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| admin |
 Posted: Fri Mar 06, 2009 8:44 pm |
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Site Admin
Joined: 16 Aug 2007
Posts: 38
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Love them or hate them? Awesome Hotness, or shrunken station-wagons?
We're listening. |
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| swishend |
| Posted: Mon Mar 30, 2009 12:08 pm |
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Joined: 30 Mar 2009
Posts: 1
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Well I gotta say, you guys have never looked hotter than you do in your standard issue track helmets.
So when does part 3 post? How about a GTI and an A3 squaring off... |
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| peechu |
| Posted: Tue Jul 06, 2010 8:19 pm |
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Joined: 06 Jul 2010
Posts: 3
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All these views but 1 reply? Cmon guys, contribute! Get this site the attention it deserves.
I too test drove all three of these cars, as well as the cooper S and civic Si coupe to find something I could really love in a nice pocketable fun car, but not so pocketable that I can't take 3 friends along when I need to, or stow away my gear for whatever outing I might go on, be it hockey pickup game, surfing or whatnot.
I could not wait for this episode to see if I could predict what Todd and Paul might say about the GTI, since I eventually decided to pick one up 3 months ago.
Here are cliffnotes on all I test drove that I felt were in the same class, price and performance wise.
MS3. Ugly, just ugly. No, it's not a happy smily face, it's ugly and although I might have a sense of humor about driving a silly looking car, at the end of the day, the design either works or it doesnt. The MS3 didn't and it had alot to overcome in performance to make up for it's appearance. Boy, could this thing pull, and at the price the dealer offered to me before I even had to think about haggling? Damn. That is some punch for the buck. Like Paul says, you can't drive a spec sheet, it pretty much felt the way I expected it to. Pretty damn fast for how much Mazda is asking of you. But at what cost? I'll admit, this was my first time driving stick in a bunch of new cars, and it was my first time making such a big decision buying a new car. I know I'm not a great driver, especially with my newfound skillset, but this car just didn't care. I wasn't expecting any of these cars to baby me, but the MS3 just didn't want me to have fun outside of a straight line. Yeah, by that statement you'll probably peg me as a terrible driver, but I really just mean how badly this car fights me at every turn. I REALLY wanted to have fun with the power it offered, but it never felt like an even give and take with it. The cockpit as well, convoluted and clustered, sure I could get used to things, but the MS3 was not giving me enough of what I liked over it all.
I test drove a DSG GTI next, and I was disappointed because I wanted to drive the stick, but it wasn't available. The dealer persuaded me to try the DSG flappy paddles to get a feel and come back when they got a stick for me to test, so i did. Is it just me? Or does it feel like automatic cars in general are neutered when the computer does all the work for you?
The Civic SI was up next. I found out that my friend just bought a SI sedan brand new, so I asked him to give me a whirl. Good god, that shifter, even as new as I am to manuals, was like butter. It just felt so perfectly engineered. Each gear just swished into one another effortlessly, but that made me feel the opposite of what the MS3 did. Boring. So, boring. VTEC? Pretty cool after he explained it to me in comparison to turbo charged/ supercharged cars. But still.... Boring.
I ended up testing out the coupe I wanted to try. How did it get uglier than the coupes I've seen Honda build before? Really, how? Oh well, it wasn't nearly as ugly as the MS3 and it had saving graces in it's overall design. But once again, the verdict was, boring. Satisfied everything else, had a great trunk for stowing gear, I would of sacrificed 4 passenger seating if the car was fun enough, but alas it wasn't. And at the price? Yeah, I ran away.
The Mini Cooper S. Good god. SO F---ING FUN! The style? I can dig it, it's playful and fun, truly representing what the drive is all about. But the drawbacks. Space! I was willing to get used to the funky dash for a ride this good, but what's the point of the backseat if I (an average sized 24 year old) can't even be comfortable with the front seats pushed halfway up? And even with them scrapped, I couldnt justify paying that much for a coupe with that much space. The SI in terms of storage was a better value. But this is only car I have even the slightest regret not getting. I would of loved it as a daily driver.
Then I went back and test drove a 6spd manual GTI. It wasn't an amazing eye popping drive. It wasn't an instant sell with my other options weighed in. No no. But it did everything I wanted it to. It was very capable of putting that grin on my face when I put it in second and just let it rip. I could easily see myself towing 3 of my friends around comfortably around the city. And most of all, I could definitely live with putting down the money for something so damn perfect for me. It might be a plain jane in looks, but with the plaid (in my opinion) it offers that wee bit of sugar on top, with well thought out curves. Drawbacks? It's gotta have em. The Volkswagen rep. Yup, too many of my friends said the same thing. It might drive great, but only while it's still working. And that did concern me, so much that I put that paranoia in finding one that wasn't assembled in Mexico or America. The problems started trickling in on the mk6 forums. I however was lucky enough to not hear the rattles, get the drippy nozzle or the wonky first and second gear. But I'm still not too hopeful about it being perfect in 3-5 years. But we'll see! Maybe when it dies I can get a mini 
The Volvo. I drove it. It's nice. But the easy part was, it didn't blow me away and I couldn't go from one Volvo to another.
Final price tag. 23,500 out the door. White, stickshift, 17 inch, 2 door. As base as base can get. I think I got a deal, I paid 300 less than the average on edmunds so I'm pretty damn happy. But I still think ... what I could of gotten if I could stomach the extra 6000. That shiny brown mini. But alas, no looking back, I just enjoy every drive this car is going to give me.
You can't drive a spec sheet, at the end of the day the GTI just felt right for me. And I'm glad Paul and Todd didn't rip it to shreds. |
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