Drove a bunch of cars today
 

I'm not sure the E91 wagon or Cayman will make it through 2018, so I drove (or attempted to drive) a bunch of cars today.

Subaru BRZ / Toyota 86
Apparently no one in the northeast buys these, so no dealers order them.

VW Golf R
Apparently everyone in the northeast buys these, so they are all have deposits before they reach the dealership

Subaru WRX
To my surprise, I kind of liked it. The 2018 model has more sound deadening so it's a little less awful in terms of NHV, but only slightly. The tire noise is still pretty bad. The clutch and shifter are also a little less awful than the previous year. It turned better than I expected. And the Recaro seats were comfortable. It's obviously still a low-rent interior.

The biggest shock was that it has the worst throttle mapping and rev hang of any car I've ever driven. Pressing the throttle 1 inch gets you 75% throttle. And on the 1-2 shift the revs don't drop! They just stick where they are for over a second. It's insane. But apparently a $695 Cobb Tune solves both these problems.

But for whatever reason, I enjoyed driving it. I just kept thinking - this is so much more fun to drive than the wagon. I worry the road noise would grow tiring, but maybe not?

VW GTI
Since no dealership had a Golf R, I asked to drive a GTI. Maybe it was just the contrast from the WRX and Cayman (which I drove around to the dealers), but I was surprised at how civil the GTI was. Clutch and shfiter much more refined and easy to drive smoothly. It turned in nicely and really hugged the road. I didn't love the engine sound - a little too lawnmower-esque. I left thinking... that was a perfectly fine car, but it was somehow boring. Maybe the R would have fixed that? Do I just a mental block against Golf's because I think they look stupid? Also, Golf R's don't have a spare tire, which just infuriates me. My wagon is a pain to put a bicycle in because there's always a goddamn wheel & tire in the way.

I wish I could learn to love a Golf R. It would simplify my garage.


2013 Golf R
The only Golf R I could find on autotrader within range was a 2013 Golf R. It was OK I guess? It was like the '18 GTI but old and beat up, a little faster, and AWD. In my experience, VW's age much worse than other cars for some reason. I left thinking, I never in a million years buy this car, but maybe a 2018 R would somehow be different.


2014 Jeep Grand Cherokee - Overland
After all equ's JGC discussion I've been intrigued by these. I kind of liked it. It was more car-like than I expect for a nearly 5,000 lbs vehicle. Yeah it leaned a lot if you attempt to turn quickly, but somehow driving it wasn't bad. It was a more pleasant than a pickup truck. The 6-cylinder engine would be fine for me. I just can't see wanting to drive this on a semi-regular basis during the winter, so I can't figure out how it would make sense. I can't justify it as just a home depot truck.


Bottom line:
I have no idea. :lol: I'm doing nothing for now and will re-asses this spring/summer. I'd love to get down to 2 cars though so if I could find a fun AWD vehicle I like that would just be lovely. Model 3?

Interesting about Rs. I haven’t driven a Mark VII GTI so I can’t really comment on the delta, but I can see how one might experience the refinement as boring.

What about a Focus RS? Those are almost done; might be a nice compromise if the VW is too bland and the Subaru is too rough.

It's just weird because I don't view the E46 refinement as boring. I view it as a positive. :dunno:

Maybe I'm just looking for something different.

Everything I've read says the Focus RS is stiff as hell. And the styling is a bit too much for me. But maybe I should give it a try.

Right now if you made me choose, I'd go buy a WRX w/ Performance Package, which gains you minimal actual performance - but you get Recaro's and a sunroof delete (yes!!!).

I know Subaru’s improved since I owned one but I tired pretty quickly of the shit box interior of my 2004 wrx.

Your cars choices are kind of all over the place. M2 or rs3?

How long did you own it? I suspect I'd be fine with the interior, although it's annoying it doesn't have apple car play / android auto. The noise is the biggest question.

For sure. But I'm mostly focused on something AWD. RS3 doesn't come in a manual.

