a bit slow. It didn't grip that well. Tyres weren't great. I've modified everything to attempt to do a better time today without actually increasing the power. So, it's going to be very interesting to see how this goes on the track. Sharing the same Subaru badge is one of the most successful budget sports cars since the MX-5, the BRZ. What it lacks in power, it makes up for with modern agility and affordability. And you can pick one of these up for as little as 15 grand. Unlike the turbo all-wheel drive STI, the BRZ sends its power to the rear wheels with a two-litre naturally aspirated engine up front. And my one has some basic mods. We've got some lowered springs. We've got a performance engine back exhaust with unequal length headers. It's got a custom tune by PBS. I'm running Michelin Pilot Sport 4 tyres. This is basically as wide as you can go on this setup. When we're doing the wheel alignment, we couldn't even get any more camber because we're going to be hitting the struts. This car is making around 133 kilowatts at the wheels as opposed to the JDM STI, which is making 180, approximately. But this car is much newer technology. This is not going to be a race where we're kind of next to each other and go start to end. It's going to be looking at lap time. So hopefully we do get to have a play on the track, but we're going to be comparing times. Whoever has the highest time wins the cash. They use that money to make their car better and then come back and thrash the other person. Martin, let's jump in our cars and go, mate. It's time to do battle with our nuggets. So we are lined up. We're about to head out for our session. In front of me is the STI. And I'm pretty excited to see how these cars go, how the times go. As I mentioned before, since I was here last time, I've got unequal length headers now. I've got a tune and I got the sway bars. And well, the STI has had so much work. I've got all that plus a gearbox. But no extra power. So I'm coming here with the exact same power I had last time. Maybe slightly varied gear ratios, but that's not going to make a whole lot of difference on this track because it's very high speed. So I'll spend most of my time in third, fourth and fifth. But yeah, I'm excited to see how much difference it makes. I've got really good tyres on this time. I've got new wheels. I've got big Brembo brakes. Sort of all those mods you want to do to something that's like a weekend track car. So we're about to head out. We're just waiting for them to bring off the session before. It's pretty busy. So we'll see how we go with traffic. But if we get a couple of solid laps in, that will tell us everything we need to know about how much quicker each of the cars is. So hopefully they're both faster. That's what I want to see. Now, even though the cars are quite different, we have tried to make some things the same. So both cars are running Michelin tyres, Michelin Pilot Sport 4s. And both cars have been wheel aligned and set up for the track by the same person at the same time. So that should try and equalise some of those differences because those aspects of tyres and setup have a huge part to play in how well the car goes. The biggest part is obviously the driver, but we're pretty similar in that category. So yeah, keen to get out there. Here we go. Let's get into it. Warm-up lap and then we've got some hot ones. Hopefully quite a few hot laps. Well, I am flying the flag for the naturally aspirated today. So I'll do what I can for you people that don't have a filthy turbocharger strapped onto your engine. So this is a warm-up lap. So get the tyres warm, get myself warm and really just get a feel for being out on the track again. This is called turn number two because it's the second turn. This one always brought me unstuck, like badly last time actually. Always coming in too hot. And I think that's a bit of a theme at this racetrack. I don't know if the same thing was happening to you back there. Yeah, I struggle with that one. But I've had a little bit of feedback since then. Some people have said to try and take it like a V. Other people have said kind of go in a little bit slower so you can go in slow and go out a bit faster. So yeah, we'll just have to see what happens. I've got my traction control off. I'm in BSC Sport. Even in the warm-up lap, I can't keep up with you yet, mate. You're going a bit faster than I'm comfortable with. And we're not even warm yet. There's a Honda behind me. And by the look of the wing on it, I don't think it's going to be behind me for very long. I'm just cruising, but straight away, I can feel I've got so much more grip than last time. The car just is sitting where I want it to be rather than skating around all the time. So that's positive. I'm hoping it actually does its thing once we get into it in about 25 seconds time. My tyres are not warm