Speed3, GTI or WRX?

[jlee]

For all the people posting about all the 0-60 times, or what car eating up another..those things don't make a huge difference to me. I am an engineer..so naturally I did a trade study on these 3 cars, plus 37 others I thought I would like. I placed 50% weighting on cost, 30% on MPG, 15% on hp and 5% on 0-60. Results were GTI>WRX>Speed3. This is a purely statisical way of looking at a car, but it gave me some grounds to start on. The real speed I care about is more of a 40-80mph time. How many times on the road have u gone 0-60? something like 40-70mph from an on ramp to cruising speed passing a slow soccer mom is what I am more interested in. As a side note, I am also hesitant about the WRX just because I know I'm going to get smoked on the insurance.

I strongly encourage you to test drive them. Numbers cannot tell you how a car feels.

 

[JCH13]

For all the people posting about all the 0-60 times, or what car eating up another..those things don't make a huge difference to me. I am an engineer..so naturally I did a trade study on these 3 cars, plus 37 others I thought I would like. I placed 50% weighting on cost, 30% on MPG, 15% on hp and 5% on 0-60. Results were GTI>WRX>Speed3. This is a purely statisical way of looking at a car, but it gave me some grounds to start on. The real speed I care about is more of a 40-80mph time. How many times on the road have u gone 0-60? something like 40-70mph from an on ramp to cruising speed passing a slow soccer mom is what I am more interested in. As a side note, I am also hesitant about the WRX just because I know I'm going to get smoked on the insurance.

Being an engineer too I can appreciate that sentiment

FWIW yesterday when I was driving home in my MS3 I rolled onto a short-ish entrance ramp (uphill) doing about 25mph in 3rd gear and easily hit 70mph by the time I merged. Then I shifted straight to 6th and was off and cruising.

Test drive a Speed3 again, get on the interstate in 6th, and floor it.

 

[Spicedaddy]

I placed 50% weighting on cost, 30% on MPG, 15% on hp and 5% on 0-60. Results were GTI>WRX>Speed3.

Sounds right. I'm very impressed by my GTI's fuel consumption. DSG is great for that, it keeps the rpms low when you're in D.

 

[vi edit]

For all the people posting about all the 0-60 times, or what car eating up another..those things don't make a huge difference to me. I am an engineer..so naturally I did a trade study on these 3 cars, plus 37 others I thought I would like. I placed 50% weighting on cost, 30% on MPG, 15% on hp and 5% on 0-60. Results were GTI>WRX>Speed3. This is a purely statisical way of looking at a car, but it gave me some grounds to start on. The real speed I care about is more of a 40-80mph time. How many times on the road have u gone 0-60? something like 40-70mph from an on ramp to cruising speed passing a slow soccer mom is what I am more interested in. As a side note, I am also hesitant about the WRX just because I know I'm going to get smoked on the insurance.

I wonder how the new Focus ranks in that equation.

 

[JulesMaximus]

I do. As noted earlier the MS3 can hold significantly more speed through a slalom course, 72.4mph vs 68.8mph. It can pull more Gs on a skid pad (last time I checked). Most importantly I felt what many reviewers have observed: great steering feel and chassis response/poise. It feels very communicative and the chassis responds very neatly to steering input. That sort of response and communication with the driver is something that Mazda has been doing very well for decades I think, and is what makes them so much fun to drive.

Edit: I think a lot of people get hung up on how fast their car accelerates from a stop. Admittedly that is pretty awesome. However, no one who has driven my car has been able to wipe the shit-eating grin off of their face because it's so much fun.

The WRX used to suffer in the slalom stock mainly because of the OEM rubber. Not sure if that's still the case but it might be.

Trouble with the 2011 WRX is it is about as exciting to look at as a Toyota Corolla.

 

[ballmode]

Stock the wrx is middle of the pack. Do a suspension and a tune and it will beat the ms3

When you start putting money into it the Sti because a better buy

 

[MotF Bane]

Stock the wrx is middle of the pack. Do a suspension and a tune and it will beat the ms3

When you start putting money into it the Sti because a better buy

And you get a better transmission with it too.

 

[Zivic]

For all the people posting about all the 0-60 times, or what car eating up another..those things don't make a huge difference to me. I am an engineer..so naturally I did a trade study on these 3 cars, plus 37 others I thought I would like. I placed 50% weighting on cost, 30% on MPG, 15% on hp and 5% on 0-60. Results were GTI>WRX>Speed3. This is a purely statisical way of looking at a car, but it gave me some grounds to start on. The real speed I care about is more of a 40-80mph time. How many times on the road have u gone 0-60? something like 40-70mph from an on ramp to cruising speed passing a slow soccer mom is what I am more interested in. As a side note, I am also hesitant about the WRX just because I know I'm going to get smoked on the insurance.

so 80% of the car's ranking is price and fuel consumption? Not in my world.

Sure price is important, but neither tell me anything about how 'good' the car is..... doesn't tell me anything about power deliver, the way the car feels, the reliability, FWD/AWD/RWD.... and the list goes on.

