My turn to get a new car

[Wolfe]

2 things.

1) Our weather isn't too kind when it comes to rust.
2) We have MOTs, which I'm not sure if you have in your state. Alot fo stuff will probably need doing to a car to pass it's MOT if it has over 150,000 miles. Though it does depend how the car has been run.

Aha, the MOT would indeed be what I'm not thinking of.

We may not be surrounded by oceanwater here in Wisconsin, but we certainly seem to use enough salt on our roads here during the winter to ocean-ify Lake Michigan. Believe me, rust is far from an alien concept in my area.

 

[YSSMAN]

^ I can attest to that being across the lake here in Michigan. Take a look at any late '80s or early '90s Nissan or Mazda and you can get a pretty good idea as to what Michigan winters are like. Surprisingly, I've noticed that German cars tend to hold up a bit better... Don't know why...

---

Anyhow:

I have to question why the GTI didn't feel special. What was missing? I'm not going to debate here, but I'm curious, as I think the car is amazing! Granted the jump between my '96 Wolfsburg and an '06 GTI is quite the jump, so impressing me doesn't take much... I guess I could understand with some of the interior plastics, etc... But when you are getting what is baisically an A3 (atleast here in the US) with more performance, at a similar price, why not?

I've been meaning to take one of the Rabbits for a spin here in the US. As noted before, ours uses a 2.5L I5, not the special engines you folks have in Europe (sucks, I know!). Reviews have been positive, and thats good, but I'd like to see for myself...

 

[Poverty]

Im not quite sure why I didnt think the GTI felt special, I kinda had the same feelings with the M5 to be honest. Maybe its because I put them on such a high pedastle it was only natural for me to feel disapointed with them?

The GTI's I usually love the look of, but maybe its because this was a 5 door model and not the 3 as to why it didnt really look all that sporty in my eyes. The interior was nice, but not very different from my friends polo, in the pictures I had seen of it online it looked alot more special!

Personally I think it could also be because I started of after vauxhall at a manufacturer with class leading interiors. Now those audi ones did make you and it feel special.

Granted the VW interiors are quite a bit better than BMW ones, which I always knew but the gap between them is alot wider than I would have thought.

Anyway I'll be back at the VW dealer today so I will get some pics of the R32 and GTI, and get some pics of some MB's today aswell. I wish my phone had a better camera so it could capture interior details better so I can show you guys what I mean better.

 

[Danny]

Have you considered a

I'd be tempted to buy one and strap aftermarket goodies onto it.

 

[YSSMAN]

@ Poverty: Okay, I understand now. We just started seeing 5-door GTIs here in the US, and I can see where you are comming from by comparison to the 3-doors. It isn't that they aren't special by any means, they just don't seem as "cool" as the 3-door models. Or atleast that was the feeling I had when I was looking at one about a week ago...

Interesting note on the Vauxhalls though. I assumed because they were from GM they weren't going to be great, but on-par with that of Volkswagen. We are supposed to be getting the Astra here for 2008 to replace the Ion, and the Corsa is said to be on its way too. Same story for the Antara as well, although I'm not sure if that is going on-sale in the UK or not...

 

[Max_DC]

We have a Civic Type R, it is great, but insurence won't be cheap I guess...

 

[Poverty]

I'll update this tomorrow with a nice bmw vs mercedes vs audi comparison. Might shock a few people, it sure did me. Got some more pics aswell.

P.S the type-r the insurance would cost me about as much as the car itself so sadly its a no-no.

 

[Race Idiot]

You don't have to be British to understand that the 318 hatch is for women.

Not in Europe, in Europe its for people who must buy a BMW no matter how anemic it is, how crap the base interior is and how bad the ride is. So after figuring out they have just bought what is esentially a Rwd equivalent (not actually a vectra, but slow, cheap and ****ty like a vectra) of a vectra they go insane and start to drive like they have a totem pole shoved up their arse which tends to be very badly.

