More cents from me....About a month ago, my wife was rear ended in Hayward by a b**ch (in an Intrepid) that was on her cell. She was going around 35mph. Only damage to our 5 was the rear bumper skin and foam padding. Surprised me with the safety.
Another good safety part of the 5: side curtain airbags,all 3 rows.

 

if you can afford it i would say go for a new bmw 3 series. they drive alot nicer than the audi. I think it has more space, it has a navigation option. the sport mode with the automatic is really nice and gives the car a lot more "*****". push button start is always a plus. free matience for 3/5 years is awesome. no buying brake pads or belts.

but out of those 3 cars i would have to say the audi.

 

PM sent!

 

Nah, can't afford the Bimmer. Why do you say the Audi? Keep in mind that To stay in out price range (~25K) we'd have to essentially get no options on an A3 wagon.

 

my opinion is probably gunna be a lil biased but bear with me.

i say the audi because the quattro will be a lot easier than chains. thats if you go up to tahoe for skiing and what not, plus 4 drive wheels is better than 2. (i think the quattro is techincly 3 wheel drive.) i think audi will ride better than a mazda 3 any day of the week. plus if your wife is going to be driving the car you definatly want her to be comfortable (hell hath no fury like a womans scorn). the audi also has a good reliable transmission. i don't know which motor your going to get, but 2.0t has good power (not on par with a wrx though specially a modded one your coming from), low turbo lag, and good gas mileage. im not to keen on their 3.2 v6. i think it doens't produce enough power for its size but test drive em both you never know.

the problems with audi are that the insurance is probably gunna be more than the mazda3 and maybe more than the gti. matience is going to be more than the mazda3 (audi motors are like on their sides, pain in the *** to work on em). it would probably be the same amount on the gti (V Dub=Audi).

High end cars have high end service.

i personally think if you test drive the audi you will like it better than the mazda.

you might also want to look at the VW passat wagon. i don't know what price range their in but its a very nice car. rides like your doing 60 when your really doing double that. i forgot to add the audi will most likely have better brakes than the mazda3.

 

if you like ill try and get on alldata tomorrow and ill pull up the recalls for the mazda and audi. give you an idea of what problems they have.

 

I'll never own another FWD car again unless it's an old Integra Type R or swapped hatch just to toy with. With Subaru making such lame designs, Mazda not being an option at all, Honda not making anything but the S2K as a fun option I'll be buying German next.

I foresee myself with a real nice AMG in about 2 years.

 

[QUOTE=1reguL8NSTi;1989751]I'll never own another FWD car again unless it's an old Integra Type R or swapped hatch just to toy with. With Subaru making such lame designs, Mazda not being an option at all, Honda not making anything but the S2K as a fun option I'll be buying German next.

I foresee myself with a real nice AMG in about 2 years.[/QUOTE]



thats what im talking about !

 

We've had a couple of items recalled on the A3. One is the Open Sky adjustment due to wind noise and the other was to reflash due to starting issues where it took a while for the car to start. They've also had issues with DV's going out and PCV's. Forge and other companies have come up with better versions as well as VAG, but I've never had the issues. The current issue is the compressor for the A/C, but that's being resolved but no recalls yet. vwvortex will tell stories, but as usual, forums will normally have more of the negatives than positives.

Insurance wise, the A3 is less than the GTI as well as my 2001 Honda Accord V-6. That's normal since there are more GTI and Accords on the road that create more claims. I use to say never again will I own a FWD car after the WRX, but this one changed my mind and the GTI did not have the 4 door model at the time of purchase. It would have been a plus if it was a Quattro but I didn't really need the AWD since it was just a commuter car (30 MPG helps). I just changed the all-season tires to summer tires and that made a whole lot of difference already. The rear sway bar will be next in line with the springs then the chip.

Have fun shopping!

 

I'm not willing to throw that kind of cash around with the deployment and training schedule the way it is. I may be switching careers pretty soon so we'll see. The STi will be turned into a track only animal when I get a new car.

 

I was talking to someone about the mazdaspeed 3 last night....good thought.

FWD with 260hp.....TORQUE steer.

I had maybe 180 in my civic back in the day and that sucker had TS like a son of a *****.

 

Exactly. When you purchase FWD you perform self pwnage.

 

The hate against FWD is truly amazing and shows how naive most of you are. Pretty much the only racing in Europe (where real car racing began and almost exclusively still comes from) and most of the touring stuff they do is FWD these days. Remember the RealTime Acuras? How many touring gigs did they win again? (And this is coming from someone who hates Honda).

Too many of you think you're rally drivers. Most of you are like SUV owners -- never been off road and never will be. I know, I love AWD and its an awesome feeling to have all 4 wheels loose around a turn on asphalt. I've gone around Thunderhill. I've drifted in GG Park crossover (omgwtfbbq!). But if you can kick *** in FWD, IMO you are a better driver -- you just have more crap in your pants. The only thing harder is RWD, where its easy to start turning and a lot harder to stop.

 

That's big fat negative. My first car was Honda Prelude and I loved that thing. In general, I like Hondas which is why I'd still love to get a nice Type R to toy with. The fact of the matter is you proved your own point. 99.9% of the people on here are NOT competent race car drivers, myself included. With that said, why would we voluntarily put ourselves in a car that's harder to drive fast?

Unless you've got the money to fill your garage with every genre of vehicle you have to take what covers the bases best. Subarus do that very well. They can kick *** from a red light (theoretically of course, that is illegal afterall), be driven to the quarter mile or auto-cross track, do well in bad weather, hual groceries like it's there job and do it reliably.

All that said, why the hell would I want another FWD car?

 

me rallying, i had to drive thru some pebbles!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6cFX3dgB4BA

i drove the mazda 5 years ago at ZoomZoom live at the Alameda docks, it was ok, i mean for what it was. i just think you might as well get a minivan instead of a mini mini van...its all how hardcore you are into driving...i see STi's with baby seats in the back, i carry my mtnbike in the back of my car, im sure you can fit a stroller in the back...if not, buy a wagon, or an 08 hatch