I test drove the new STi. Granted, I didn't exactly get to take it to a track for a spin. It's a great driving car. The suspension felt really great. It didn't crash over bumps, but it felt very controlled and delivered great turn-in response. I didn't get anywhere close to the limit on my test drive, but the "real" AWD system (compared to the FWD biased system in the A45) in the STi gives it the ability to do things that the M235i can't. You can simply lay in to the throttle earlier in the turn without much penalty. That lends a certain character to a car though. You feel more like a line backer plowing through the line, rather than a speed skater carving a line.
My problem with the STi is two fold: it feels very boy racer, and the acceleration performance doesn't
feel all that spectacular. The flat 4 just doesn't deliver the same punch as the N55 in the M235i or the M113 in the (CL)A45 AMG. The sound track in the M235i is way better, to my tastes as well. The STi is very charismatic with it's flat-4 burble, but the sound of an I6 is sweeter to me. The I4 in the (CL)A45 sounds very angry, and makes some pretty "whoa" sounds under WOT and especially during shifts, but it still has that buzzy I4 sound. The only thing that saves the sound of an I4, for me, is the induction noise, and with a turbocharged engine, you just can't get that.
Sitting in them (the STi and the M235i), the differences are the size of the Grand Canyon. In the STi, there are screens and LCD displays everywhere. The dash is glad with silvery bits. It looks like a car for a 20-something kid wearing a visor, whom you wouldn't want talking to your daughter. I'm sorry if that offends STi fans, but that's the horrible, judgmental, stereotyping person inside me coming out for a moment
I think I understand the genuine reasons MT did that comparo, but I can't ignore the nagging feeling that they just did it to get more page views. As the kind of person who would buy an M235i or CLA45 AMG, I couldn't see myself in the STi.