I think you guys have the wrong impression of evo's. The MR's are the ones with weak trannys, not GSR's, RS etc. The 6 speed is the weak link, not the 5 speed. However, they are still plagued by transfer case issues, which is still fairly cheap to fix from Shep. Ranging from $300-2600. From what I've read (lots and lots of research) and from what my tuner and other friends in the business have told me, evo's are definitely easier to make power for way cheaper, and they handle better. The evo IX is a bad mother! The only thing people run into problems with those is the tranny has short gearing such as us 04-06 STI owners. Its only about $1200 to have evo 8 gears swapped in as to where we have to pay how much for 07 gears? I will say that an Evo will NEVER be as good as our subies in the snow, period. I love my STI, its one of my dream cars and it has definitely put me through hell and back but I still love it. I'm on my 3rd motor (second built) 3rd clutch (second ACT 6 puck..clutchmasters stage IV next), and second turbo.
06STI360 I'm not sure about the Evo's paddle tranny, but my friend, and owner of The ShopCT has his stock tranny@745whp in his GTR.