When I look for a car like this, MPG is basically the last thing I look at and as long as the car fits in a given price range, I would rarely even consider the price until I had it down to 2 cars, or even one car and I was debating on pricing of the cars available and options within that group.

Sure I cared about price and mpg when I shopped for our family's minivan, but not when shopping for a boosted sport compact....

 

[Zivic]

Stock the wrx is middle of the pack. Do a suspension and a tune and it will beat the ms3

When you start putting money into it the Sti because a better buy

I agree with this, but the savings on a regular WRX can go along way into making it faster.

Sure the trans isn't as good, but for 95% of the people out there the WRX with a bit of smaller parts and tune will be the way to go. Me, I would kick myself or not getting the STI, but then again, I am a mitsu guy and would opt for an evo

 

[Zap]

The real speed I care about is more of a 40-80mph time. How many times on the road have u gone 0-60?

The MS3 won't disappoint in this, since it has a lot of midrange meat.

I am also hesitant about the WRX just because I know I'm going to get smoked on the insurance.

All depends on where you live, driving record, age, etc.

Our insurance for 2007 MS6 and 2011 WRX is about $900 per YEAR for full coverage for both. Only thing I did to push costs down a bit is to have a higher deductible. Going from the 2005 Mazda 3s to 2011 WRX didn't change costs much. Actually, costs went down about $200/year, but that's because our insurance started a good driver program (clean driving record, no claims for years).

And you get a better transmission with it too.

Speaking of transmissions... I really love the transmission in my MS6. It ALWAYS goes into the chosen gear, unlike pretty much every other car I've driven (for more than a test drive) where sometimes you can't get into 1st or reverse when stopped, but have to put it into another gear and back. My MS6 transmission always just goes into gear without fuss. Will even go into 1st while moving - I think I've downshifted into 1st at 20MPH+ with ease.

I agree with this, but the savings on a regular WRX can go along way into making it faster.

Sure the trans isn't as good

The short shifter option helps. Also, it does seem to break in a bit and shift better after some time. Well, either that or we're getting used to it.

 

[JCH13]

Stock the wrx is middle of the pack. Do a suspension and a tune and it will beat the ms3

When you start putting money into it the Sti because a better buy

Put the same money into an MS3 and... :rollseyes: you can play that game all day.

 

[PhoKingGuy]

Still saying the GTI + APR is the best daily driver. I was still able to get 34ish MPG with mine when I had the stage 1 chip.

 

[z1ggy]

so 80% of the car's ranking is price and fuel consumption? Not in my world.

Sure price is important, but neither tell me anything about how 'good' the car is..... doesn't tell me anything about power deliver, the way the car feels, the reliability, FWD/AWD/RWD.... and the list goes on.

When I look for a car like this, MPG is basically the last thing I look at and as long as the car fits in a given price range, I would rarely even consider the price until I had it down to 2 cars, or even one car and I was debating on pricing of the cars available and options within that group.

Sure I cared about price and mpg when I shopped for our family's minivan, but not when shopping for a boosted sport compact....

Well that's your opinion, and that was my opinion, and what I value. Price is a starting point for me otherwise I would be sifting through hundreds of cars. MPG is fairly important because gas is just another tax, and it doesn't look like it's gunna end up any cheaper (until we start getting better electric vehicles).

I'm not really made of money, I obv, have a price range, and if two cars were the same price, then thats just a variable you can get rid of. When I did a pure numbers approach, these three cars were compared to 37 other cars, of dif drivetrains, sizes, speeds.. just anything I could see myself driving. I also gave a +1 to any car with a manual transmission, a +.5 for AWD and -1 for RWD ( I was considering the new mustang and other RWD sport cars ). With all those factors ON PAPER the GTI scored best. The point of this conversation here is to get other's experience with these cars who have put thousands of miles on them, not just 1 minute test drive like me. I take highly maticulous approaches to anything where thousands of my own dollars are being spent.

To answer the one part about insurance.. I am 23, live in CT, and have 1 ticket from almost 2 years ago. Already got a quote for all 3 cars. 1600/yr for wrx, ~1300/yr for GTI & Speed3.

 

[PhoKingGuy]

Well that's your opinion, and that was my opinion, and what I value. Price is a starting point for me otherwise I would be sifting through hundreds of cars. MPG is fairly important because gas is just another tax, and it doesn't look like it's gunna end up any cheaper (until we start getting better electric vehicles).

I'm not really made of money, I obv, have a price range, and if two cars were the same price, then thats just a variable you can get rid of. When I did a pure numbers approach, these three cars were compared to 37 other cars, of dif drivetrains, sizes, speeds.. just anything I could see myself driving. I also gave a +1 to any car with a manual transmission, a +.5 for AWD and -1 for RWD ( I was considering the new mustang and other RWD sport cars ). With all those factors ON PAPER the GTI scored best. The point of this conversation here is to get other's experience with these cars who have put thousands of miles on them, not just 1 minute test drive like me. I take highly maticulous approaches to anything where thousands of my own dollars are being spent.

To answer the one part about insurance.. I am 23, live in CT, and have 1 ticket from almost 2 years ago. Already got a quote for all 3 cars. 1600/yr for wrx, ~1300/yr for GTI & Speed3.

