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[CircuitJerk]

Springs and a sway bar should pretty much bring it to what you expect. Even the 9thgen XRS was unstable until a solid FSTB, Springs, and a set of sway bar are installed. Heck, it was pretty stable without the sway bars.

As for the power, the 9thgen dominates the top end and walks away easily from the GenTen. However, myself, I like the torque down low and don't really care to drive the car like I stole it in order to get that extra 40 hp boost. I'm an old fart that still enjoys ragging a car and loved the way the 2zz engine sounded, but these days I like what the GenTen XRS offers. Hopefully they'll release a supercharger for it (which I'm doubtful) but there's a whole lot of support behind the GenTen engine from the Scion crowd, so turbo will be a pretty straightforward affair.
Sure, I could have gone with the Civic Si, but I like what I like, and I don't really like the Civic..never did.

I have a manual, and when I was visiting San Diego, I rented an XRS automatic, and let me tell you, this was the first auto I actually liked. For others the hunting for gears seemed bothersome or as if something was wrong, it didn't bother me one bit, in fact I welcomed it. A slight increase in pedal pressure would normally put me in the right gear to maintain the best response and aggressive pedal pressure would pretty much keep me in the powerband. I have to say I got a little spoiled.
the only thing that bothered me was when it downshifted to 2nd and or 1st, it was a bit harsh. Time will tell how well these transmissions will hold up. I personally think as of right now the XRS is a great car. We'll see what happens to mine over the next couple years. Who knows, I might keep this one after all.