WRX, GTI or Mazdaspeed3?

The lease on my wife's Infiniti is up, but since it is perfect and has only 25k on it we are gonna buy it for her. They gave us a great price too. So I think then I will get a new daily driver. I have a weekend toy, but I want a more fun daily driver. I want a manual, and something not too big. I have a 50 mile round trip commute on the highway each day.

I want a new car, with a warranty. I have it narrowed down to these three.

2011 WRX. Pros: quickest, AWD. Cons: "Boyracerish"?
2011 GTI. Pros: Nicest interior, best fit and finish. Cons: Least power.
2011 Mazdaspeed3. Pros: Cheapest, very comfy seats. Cons: Most torque steer.

Any owners, opinions, thoughts?

 

I'm in the same situation--looking for a new daily drive. I'm thinking GTi, but I want to drive a Subaru. I should experience it myself, but given the stories about the Mazda torque steer I have ruled it out. Also will drive a Mitsu Evo MR--significantly more $ than a GTi, but more power as well.

 

I have a 5-door '07 GTI with the DSG. really, really great car (and the upgrade they did last year made it better). excellent round-town car, good in the corners up to about 8/10ths, and has about 80% of the people/cargo room as my old Grand Cherokee. very minimal torque steer (probably b/c it doesn't have much torque!). It's also a pretty anonymous car, which I like so I can fly below the radar. the suspension setup is a great balance of daily driver usefulness and sporty fun. great steering as well.

downsides: a few glitches with the direct injection (fixed under warranty but now I'm out of warranty, makes me slightly nervous); the 40k mile service was $1k, mainly because of the DSG; and it chews through tires like mad (probably my fault, but still averaging 10k/set).

I did an APR engine tune on mine taking it up to ~250 bhp. that helped a lot.

a friend has the MS3 and loves it but I can't get over the styling. loads of torque steer and a cheap interior (relatively) as you say.

I didn't really consider the WRX as I'm not an AWD fan, and don't need it here in SoCal anyway.

If I were to buy a new car of the three you mentioned, I'd go with another 5-door DSG GTI. in white this time

 

I think the WRX is probably the best toy slash weekend car here. You can take it to the track and punish it without breaking it (it's Japanese). You can take it on gravel and have fun. You never have to be afraid of driving in the snow again because it wont get stuck. And in my book, 4WD beats FWD any day.

Another perspective I love about WRXs is that you can get a fast car by doing small mods to it.

 

FWIW, I've been at a number of track days and watched WRX's and Legacy GT's blow engines. how they were modified/maintained, dunno....

 

Those have to be modified. If you have a 240 hp engine and squeeze 340 awhp out of it, like many Subie guys do, you're killing your engine... But the basic chip/exhaust/manifold/air intake mods shouldn't do anything with those cars (and gain approx 40 hp). But I think OP is going to lease the car, so I don't know if tuning is something he would consider or not.

Best Motoring International (DVD series) had a endurance race with a bunch of fast Japanese cars. To their surprise the two cars that kept going the longest without overheating under the intense Japanese heat were the Subaru and Mitsubishi with turbo and IC. Even the naturally aspirated NSX (which is known for its underkill stress on its motor) gave up after a while. They concluded that manufacturers were so worried about their turbo cars being overheated on track day that they have more than sufficient enough cooling in the newest models.

So, I stand by my original statement A WRX should be just fine on the track.

 

WRX I say, maybe I'm biased because I drive a Subaru, albeit sans turbo... but I think it gives the greatest all round fun. You can beat the day lights out of these cars and they will take it. I think it's also pretty annonymous, in either hatch or sedan form, they get a lot of flack from the older Subaru drivers because they "look like a Camry." Another great thing about Subaru too is the community, it's a lot like the Ferrari community, lots of people who love their cars. It's what makes a Subaru, a Subaru

 

I ended up with just the 2010 Mazda 3 GT because the MazdaSpeeds weren't out yet in sufficient numbers to get one. I have driven quite a few since and agree with the torque steer issue. The pre-2010 models are almost unsafe at first acceleration in close traffic.

My biggest complaint with the 2010 Mazda 3 is that the tires do not hold up well in tough road conditions. I'm not talking wear but side wall punctures and flats from debris or rough pavement. The low profile also does not help your chances with tearing up the rims.