1600 is cheap for a WRX, when I was shopping the WRX was 2200 and the GTI was 1400. But I am in SoCal and every single idiot who drives one of those happens to wrap it around a pole sooner or later.

 

[JCH13]

To answer the one part about insurance.. I am 23, live in CT, and have 1 ticket from almost 2 years ago. Already got a quote for all 3 cars. 1600/yr for wrx, ~1300/yr for GTI & Speed3.

I always got better luck working through a 3rd part insurance agent. Being 23 I was also concerned with insurance costs. My first direct quote was about 1200/year. I got the same policy through a local insurance agent, and he knew all of the right discounts to get and it dropped to a little over 900/year. I got discounts for living close to work, graduating college, and a few other things.

 

[MotF Bane]

My insurance company quoted me $2000/yr for a 2008 WRX automatic (I know, I know).

 

[Zivic]

Well that's your opinion, and that was my opinion, and what I value. Price is a starting point for me otherwise I would be sifting through hundreds of cars. MPG is fairly important because gas is just another tax, and it doesn't look like it's gunna end up any cheaper (until we start getting better electric vehicles).

I'm not really made of money, I obv, have a price range, and if two cars were the same price, then thats just a variable you can get rid of. When I did a pure numbers approach, these three cars were compared to 37 other cars, of dif drivetrains, sizes, speeds.. just anything I could see myself driving. I also gave a +1 to any car with a manual transmission, a +.5 for AWD and -1 for RWD ( I was considering the new mustang and other RWD sport cars ). With all those factors ON PAPER the GTI scored best. The point of this conversation here is to get other's experience with these cars who have put thousands of miles on them, not just 1 minute test drive like me. I take highly maticulous approaches to anything where thousands of my own dollars are being spent.

To answer the one part about insurance.. I am 23, live in CT, and have 1 ticket from almost 2 years ago. Already got a quote for all 3 cars. 1600/yr for wrx, ~1300/yr for GTI & Speed3.

I guess my point is, if you view your car as an appliance, your system makes perfect sense.

when I purchase a car for me I look at much more than the price of the car and MPG. When I purchase a car for my family, MPG and price are more heavily weighted. One thing I can be happy about is my insurance. I don't even factor that into my buying decisions. It doesn't vary over 10/month from any car I have owned.

 

[A5]

Still saying the GTI + APR is the best daily driver. I was still able to get 34ish MPG with mine when I had the stage 1 chip.

If I were buying a car for myself today, this is what I'd do. But I'm not, so whatever

 

[xSkyDrAx]

My insurance company quoted me $2000/yr for a 2008 WRX automatic (I know, I know).

I call shens. I thought the WRX's always came in a 5 spd manual. Do you mean the base impreza?

 

[MotF Bane]

I call shens. I thought the WRX's always came in a 5 spd manual. Do you mean the base impreza?

No shens. 2008, WRX, automatic. I drove it because I don't know stick, and I've wanted to try a WRX. They're just really, really, really rare, and I think they stopped making them after '08.

 

[xSkyDrAx]

No shens. 2008, WRX, automatic. I drove it because I don't know stick, and I've wanted to try a WRX. They're just really, really, really rare, and I think they stopped making them after '08.

Well I did a search for it and damn you are right. Holy shit though that sounds like an abomination of the WRX. The 08's were known as a bad year for them though. 4 speed too ouch.

Out of curiosity though how did that feel to drive?

 

[MotF Bane]

Well I did a search for it and damn you are right. Holy shit though that sounds like an abomination of the WRX. The 08's were known as a bad year for them though. 4 speed too ouch.

Out of curiosity though how did that feel to drive?

My points of comparison are my car ('98 Grand Prix), several Infiniti G's, and a Mitsu Ralliart. The turbo lag was disgusting, I tried to jump through a yellow, and it just chugged along until after the intersection before the boost finally kicked in. Off boost, it was sluggish. On highway, going from 80 up to 90 took forever, it felt like the motor/gearing/whatever was running out of steam. If I wanted to accelerate (i.e. 40 to 50 or whatever), it was a matter of hitting the pedal, counting off a second or two, and then it took off like a bat out of hell. Obviously, the 2008's were known to be low on power, but the auto was just a little too slow on shifts.

Handling though... I went through a 45 MPH curve, at 70, and my father told me I could go faster than that, not realizing it was already doing 70. It was just so stable, so rock solid, point where you want it and it goes there.

 

[zerocool84]

WRX insurance was insane for me, one of the reasons I picked up the Neon.

Also saying one car is better because it can be modified cheap is dumb, all these cars can be modified cheap for good power gains.

 

[Zap]

To answer the one part about insurance.. I am 23, live in CT, and have 1 ticket from almost 2 years ago. Already got a quote for all 3 cars. 1600/yr for wrx, ~1300/yr for GTI & Speed3.

There's your answer to the cost.

 

[PhoKingGuy]

I stopped by the VW dealer on the way back from work tonight, goddamnit. I really fucking miss my GTI