Not exactly the most testosterone driven cars on the planet, but all fun cars in their own right. I need a car not too overpowerd(insurance rates), but sporty enough and wit enough kick to keep me from falling asleep at the wheel. And lastly the void in my soul that can only be filled by attention demands something at least a little classy. So I've narrowed it down to these few cars. Three Hatchbacks and a coupe.

1. Mazda3
Front engine, fwd, 5-door,
2.3L/160-hp I-4, DOHC, 5mt
600ft Slalom- 68.1 mph.
Braking 60-0mph 114 ft
0-60 in 7.8
1/4 mile in 16.0

The acceleration is a bit dissapointing and I'm not really sure how the aftermarket is.



2. Volkswagen GTi 1.8T.

Front Engine, fwd, 3 door.
1.8L Turbo/ 180-hp I-4 5Mt
0-60 6.5 sec.
1/4 Mile in 15.0
Braking 70-0 mph in 162 ft
Skidpad- .88g

Acceleration and handling are nice, as is the aftermarket scene. Spotty reliability.



3. Mini Cooper S

Front Engine, fwd, 3 door
1.6l SC/ 160hp I-4 6MT
600 ft Slalom- 65.4mph
0-60 7.1 sec
1/4 Mile 15.3 seconds.
Braking 60-0mph= 120ft.

Mmmmm, Getrag 6 spd. Great styling, nice interior, BMW engineered. Decent aftermarket.



4. BMW 328is

Front Engine, RWD, 2 door.
2.8l/ 190hp I-6 5mt
0-60 6.2 seconds
1/4 mile in 14.7 seconds
Skidpad- .84
Braking 0-60mph - 128 ft (sedan)

Looks great, fastest in a straight line. BMW build and design. Aging now, Mods are more expensive.



Disclaimer- Not all cars pictured are stock. Info on Mini, and mazda is from Motortrend. Info on VW is from Car and Driver. Bmw info is from assorted sources.

I'd go with the BMW. It's a bit older than most, but it still gets plenty of respect, and I'd venture to guess that it's the best-handling of the bunch, not to mention the fastest in a straight line. You can make the GTI 1.8T faster with a lot less money, but the BMW is a more respectable car, with a nicer interior, better reliability, and RWD.

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My Camry...someday.

It's really only down to one car for me...I'd rather get the Mini Cooper S. The 328 is great and it's RWD and has around 190 some odd HP so it'd be great right off the bat but the Cooper S is newer, has 163hp, is light and nimble and would be good on gas. Handles like a go cart.

BTW the picture is not of a 1.8T but a R32 which is a 3.2 liter V6 AWD

__________________
Yours truly,
Gabriel

My 300ZX Website

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Originally Posted by NISSANSPDR
It's really only down to one car for me...I'd rather get the Mini Cooper S. The 328 is great and it's RWD and has around 190 some odd HP so it'd be great right off the bat but the Cooper S is newer, has 163hp, is light and nimble and would be good on gas. Handles like a go cart.

BTW the picture is not of a 1.8T but a R32 which is a 3.2 liter V6 AWD

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A Mazda3 is nice when placed alongside Civics, Corollas, Nissans, Fiats and Peugeots, but is out of it's depth in this comparo.

Don't get the Golf, wait for the new GTi (When you guys finally get the Mk V) if anything, it's the best car on sale for the money.

The MINI is very nice, in fact I see little reason not to get one, however I still like the 3 series, the MINI handles better, but the BMW is more fun, the MINI is newer, but BMW's are reliable to high milages, the MINI has character, but the BMW has understated class, the BMW is however, ultimately faster.

Sad to say though...the Mazda's gonna be the most reliable one...Japanese cars usually are on tops in reliability...BMW ranks 30/36 in reliability according to this mag I read...tops was Toyota (Scion and Lexus included) in 3 spots.

__________________
Yours truly,
Gabriel

My 300ZX Website

European car owners (As is the case in the US, where they are all expensive) tend to have higher standards than others, simply because they expect more. Usually these "problems" are niggly little things that cost next to nothing to fix.

About 70% of owners of even the worst brands (such as Alfa, Fiat, Mitsubishi and Land Rover) have a trouble free run with thier cars, so reliability is a tiny issue.

Also the reliability rankings differ from survey to survey. E.g. In the Top Gear 2004 Owners survey, BMW was 9th out of 34, while Toyota was 5th after Lexus, Skoda, Honda and Mazda)

1= Cooper S / 328is

3. GTi





















4. Mazda 3

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This is not 'Nam, this is AF. There are rules.

Yeah, the Mazda 3 is out of this comparison. It is an econo car, while the others are more upscale. Id get the BMW or the Mini Cooper S, which is in part manufactured by that company.

