GTI vs Cooper S vs Ralliart vs MX-5???

[240z]

The GTi for me and its not because I'm a VW person in fact I've never owned one before, I just found the quality of the gti to be superior of any of the other cars we looked at, the cooper s we had as a company car and its too small and had a lot of torque steer and who needs a speedo that big? The mx5 is a good car but not practical for the missus(although I've had a couple of NA mx5's, beautiful car)and the lancer just looks cheap too me, but I'd love a evo for a track car.

[noone]

What is your criteria? Why do you want an auto?

Just a few ideas for criteria: Seating, comfort, speed / power, luggage, fuel economy, size, looks, gadgets / technology, resale, safety, track-upgrades, etc.

I'll guess at saying it needs to be auto for the wife / someone else to drive as well?

[Zed!]

Thats probably the stupidest question i have heard asked on here. You come on to a Volkswagen Forum, into the MK6 section, put forward a selection of similarly specced and priced cars and ask which people would prefer?

Hmmmm.... i wonder what the responses will be

Chillax and take your valium. Just because it's a VW forum doesn't necessarily mean people will choose a GTi over another model. The GTI has it's shortcomings, as does my R32 which I was aware of when I bought it. If someone posted on here that they were tossing up between an Sti & a R32 & perhaps they wanted to reguarly track the car, I'd suggest the Sti. the Gti isn't perfect and neither is the R32. There are a lot of cars I could quite happily choose over a Golf.

[gareth_oau]

but Zed, if a VW owner and forum member says "I recommend a VW" (as you would expect), but also suggests "that a Cooper S is pretty good", then wouldnt that give you a better impression of the Cooper S?

Also, if the Golf was a problem, then maybe asking the question here might get some honest answers about reliability issues or other problems that forums are renowned for airing.

[GTi Crow]

Well I have had many cars and for a time owned and was in love with a WRX but I have trouble bringing manuals into the drive as my partner will not drive them. I solved this when I bought a Golf MkV GTI DSG and believe it to be the best car I have ever owned. So when it went and I looked at another car the partner balked at the price. So (being an auditor) I went through every know variety of car in the similar price range and analysed what you got for your money and what the golf provided. The assessment included WRX's (no auto knocked it out quick), Liberty GT & Liberty Premium, Cooper S, Mazda 626, BMW 130i, BMW 125i, Merc A200 Turb, Forrester Xt Premium and of course the Mark VI GTI.

I have to say that the Liberty GT came closest, but is but ugly - even the partner would not have it in the drive. The value for money and performance of the GTI won by heaps - but then again i am bias. At least my partner is now happy with my purchase, which is optioned quite a bit.

Your answer - get the GTI you will love it - and it will hold its resale value better than most of the others.

[scheps]

i assume jcw still doesnt have auto? otherwise that is a pretty nice/fast/raw car and not too many on the streets.

[Getti]

Is wondering if anyone else finds it annoying when a "GTI" is referred to as a "GTi"?

Perhaps the moderators need to introduce a sinbin/yellow card system?

Also, I think the reference to the "Subaru GTI" was meant to be "Subaru GT"...

[gareth_oau]

Well I have had many cars and for a time owned and was in love with a WRX but I have trouble bringing manuals into the drive as my partner will not drive them. I solved this when I bought a Golf MkV GTI DSG and believe it to be the best car I have ever owned. So when it went and I looked at another car the partner balked at the price. So (being an auditor) I went through every know variety of car in the similar price range and analysed what you got for your money and what the golf provided. The assessment included WRX's (no auto knocked it out quick), Liberty GT & Liberty Premium, Cooper S, Mazda 626, BMW 130i, BMW 125i, Merc A200 Turb, Forrester Xt Premium and of course the Mark VI GTI.

I have to say that the Liberty GT came closest, but is but ugly - even the partner would not have it in the drive. The value for money and performance of the GTI won by heaps - but then again i am bias. At least my partner is now happy with my purchase, which is optioned quite a bit.

Your answer - get the GTI you will love it - and it will hold its resale value better than most of the others.

Hiya GTi Crow. I read your problem and your audit-style solution, but I think you got it all wrong.

You should have traded in the missus and got a manual

[iBoost]

The answers you get on here will obviously be biased towards the GTI, as most of us are waiting on ours to arrive.

However in saying that, I did look at the above cars and was also in the situation of needing an "auto", all be it I hate regular autos and the GTI is not an auto in the normal sense of the word.

I disliked the Ralliart as I found the interior cheap, and if I wanted a car with performance and a cheap interior I'd buy the WRX over it.

The Mini doesn't interest me as I don't like the way it looks, it's not tough in a performance car way, more cutesy in my opinion. I'm not sure what the auto box is like in them either, if it's a regular auto, then it doesn't compare to the DSG.

The MX5 is also a great car, but an auto would dull the experience I think, plus you need to decide whether you need to be able to carry more than one passenger.

For me the GTI ticked all the boxes, and the DSG is not a normal boring auto box so will satisfy my desire for a manual with my wife's need for an auto.

[KWICKS]

More info:

What are you coming from and what did you like/dislike about that?

Your mix has 2 FWD, 1 AWD and 1 RWD car, which of these drivetrain layouts tickles you the most?

You also have 3 forced induction and 1 NA car, again, will this influence your decision? If tuning for gains is a consideration the NA will offer less - but then that's not what the MX-5 is about - its about being lightweight and achieveing a raw balance in its drive.

Do you value the interior as much as the exterior? Golf is classier.

Is warranty important - Mitsubishi warrants their cars well for performance vehicles.

Is number of seats or space a consideration? MX-5 falls down in comparison here.

Give us a hand here and we'll give one back.