vw rabbit vs. mazda3 vs. imprezza

[Aldaris]

Originally Posted By: parimento1
Well, Impreza is absolutely butt ugly IMO, so I would not buy that one. Rabbit is nice, but is not known to be reliable; plus being hard to work on and find parts for is a deal breaker for me. I test drove a Mazda 3 and found it to be an amazing car to drive. Excellent road feel through the steering and sporty, confidence inspiring suspension. It was also pretty quiet inside and the engine was smooth even when pushing it to the redline. All in all I walked away very impressed. The mazda also get the best gas mileage out of those 3 if you get the smaller engine. The downside is that Mazda's are generally not very reliable. However, being that Mazda and Ford share parts for this car, most notably the engines and transmissions, parts should be easy to find. FINALLY, if it were my $ I'd buy the Mazda. Let's see what everyone else thinks.
Did we drive the same car?
I had the opportunity to drive a Mazda3 last year. To say that I was disappointed would be making an understatement. First, the good:
1) Very sporty feeling car. Nimble and light on its feet.
2) Good, responsive brakes.

The bad:
1) Horrible interior fit and finish. Feels CHEAP. Hard edged plastics throughout. DEAL BREAKER
2) Noisy. Engine and road noise prevail. You can hear every rock bounce off the fender liner, no matter how small. Extremely tinny feeling.
3) Barren. Power locks weren't even included on that model.

 

[oilnoob425]

I agree with above points. Buzzy engine and glummy interior. I could live with that but I just couldn't adjust the dang driver seat comfortably no matter how hard I tried. That's the sole reason I won't buy one. Other than that it's definetley a worthy car in it's class regardless of it's drawbacks.

 

[oilnoob425]

Originally Posted By: rationull
You're right, it deserves consideration and the decision totally depends on the priorities of the buyer. Actually before I bought my Civic I was thinking about the Impreza as well as a few others, and the Civic (coupe) won out because of multiple factors (good balance of power/FE in its class, I like the styling, I like my local Honda dealership better than some of the others, etc). The Civic coupe actually handles pretty well and I didn't think it was worth moving down a class in FE for a little more torque. Gas prices honestly didn't factor into the FE part of the decision, though. I'd been driving more of a gas hog for a while and just felt like getting a car that would put me in the 30s and 40s again. Not that this is relevant to the discussion at hand, really.


Yeah I liked the 8 gen Civic when I drove it too. It's way better than mine 7 gen Civic. It's not overly powerfull but it's adequate and while handling is pretty good ride is WAAAAAY smoother than in my car. It's a definetley the improvement over previous model. The drawbacks are styling although coupe is ok and futuristic interior is definetly not my thing, especially that huge dash and digital speedo.

If I was buying today I personally would have gone with Impreza due to way too many pluses along with low price. It's quite a steal for that ammount of money.

I think OP should try them all and go with his heart. That's the best strategy. Also try new Lancer and Elantra.

 

[oilnoob425]

Originally Posted By: glennc
One thing I have noticed is that "performance" and "fun to drive" are not always even close to the same thing. What makes a car rewarding to drive is much more complicated than any combination of performance measures IMO. Looking just at performance numbers is like picking your favorite band by how loud they can play.


Performance numbers don't matter as much when it comes to sport cars because most of them are quite immpresive and fun to drive anyway. But when it comes to small economic cars where most cars are not very impressive vis a vi performance you will want as much performance (power, handling) as you can get for your money. Better performing economy car will likely be most fun to drive. And that's exactly why I sugested Impreza as being quite a fun to drive bargain for what it costs.

 

[lovcom]

Originally Posted By: oilnoob425
So what if they are not sport cars but economy cars? My point is if you got the choice you should get better performing car for the money anyway. Why settle for less? It's a common sense.

Impreza is more powerfull and get best handling due to it's suspension, boxer engine and AWD. Yeah it will eat more gas but if you can't afford gas then you probably can't afford a new car either. Just buy used Corolla.


Noob, what you call "better performance" means many things to many people. I bought a cheapo Yaris because I felt it "performs" way better then a 2008 Corvette. Yes it does, because I wanted MPG performance, financial performance too, and the Corvette sucks at those two criterias.

And when you reach 30 or 40, you too will have your eyes opened to the concept that just because you can pay for the gas burned in a lower MPG and more expensive car DOES NOT mean it makes financial sense. For example, I am worth in excess of $1 million yet I can't afford to pay for the gas, nor price of a 2008 Corvette. Now I could buy 7 or more 2008 Corvettes cash if I wanted to, but being a mature person, I think this would be a huge waste of money and resources, and therefore I cannot afford doing so.

Don't equate affordability with the ability to scrape up a car's monthly payment and gas every month. That thinking will cause one a life time of just getting by, and never able to build wealth, thereby severely limiting one's options, and at the end of the day, it's not really about money, but ultimately about options in one's life. Sadly it often takes money to have options.