yet. I can still feel the car rolling a little bit. This corner is always a little bit of a tricky one as well. There's shorter sessions today as well. Only 10 minutes. We had 20 minutes last time. Oh, there's people overtaking us already on the warm-up. Yeah, that's fine. Get them out of the way. That guy's V-teching it on. There's a little Suzuki Swift. That's fast, man. With V-plates on it. Excellent. Cool, man. Well, everything's feeling good for me. We're coming up to the straight, and I suggest we give it a bit of a hit. All right. You're good to go? All right, man. Let's go. Full throttle. Here we go. There's stuff just walking away from me already, and I'm right into it. The SCI is pulling away. It's pulling away without any trouble at all. Except, and Guy didn't out. He just pulled in hard in front of me and then slowed right down. So this is just what we're going to be dealing with on this track day, I think, today. But let's see what happens. 150 k's an hour still coming through that corner. Got to get on the brakes harder than I usually do here. Try and fix this corner up. That guy's doing it like a V-shape. Interesting. Yeah, there's the understeer coming in as usual. I'm getting fast! Come on, little BRZ! Go, little BRZ! Go! Yes! Come on! It feels better, but I'm... It's actually not as, um... It's not as understeery, but that brings out its own issues, which is I kind of feel like it's more likely to snap the tail around if I'm not careful. And I'm out over the ripple strip, fighting to keep this BRZ away from me. I am on you aggressively, my friend. I'm on you so hard, it's not funny. If I had the power, I would be getting past. You probably would, mate. I don't disagree with you there. Come on, little BRZ! Every time we get to a corner, I'm just bringing you right in. This is sticking so much better than last time. I'm still just... See ya, mate. It is nice to have the power. I've definitely got more grip than before, but, uh... Yeah, it's about having the ability to use it properly, I guess. Here we go. Oh, that's better. Wow! When you're pointing the right direction, it really does grip up now. Okay, here we go. Now I'm gonna just walk away from you on the straight. Foot to the floor. Shift light on, 140km an hour. 160km an hour. 170. 5th gear. 200. 300 line. 190. I'm gonna brake, because I'm too scared to go any quicker than that. Oh, that is... That is pretty wild, actually, taking that corner at that speed. I really sustained the speed that time, or tried to. I'm hitting that corner at 160. Braking heaps harder than last time. I'm gonna square this up. Oh, man. I just can't make it through turn 2 fast, no matter what I do. Little Suzuki's swift in front of me, but I'm gonna need to get past. He's letting me past. Thank you, mate. I need to claw back everything that I just lost on that straight. Okay, car is starting to feel really good now. Starting to get the hang of it. Oh, he's right behind me again. Just never disappears, this guy. No matter what I do. Turning in, okay. Sliding around a bit, but the... I can actually feel the diff controller helping get me through the corners. Which is pretty cool, actually. Bitch. Every moment I can. I'm on you again, my friend. I am on you. Hello, mate. I'll be on you again next corner, don't you worry. This car is so fast, I can't believe it. Too hot, but I'm gonna get it back. Yep. Out onto the straight. Get as much speed as I can coming into this straight. Yes, clean. Very clean. Come on, STi. Okay, BRZ, this is it. Time to shine. I'm gonna hit 200km's an hour, no matter what. Come on. That's 200. The brakes, I got scared. My butthole was squinting around a little bit too much. Having your wheels turn and going that fast is a pretty wild experience. All right, back into the corners. I'm gonna do this clean this time. Neat and clean. Use the whole track. Whoa, not that much of the track. Whoa! No, he's not off. I'm coming for you, mate. I can see you and I'm coming. He is coming for me, I can see him. All right, hold the right amount of speed through here. All the way out of the corner. Oh, I'm sideways. Apex, hard out. Here we go. Now I'm starting to lose him. That's what it's gonna take. Starting to lose me, he says. Here I come, here I come. I can see him always through this part of the track. He just catches me every time. I'm just sideways every corner, which I know is probably not fast, but I'm doing everything I can to catch that STI. I don't have the JDM street cred, but I've got the drive to win. I'm gonna race this BRZ down the straight if I can. There's a quote that says it doesn't matter if you don't win, but you've got to have the will to win. And I'll tell you what, I have the will to win. But everyone's a winner today, because no matter what, I either beat the WRX or I get $5,000. I think I win either way, to be honest. Oh, drag