Yeah I got super tired of my WRX, too. It was just...a lot. A lot of lag, a lot of noise, a lot of understeer.

Haven’t driven one in a long time but it sounds like they haven’t improved things much.

Probably hard to find an RS to drive but I’d do that before buying a WRX. And a Golf too. You can drive mine at the mudgeons get together.

Why not look at a Macan or X2/3, or the Merc gla/c (?) If you are thinking a GC is livable then any of these should blow your mind.

The Focus RS is terrible. Don’t buy one. The ride is abominable and the engine is awful. Even ignoring the head gasket issue.

Matt might be small enough to fit comfortably in the seats, though.

Macan was the first thing that crossed my mind. I have to imagine it handles about as well as a WRX but does everything else better. Supposedly the handling is fairly playful as well but :dunno:. You should at least go drive one.

Somewhat surprisingly, you can get a new A4 Quattro in manual still.

http://www.bmwblog.com/2017/09/27/te...uattro-manual/

Edit: amazingly, my dealer's inventory shows 5 in stock.

my vote would go here.

very refined interior and the engine has tons of torque for what it is. no one does the 2.0 litre turbo better.

Yeah the A4 is definitely worth a look.

FWIW (not much really) I had a VW Jetta in rental car trim this week while I was in California and it was absolutely awful. Most any American or Japanese rental has been more pleasant.

The Jetta is not great. Nor is the new Passat. Both have been biggified and decontented to appeal to mass market Americans.

The Golf still feels German, and has much nicer interior materials.

The R is really hard to argue with. It’s very fast, AWD, not terribly expensive, and has a Swiss Army knife utility to it. It’s also fun to drive, though being honest the car’s biggest weakness is that it doesn’t really sing to me. I like it, and I can’t think of anything I’d rather own for the price...but I don’t *love* it.

Mistake in the article. B8 never stopped offering a manual either in A4 or S4. B9 launched without manuals in the A4 but with the promise of them coming. B9 has no manual S4's.

I'd be interested to drive one. I did have the b8 a4 for 4yrs/45k miles, a good daily & winter drive but not an interesting one. In every condition but snow, the mk7 GTI (or any Golf R) is way more fun to drive, even with FWD. You just don't get a semi-luxury sedan. I'm also curious if the newer weaker sauce quattro would be an issue or not.

Directly compared, Macan S does not handle as well as a WRX. It's a very nice, peppy, good-sounding SUV, but it's still on stilts. I drove one at launch. It was not nearly as sporty as my "sports" a4.

e46's used to feel refined 15 years ago. Not any longer, the world has changed.

I was curious about your long term review. That sounds about how I feel like I'd feel if I had one. I'd definitely love to take you up on your offer to drive it though.

Regarding the Macan: if I decide to get an suv - yes. But the JGC was mostly just goofing around. For now I'm sticking to my requirement of being a manual.

A4 is worth a drive for sure, if I decide to go the less fun route. The BMW 440i xdrive actually comes in a manual as well - but it's nearly 60k.

Good stuff... These are like my shopping trips.

What do you not like about your e90 awd wagon? Its age/condition or its handling? I doubt any recent audi or bmw or Macan would be a drastic improvement in the latter - without major $$ spent on S4 or 335 optioned up, but of course major improvement on the former.

Definitely drive the Mk7 Golf R. I haven't touched one, but the mk6 R was much better than the mk6 GTI. I haven't driven the mk6 R and the mk7 GTI back to back, I might like the latter better, but that's a guess. Also our mk7 isn't stock. Engine sound isn't great, but it won't be in any 4-cylinder.

The Mk7 GTI (SE leather w/ Perf Package, red brakes and LSD) works very well for us. With APR, it is basically as fast as a Golf R, just a bit less traction, more like a Mini JCW, being able to break loose at all sorts of speeds. It is very much limited by its all-season tires, would feel downright sporty with more grip and - I daresay - match the Golf R for fun (though not on a track or on snow). It is also a tank in the snow with Blizzaks and front LSD. I think there are slicktop GTI's as well with plaid seats. The sunroof is pretty useless in that application.