Or it's the people who bought the fancy m-kit that belive that that tiny m logo somehow makes them kings of the road.

I tell you what is a nice car, is the old IS200. My parents owned one for a few years and we chose it over a 318 sedan because it was overall a much nicer car for the same price with allot more options. It was also better handling which was suprising, the six speed manual box was great, the interior was realy nice. My dad put a ton of miles on it in three years and the only problem was that the wiper occasionaly made this funny knocking noise which stopped after we replaced the oem wipers. It wasn't that quick but it was pretty fun to drive with the 2.0 6cyl engine that the eu cars came with.

I think the last model year was 2003 or 04 I forget, but they should have depreciated a bit since the new IS cars have came out. But I would avoid the lower spec models with the 4 cylinder engine.

Seriously give one a testdrive and see if you like it, I realy wished my parents had kept it to be honest and i've always been partial to it's jdm equivalent the Altezza RS200 with the redtop 3SGE beams engine.

 

[YSSMAN]

I think I could second the views of the old Lexus IS, as I was quite impressed with the previous IS300 we had here in the States. The engine had some oomph, the interior was nice too sit in and look at, but the car had a problem: It felt small, and a bit odd. Maybe it was because we drove the 328ci before driving the IS300 (this was probably 2002 or 2003 when we were last looking at luxury coupes/sedans), I don't know, but something just didn't feel right.

...But every time I see one go by, I often think, "Wow, thats a nice car for a Toyota!"

 

[Mike Rotch]

You don't have to be British to understand that the 318 hatch is for women.

HA - 👍

Whether you like a 318 for what it is or not, everyone will think you were trying to buy the badge on a new car for as little cash as you could

Thats the way i see it. Especially if you go buy a 318ci and then put big wheels and stuff on it. Every badgeless 3 series i see i think "pretty fly for a cheap guy". Dont get me wrong, i have driven a 318i and they are pretty comfy rides, but i wouldnt recommend pretending it is anything more.

If you are looking for something with some flashiness, get something that looks flash. Dont get something that looks flash and goes like a pup.

I like RI's suggestion. Get an older model with a spicier engine and accompanying looks.

 

[Poverty]

well I said I would be updating, and I will do, just havent had time really with work and all that stuff. Will update at the weekend. Im especially liking a 3 door golf at the moment after I saw this pic, albeit a GTI.

The golf looks killer with those RS4 alloys. Just need to get someone to photoshop those rims onto a black A3 and the outcome could very well sway my decision as to what car I will get.

 

[YSSMAN]

...Are they doing the free Guitar promotion in the UK? I was at the local VW dealer yesterday (getting some work done) and I talked to a guy for a while about the GTI, then he ripped out the guitars they are giving away with the new purchases and leases, and it was pretty sweet. You get to play it through the car's radio, and that was pretty awesome...

Now if I could get a "stripper" Rabbit and the free guitar, that would be sweet. But its more money that I have...

 

[Poverty]

Nope no free guitar for us. Dont think VW are doin any deals on the golfs, theyre quite expensive too, the ones I have been interested in where audi money, and quite a few of them cost as much as some passats.

 

[YSSMAN]

Really? No cheap Golfs in the UK? Our Rabbit goes for as little as $14,995 around here, but most of the Rabbits we see are comming in fully-loaded. The one stripper model I saw yesterday was still going for $18K, not too bad, but still had more things on it than what I would want.

 

[Duke]

Im gonna be paying for it all, but she can drive it when ever she wants. Only time I will be driving it is at weekends. Is that still illegal?

If you're the primary driver of the car, it needs to be listed as such. Believe me, I've seen on the BMW boards where young guys try to pull this stunt so they can afford too much car, and they get burned badly when they actually need the insurance.

I'm not trying to imply this is too much car for you at all - what I'm saying is don't play any games with your insurance coverage, because in the event of an accident or claim, those games will bite back awfully hard.