Yeah, you really cant go wrong with either. In this case, that evo sounds like a good deal but I think it cmes down to what you plan on doing with the car.
If your looking for a more dd than not just buy an STi, go cobb stage 2 and stick with some sound suspension mods and you have a car that can hold its own in any form of light motorsports. A stage 2 STi,is a great value. But then again im sure the evo has its same equivalence, so I guess it would just come down to a matter of reliability to me, which I would give to the STi.
Have an 05 evo and I drive it daily. Some people would not be able to put up with it as a daily, I do not mind at all. Great car all year around for sure.
Evos take pretty well to mods/bolt ons. Especially the 9’s
But its very easy to make great power/handling with bolt ons and not jepordize your reliablity and daily driveablity.
I like the fact that you can take your car down for 4 months only to await a new year. It builds suspense, and gives you something to look forward to all winter. That and snowboarding.
edit: i guess i’ll actually give some real input, well, the above is true, however not auto related. IMO, i’d find an sti with less miles, however that evo is nearing the 30K mark where typical evo beater owners are starting to have problems, also approaching the 30K maint mark which is a few hundo. Both are out or just about out of warranty so thats a wash. End of the day, the evo is less plush as a DD, in my opinion. If you want to mod it cheaper to make it faster go with the evo, if you’re not going to mod really, go with the STi. Both cars can be cheaply upgraded with exhaust and tune, past that is when you’ll start seeing big differences.