racing a V8 BRZ down the straight. Oh, it's so close. It is so close, but he is so fast. Wow. Wow, wow. That's awesome. Very cool. Keep the power modulating on. 170. Yeah, slowing down from 170 is kind of a big deal. I'm taking this corner so much slower now, and it is going to pay off. Oh, it tightens up. That's why. Yeah, right. Okay, learning. All right, these are the corners that I need to get through quickly to get that STI. He's still there. I'm walking away slowly, but he is still there. I've got to hold it higher with his power. Even though we've tuned out that torque dip, there's still a little bit less power there. I'm going to try keeping the revs higher. BRZ, come on. He's got his brakes on. Hold it, hold it, hold it. Brake late, brake hard. Turn in, keep it smooth. Go BRZ, go BRZ. He's slowly getting away. Carrying so much more speed through here than I have before. I'm braking like a hardship down. Slow it right down. Here we go, here we go. This is good. I'm wringing this poor little STI's neck to get as much speed as I can. BRZ, I am so proud of you. I'm so proud of you, little BRZ. You've got 50 kilowatts less. Yes, he's walking away, but what a valiant effort. That got really loose. That got so loose just then. Oh my god. I think my tip controller just basically saved my butt there. Black flag's being waved, man. This is it. Down across the line. Awesome, awesome. That was so cool, man. Well, that's it. That is our session. Ah, that was amazing. That was so much fun. I do not need to look at the times. I'd like to congratulate you. I'd like to congratulate the STI. In this case, the car that according to car sales is worth like $80,000 or more has beaten the BRZ. You can pick one of these up for 15 grand in stock form. A lot of fun, but it is not catching that thing. It is not catching that thing. Same as last time, you're just in my mirror. Unless the road is straight, you are in my revision mirror. Well, mate, most importantly, I had a lot of fun. That was fantastic. According to my race timer, I shaved off about two seconds with the same power. So that's just tyres and handling mods. So what was your best lap, mate? 157. Point what? 0.7. 157.9! So it's close. Still close. That makes sense, man. You beat me. You beat me by 0.2 of a second. And you owe me $5,000. I look forward to doing it in my mad proper JDM two-door car under this Toyota rebadged. You won, man. You and your car won. 0.2 of a second. Congratulations. That is $5,000 for me and my BRZ. And that is $1,000 to Reach Out, doing incredible work, supporting the mental health of young Australians and their families. Make sure you check out the Reach Out website. If you're struggling with some anxiety, some depression, the world's feeling a little bit crazy, please go and check out Reach Out. There are so many resources there. There is help available. And if you're struggling, you will be able to find some help there and some support. So thank you very much. We'll go and pull in. We'll have a little chat. I'll get my cash and we'll call it a day. I wonder what five grand would get me for mods for this car. I know exactly what I'm getting for my car, mate. I think I do too. So there it is, everybody. That is the kind of challenge. They're weird cars to challenge, but they're the cars we own. So it was a whole lot of fun. How'd you go, mate? I really enjoyed it. My car handled completely differently to last time. It was a handful in a different way. Hardly any understeer this time. But now the back wanted to come out because it's been tuned to do that. So it's just seat time. To get that much faster, like the mods made me quicker. To go faster again, it's more time in the seat, getting used to it all. I think that's exactly it. Really, to get faster track times now is about learning the dynamic of the track, learning all the lines, spending some more time. And if you're really into competitive racing, that is what you spend your time doing. But neither of us are race car drivers. And really, neither of these are race cars. They're cars that kind of do a little bit of everything. That's right. One's fast. One's about to be faster. So Martin, a deal's a deal. It is. Thank you very much. So that's excellent. Thank you, Martin. You know you're going to get to... I could just feed it into here and it'd be so much... No, there you go. Dude, I'm going to be feeding it right into a roundabout right there. So thank you very much. That's $5,000 for me and the BRZ. And of course, $1,000 going to Reach Out. Martin, that's it. That was mad fun. I'm going shopping. It's always fun, mate. Thank you very much. Always fun. I will shout your lunch. Both cars are driving themselves home. We are driving home. That's always a win at a race car. Get some lunch and now I'm going shopping. Awesome. I got my online shopping app thing already ready to go.