__________________
Honda Civic 1999 EBP SiR
Im not as fast as I am furious.
1/4 mile = 15.347 (sealevel)
Porsche RS America
BMW 323 01
Pictures of my ride (Pictures)

I know this might tick off all you sophisticates, but have you considered the SRT-4, or for more complacent daily drivability the Saturn ION Redline? Also did you all forget the Scion Tc, I mean for crying out loud Toyota seems to be at the tip of all your tongues. Also as for cheap RWD coupes perhaps you should try looking upon one of the mongols Pontiac and their Solstice, which comes in not only convertible but coupe as well. Or you can always get a base 2006 Eclipse from the seemingly much, other than EVO, ostracized Mitsubishi. And did you forget the Sentra SE-R, sure it might be bit archaic by today's standards but with a nice trims for a cheap additional price, stock front LSD, always great engine and with especially the fact that a replacement is coming soon you can probably pick up one for a decent price these days. If you are also consider a cheap but nice looking coupe with a decently powered but much larger displacement engine for its price rangine you can always consider the Hyundai Tiburon. Perhaps I'll be back with even more.

in terms of buying a "value" car, the better the car, the more you will get back for it.
in 3/5 years time, that bmw or mini is going to be worth more than most of the otehr cars mentioned.

worth thinking about.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by VAD0R
I know this might tick off all you sophisticates, but have you considered the SRT-4, or for more complacent daily drivability the Saturn ION Redline? Also did you all forget the Scion Tc, I mean for crying out loud Toyota seems to be at the tip of all your tongues. Also as for cheap RWD coupes perhaps you should try looking upon one of the mongols Pontiac and their Solstice, which comes in not only convertible but coupe as well. Or you can always get a base 2006 Eclipse from the seemingly much, other than EVO, ostracized Mitsubishi. And did you forget the Sentra SE-R, sure it might be bit archaic by today's standards but with a nice trims for a cheap additional price, stock front LSD, always great engine and with especially the fact that a replacement is coming soon you can probably pick up one for a decent price these days. If you are also consider a cheap but nice looking coupe with a decently powered but much larger displacement engine for its price rangine you can always consider the Hyundai Tiburon. Perhaps I'll be back with even more.

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Aside from the decorativeness of the MINI Cooper S decorative dash and buttons on the steering, it shares allot in common when it comes to its sparco-esque seats and being a bit cramp up front, at least the SRT-4 can decently seat four.

As for the Saturn ION Redline, in my humble opinion by buying it you would send more of a message to Saturn and subsequently GM for them to stick to their cheap Japanese import fighting roots, rather than buying say the Sky or the Aura (which even sounds like the Oldsmobile Arora). But if you do not want to support Saturn at all you can always get the slightly more expensive and perhaps even slightly faster Chevy Cobalt SS, which also has an interior which you can say is a bit more comparable to the MINI Cooper.

As for the Solstice, you talk about wanting practicality and your considering a MINI? Aside from the fact that it has great handling and the ability to squeeze into a smaller parking space, the back seats equate to virtually nothing.

I respect your opinion about the Sentra and Eclipse, perhaps the future Renault Megane based model would appeal to you more.

The Hyundai Tiburon, I admit it does have a cheaper interior than the others you have mentioned. But when it comes to performance it despite a bit of an additional weight, the V6 models have the displacement to make up for it. You can't dispute it has a great bang for the buck value, I can see though how it doesn't quite suite your tastes.

The Scion Tc has the one of greatest balances in luxury, practicality, price and performance out of all of these. What I can tell from your lack of "excitement" comment is that you seem to care about the badge. You feel that Scion is a too "youth oriented" brand to be associated with. The fact is more young adults than highschoolers drive them, they even said they want to appeal to Gen Y'ers more whom most of them are adults now, not to mention the fact that you can say that MINI is a "youth oriented" brand for BMW, which is more iconic but the point remains the same. Also, the Tc has most performance aspects that can match the MINI, maybe aside from handling, and once you add a TRD or especially aftermarket supercharger it will blow past it. Also as of now the Toyota has far more tuning potential. So is a car that is "youth oriented" necessarily a bad thing?

And there is always the Honda Civic Si. It might not be as great as the Type R but still has enough performance to compete with the ones you mentioned above, aside from the BMW. It also has a basic, but very driver friendly interior, just slightly more room for the seats in the back than the MINI, and can compete with it in handling. They have gas mileage, which is about the same with the Civic proclaiming to be slightly better. The 06-07 model might have a bump in performance equaling to the Type R and be running on the same playing field as the Volkswagen Gold GTI MKIV.

So in my opinion some additional cars that should be in this comparison you should look into are the, Scion Tc, Cobalt SS and Honda Civic Si.

Quote:

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The Hyundai Tiburon, I admit it does have a cheaper interior than the others you have mentioned. But when it comes to performance it despite a bit of an additional weight, the V6 models have the displacement to make up for it. You can't dispute it has a great bang for the buck value, I can see though how it doesn't quite suite your tastes.

The Scion Tc has the one of greatest balances in luxury, practicality, price and performance out of all of these. What I can tell from your lack of "excitement" comment is that you seem to care about the badge. You feel that Scion is a too "youth oriented" brand to be associated with. The fact is more young adults than highschoolers drive them, they even said they want to appeal to Gen Y'ers more whom most of them are adults now, not to mention the fact that you can say that MINI is a "youth oriented" brand for BMW, which is more iconic but the point remains the same. Also, the Tc has most performance aspects that can match the MINI, maybe aside from handling, and once you add a TRD or especially aftermarket supercharger it will blow past it. Also as of now the Toyota has far more tuning potential. So is a car that is "youth oriented" necessarily a bad thing?

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My Camry...someday.

The Solstice is highly over rated...2900 lbs and only 170hp...please!!!

The new Miata coming out will have around 170 normally aspirated horses and only weigh about 22 lbs more than the current version...so it's still light and will have a 50/50 weight distribution w/a 6 spd optional.

__________________
Yours truly,
Gabriel

My 300ZX Website