Cool that you tried the JGC. It's a pretty nice truck/SUV, soft but not hateful. I do like either the hemi or the diesel much better.

Anyway, you have a different problem, moving from 3-point to 2-point optimization. I wouldn't have a truck/suv in a 2 car garage. These days, with lots of construction, parking space and the big dogs big stuff, crates etc, it makes partial sense.

You need to figure out the Cayman R. Seems like it's not really working for you. What color is it again? :eeps:

Are you keeping the e46 definitely?

The WRX (non-STI) has a weak sauce AWD as well. It's the same as the crosstrek, etc. Open diffs front and rear and it basically fails a diagonal test.

I know you guys don’t like the steering in the 340 but I have to say I’ve been driving it quite a bit lately and it is a really fun car to drive plus the engine has a really nice growl too ...

As far as the A4 if Matt looks at it try to find one with the Black optic package it gives you a sports suspension and some other nice things such as a thicker steering wheel. I find the A4 to be a great car though I see it more as a sportyish sedan not really a sports sedan, we have the regular suspension and I am sure Matt will not like it without the sport suspension.

Fortunately for Matt there are a lot of black optics in stock since they aren’t selling too well according to my sales person.

E46: It stays. I like it as a DD.

Cayman: Plan is to sell, but I'm giving myself 1 year with the car (May) before doing so. I'll drive it through the spring and see if anything changes. That should be a good time to sell as well. It's silver - identical to this one:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tVnZnUf0fbY

E91
I'm mixed here. As a snow beater it's been perfect. It's fantastic in the snow on X-ice 3's and hasn't let me down in any way. What I didn't realize was how much I'd be driving it on dry pavement. For example: I'm going somewhere for a long weekend and it might snow on Sunday night - I end up taking the wagon. Or it's been sitting outside for 10 days so I take it to work just to charge the battery and get the fluids moving.

In the dry it's OK, but not particularly inspiring.

• It's pretty slow.
• It has mediocre brakes.
• It handles like a fat pig. This partly fixable. Right now it has 205 snow tires. In hindsight I should have gotten 225's, possibly even performance snows? :toetap: The Koni adjustable shocks were also set to full soft. I firmed up the fronts and it's much better. I need to adjust the rears as well but it requires removing the shocks and I'm waiting until after snow season in case I break something (like a rusty bolt)
• It's not that quiet at 70mph+. Something in the front AWD system makes noise at speed. There was a "wheel bearing" issue that JV fixed (turned out to be tire noise from a loose suspension bushing) but the front end still isn't that quiet. (The irony here is that a WRX would be significantly louder. :speechle: )
• The cargo space is miserably inconvenient due to a spare tire being in the trunk. I can't even set a big box in the back of the car without being annoyed that there is a tire. You can't get the box fully to the side of the tire (unless you stand it up) and if you set the box on the spare, it slides and tips sideways.
• I'm tempted to do more preventative maintenance if I'm keeping it - fuel pump, replace rusty brake lines, etc. Which leads me to...
• It's rusty underneath. I could fix much of the above with $$$, and I'm tempted to do so. But I can't see putting money in a car that has a rusty chassis.

Bottom line: If I keep 3 cars it will likely remain the snow beater. As a second vehicle it can work- I just cant claim it's any fun.

Interesting, I'll take a look :thumbup:

EDIT: The sports package and sports + package appear to be independent from the black optic package.

I don't know what the manual is like, but as an AWD beater/cruiser, I definitely like the B9. I don't know that it will be more entertaining than the GTI, though. I think you'll get a lot of what you liked about the GTI+AWD, but it'll still be boring.

Did anyone suggest an S3 ??

There's a P.A. at my work who drives one. OMG, she's a smokin' hot brunette with a killer body, smart as all hell, and LOVES drinking high-end beers.