It is a fun car but the gas mileage is a litle disappointing too.

 

I'll give you guys a little more info. I have a very modded Camaro for the weekends, so this is just a DD. I will buy it, not lease it, but only do basic mods. I do not live where there is any snow, but being a RWD guy, I think I will like AWD more then FWD.

A few things I have noticed, the new Mazdaspeed 3 torque steer is not as bad as the old car, and the interior is much better. The new GTI has a pretty nice touch screen Dynaudio stereo and the new WRX comes with the STI body kit now. The MS3 would be about 22K, the GTI about 24K, and the WRX about 26K.

 

Can you give me a little more info on this. If I get the GTI I would do this to equal it out. How big a difference? Mileage any worse? Install? Price?

Thanks!

 

I had a 2008.5 Mazdaspeed 3 GT for about 2 years and loved it. Just sold it last week. It was a great car as long as it never snowed. Everyone talks about torque steer with this car, but i never found it to be that much of a problem. I guess if you are constantly flooring it while not paying attention it could be. I had no issues with the MS3 when I had it. I put about 27K on it as an only car.

The only things I didn't like about it was the lack of sunroof, and how useless it was in the snow.

VW reliability would rule that one out for me. I know the MS3 I had was the old body style, but if I can answer any questions about the car, let me know.

 

Thanks, you do any mods? I wasn't a fan of the shifter, long throws. How was the reliability of yours?

I can get a leftover '10 for $24,000 out the door. So it is a good possibility.

 

big difference, immediately noticeable. although it makes the turbo lag more noticeable.

no significant mpg difference, maybe 1 mpg.

Installed by a German car specialist but you *may* be able to buy direct from the tuner (www.goapr.com) Cost was I think around $500-600. there are various levels of tune for boost, fuel type/octane rating, etc. I believe mine is just stage 1 of 3 (I was concerned about both engine and drivetrain longevity going all the way to stage 3, since this is a DD).

 

The other 2 cars are no match for the WRX. I'ved driven mine hard since 2002. Second gear is wicked. The car is great in the rain/snow, off the line or in the twisties. The initial tires from the dealer were no good for snow. The boring looks keeps it under the radar.

 

Out of those three the GTI feels the best. The Speed3 felt cheap and while it was fun to drive when you really hit the boost, it left me cold for just normal day to day driving.

I drove the current version of the WRX when it first came out and I did not like the powerband of the engine. The turbo seemed to take a while to come on and down low it felt fairly flat. I understand that they changed some of that the next model year but I have not driven it.

The GTI feels like a real car. Even though it is small, it feels more substantial than the other two. I test drove one a few months ago and would have taken it home but my wife HATES VW's because her friend bought a Jetta in the early 90's and it literally fell apart. She can not get beyond the quality issues that car had.

If I was going to get a hot hatch type car for a daily driver, I would do the GTI with a DSG.

 

The 2010 WRX is much improved from the 2008, it's like 997 Mk.1 and 997 Mk.2 difference

 

In 2009 they actually made all the changes. For '11 they added the STI body kit, wider track, and wider wheels/tires.

 

Cool thanks, $500 isn't that bad for 50 HP. Which IMO is just what that car needs.

 

You are correct, I was being general

 

This is a bit off topic, but I don't need another track toy (I have a very modded M3 and a Lotus Exige 240S for that). I drove a Mustang GT, which is a nice ride but has big suspension issues (for what I am looking for). I SWORE I would never own another FWD car after a '91 Probe GT (torque steer) but the current GTi with the special diff seems to control the torque steer well.

My issue with the WRX or Evo is that all AWD cars I have driven (including previous generation WRX's and Evo's) seem slow to turn in, and seem to understeer after that. I will drive this newest models to see if that is better.

If there is a reasonable tune that would bump the GTi horsepower and torque some, that would likely seal the deal for me.

 

I had an '06 Mustang GT as a DD, and I sold it for that reason-the suspension was just a mess. vague steering and weak brakes didn't help its cause either.

 

GTi on resale.

 

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GTI 6 speed.

 

Hmm. You got a weekend car. So, I change my mind. GTi for daily driver. It's got much nicer interior feel and build quality feel.