Needin' a new DD

[Overdrive]

Originally Posted by Frodo

Yeah, I was actually leaning fairly heavily towards the GTI---nice looking machine, very responsive, and the interior just has a nice "feel" to it. Then, last night I started reading about some "excess oil consumption" problems that some of the VW engines have experienced. Most of the stories I read about were about cars a bit older than what I've been looking at (I've been checking out '08 and '09 models)---haven't yet figured out if it's a problem with the more recent years or not.

Got two buddies here at work who drive MkVI GTIs, and they know way too much about just about every VW that's existed, so I'll ask them about this. Of course if I tell them you're looking to get a GTI they're gonna try their hardest, through me, to get you to do it. I made the mistake of saying I wouldn't mind having an R32 to DD and have fun in the winter, and next thing I know one of them's practically doing the math on me trading in the Boxster, lol.

Hm...for that matter, maybe you should look into an R32 as well, Frodo (prob not a MkV, though, go for MkIV). AWD, 3.2 VR6, and it sounds lovely right out the box. It's probably the only VW I'd get, personally, not a big VW nor hatch fan otherwise.

[Perfectlap]

^ As a Boxster driver I found the GTI (loaner with paddles forget which model this was a year and half ago) to be almost too top heavy for me and the rather stiff suspension made it feel like I was driving a wooden bread box. The steering and braking were nice though. I guess you get kind of spoiled in these cars.

[Frodo]

Drove (among others) a couple of WRXs yesterday---pretty neat cars. One was a '07 Wagon, the other a '08 Sedan. Liked 'em both--a lot.

Anybody out there ever own, or otherwise have experience with, any Mazdaspeed 3s? I have found some pretty reasonably-priced ones close by with low mileage (one under 20k, others under 40k). (The WRXs in my price range---trying to keep this somewhat under $20k if possible---seem to have mileages in the 40-55k range, and are pretty much at that $20k asking price. Don't know how flexible they'd be on that---those cars are fairly few and far between.) The Mazdas were in the $16-17k range. Zoom zoom?

[blue2000s]

Originally Posted by Frodo

Drove (among others) a couple of WRXs yesterday---pretty neat cars. One was a '07 Wagon, the other a '08 Sedan. Liked 'em both--a lot.

Anybody out there ever own, or otherwise have experience with, any Mazdaspeed 3s? I have found some pretty reasonably-priced ones close by with low mileage (one under 20k, others under 40k). (The WRXs in my price range---trying to keep this somewhat under $20k if possible---seem to have mileages in the 40-55k range, and are pretty much at that $20k asking price. Don't know how flexible they'd be on that---those cars are fairly few and far between.) The Mazdas were in the $16-17k range. Zoom zoom?

Like I said, people hold on to their Imprezas. Resale is great, both getting in and getting out. I have had a couple of Rx7s and a 626. Rented a Mazda3. They are all great cars. Very driver focused. But they seem to be a little fragile as far as Japanese cars go. Look at the Mazdaspeed6 before making a decision.