[John V]

Originally Posted by Nick M3

I’m constraining my requirements to wagon, stick, equal to or more power, and equal to or better handling.

The CTS-V is too big, hideously ugly, has a horrible interior, and equivalent condition cars are around double the cost of the EAG car.

The Mazda3 5-door is hideously ugly on the outside, has WAY less power, and is FWD. I’m not going to rule it out explicitly on the FWD basis, but it has to be accounted for.

So yes, the logical answer is to get a GTI. Or even a Golf R for a little bit more money. I don’t think that anyone is really arguing that a Golf isn’t the correct answer.

But, again, we are talking about a unicorn car available in unicorn quantities looking for unicorn buyers. It makes perfect sense. The dozen or so cars that still exist and meet these requirements will absolutely find a dozen or so buyers.

IMO, the only real issue with the E9x interior is the navigation. It’s absolutely awful. Get one without navigation and the interior is fine. Not awesome, but innocuous.

Yes, if you can only see the world through BMW-colored glasses, I agree that it makes perfect sense to spend $30k on one of these.