I mostly suggested an S3 because she IS a smokin' hot brunette with a killer body, smart as all hell and LOVES drinking high-end beers, LOL.

But seriously, her most attractive feature is she is extremely friendly, and as an added bonus, loves to give hugs.

:)

I would really like to learn more about the S3. Can I have her phone number? You know...... to talk about the S3.


PS: If the S3 came in a manual transmission I'd likely own one by now.

The way I'd configure it, it would be a $47,000 boring beater.

The S3 and the R are the same car, though—and the R is more practical. If the S3 is that compelling, just buy an R.

Yeah...

She's married.

But she'll gladly talk about her S3 and how she was racing a couple of doctors in their Porsches and BMWs over a pitcher of beers.

:lol: :lol:

BTW, we call her "Unicorn"....for obvious reasons.

Me too - but make that the RS3.

The RS3 is interesting but all the money. Not sure I'd spring for one even if it had a stick.

This is surprising. Counts of NEW vehicles found on autotrader with distance set to "ANY"

WRX STI: 566
Focus RS: 1,190
VW Golf R: 0 (yes ZERO)

Thinking maybe VW dealers don't use autotrader, I searched for a Jetta and got 13,000. So that's not it.

In terms of sales volume, it seems it's roughly:

WRX STI: 2600/month
Focus RS: 500/month
VW Golf R: 360/month

That is weird. There aren't any at either of the big volume dealers near me that had double digit inventories when I bought mine.

My guess is that they build them in batches? Maybe they've sold out the 2017s and the 2018s aren't here yet.

EDIT: They have a metric fuckton of GTIs, though.

EDIT to EDIT:

http://forums.vwvortex.com/showthrea...ly-Here/page46

Sounds like the launch of the 2018s is...not going well? Or is being delayed? Or no one knows.

That is super weird.

That is pretty interesting, I was just reading on the Audi R8 forum that they haven't released the 2018 models yet either and some cars have been sitting at the ports since October :dunno:

After work I drove an '18 WRX, '18 WRX STI, then '18 Toyota 86.

The STI was a pleasant surprise. I liked it a lot. The WRX & STI suspensions are surprisingly similar so there's very little harshness penalty moving to the STI. And the STI shifter is better, it doesn't have the ridiculous 1-2 rev hang (still has the twitchy throttle though), the brakes are better, steering is better, exhaust sound is better, and has a superior AWD system. I feel like the STI makes more sense as a package. If you're going to accept the road noise and lack of refinement of a car like this, it might as well go zoom zoom. (And go 30% less far on each gallon of gas)

In terms of engines, the STI didn't feel much faster than the WRX, which was expected since I couldn't rev much past 4500. Then I looked up the torque curves. It seems the WRX is underrated to protect the aging STI . It reminds me a little of an RX8 - V8 fuel economy but without the low-end torque.


The 86 (aka BRZ) was interesting. i liked the car quite a bit, but given the short test drive I'm not sure what it would be like to own. I knew it would have no torque but what surprised me was how much noise the engine made while you're still not going anywhere. :lol: But I really liked the size and feel of the car, the shifter (better than the STI). Brakes were mediocre, but the BRZ performance package fixes that. I felt right at home in it and could see enjoying beating the crap out of one. I'm not so sure if I'd learn to love that engine though.


Side note: Subaru dealers don't care if you beat on their brand new cars. Multiple salesmen told me it was fine to floor it and rev it out, with 4 miles on the car. I just couldn't do it.

First time I drove a WRX, salesman blew a gasket when I'd give it a little gas and threatened to pull the key out if I revved past 4k.

Guess times have changed since fall 2001.

I have a test drive somewhere listed on the STI vs. WRX, this was the hatchback generation, and back to back. I loved the STI shifter and the center diff dial, but the power difference was minimal. In that generation so the 09 to 2013 or so, it seemed to make no sense to for the STI.

Agree on the BRZ. My test drive in it was unbelievably fun, drifts and all. Felt like a baby cayman, but yeah no go at all. Does not feel like a good, modern engine.