Men-boys, the boys stuck in a man's body, they're the ones that ascertain a car's worth by (1) it's power and (2) it's performance. Sure, there is a time and place for a powerful car, but leave that thinking primarily to the Jay Leno's of the world and those that are set for life, and can truly afford the luxury of buring massive amounts of gas with no impact to their options.

 

[rationull]

Not that I really want to get into this lovcom, but aren't you assuming a little much about oilnoob? Just because he is willing to trade some FE for more power/better handling doesn't mean he's a "men-boy" whatever that really means... Anyway it doesn't lend much credence to your argument when you counter his opinion by insulting him for holding it.

 

[crw]

Originally Posted By: Norm Olt
If you want a VW be sure to buy a used one because their value drops like a lead baloon the moment it leaves the dealership lot.


Actually, VW has the highest overall resale value in the industry. Not "one of the highest", but, "the highest." (Just wanting to correct the record, there is a lot of misinformation out there, you know...)

 

[Tornado Red]

Originally Posted By: crw
Actually, VW has the highest overall resale value in the industry. Not "one of the highest", but, "the highest."

I think the ultra-high resale value for TDIs improves the average for the brand. Gas-engine VWs still have a good resale, but not great.

However, having said that, the current Rabbit model may be a special case.
1) VW is selling them for an attractive price, which is probably about $2000 under their cost. VW can mark up the price for Passats and GTIs and other models built in Germany, but it hasn't done that with the Rabbit because nobody would buy them at $22k or higher.

2) To avoid losing even more money in North America, VW hasn't imported that many and hasn't really promoted them. They want you to buy a Jetta built in Mexico, because they make on profit on Jettas. They don't really want you to buy a Rabbit, but they have to sell them because the dealerships demand it.

3) So for around $17-18k you can get a very well-appointed Rabbit that is really worth a couple thousand more. And you get a model that will be hard to find in the used-car marketplace in a couple years -- those who want one will have to pay more than would be the case if VW was selling several hundred thousand of them.

4) Finally, under the skin it's the same platform as the Jetta, so the parts are interchangeable and will always be easy to find.

5) If you like the Rabbit but don't like the 2.5-liter inline-5 engine, pay about $4k more and get a GTI with the 2.0 turbo... also built in Germany.

 

[oilnoob425]

Originally Posted By: lovcom
Originally Posted By: oilnoob425
So what if they are not sport cars but economy cars? My point is if you got the choice you should get better performing car for the money anyway. Why settle for less? It's a common sense.

Impreza is more powerfull and get best handling due to it's suspension, boxer engine and AWD. Yeah it will eat more gas but if you can't afford gas then you probably can't afford a new car either. Just buy used Corolla.


Noob, what you call "better performance" means many things to many people. I bought a cheapo Yaris because I felt it "performs" way better then a 2008 Corvette. Yes it does, because I wanted MPG performance, financial performance too, and the Corvette sucks at those two criterias.

And when you reach 30 or 40, you too will have your eyes opened to the concept that just because you can pay for the gas burned in a lower MPG and more expensive car DOES NOT mean it makes financial sense. For example, I am worth in excess of $1 million yet I can't afford to pay for the gas, nor price of a 2008 Corvette. Now I could buy 7 or more 2008 Corvettes cash if I wanted to, but being a mature person, I think this would be a huge waste of money and resources, and therefore I cannot afford doing so.

Don't equate affordability with the ability to scrape up a car's monthly payment and gas every month. That thinking will cause one a life time of just getting by, and never able to build wealth, thereby severely limiting one's options, and at the end of the day, it's not really about money, but ultimately about options in one's life. Sadly it often takes money to have options.

Men-boys, the boys stuck in a man's body, they're the ones that ascertain a car's worth by (1) it's power and (2) it's performance. Sure, there is a time and place for a powerful car, but leave that thinking primarily to the Jay Leno's of the world and those that are set for life, and can truly afford the luxury of buring massive amounts of gas with no impact to their options.


I don't know what you talking about. And don't call me noob. If you like small underperforming cars it's your business but people are different. I had my share of small economy cars. My first car was Hyundai Accent that was too small for WI climate. When you drive in the cross winds on the freeway which is always the case the car moves left and right. It's quite terryfing. You cant even go 55 when that happens. No thank you no more small subcompact cars for me. Now I drive 115 hp car that has better stability than Accent but still underpowered. I just tired of underpowered cars at this point. These cars don't suite my driving habits no more. That Impreza we talkin here is a great alternative because for it's price its got decent performance, AWD, and it's very safe car. It's not Corvette but it's good alternative if you on the budget. That's why I keep my eye on it. Where else can you find such nice car with AWD car for 17k? Nowhere. It's very underrated car and quite a steal.

You as I can see just can't drive, thus Yaris is good enough for you, but there are people out there whose driving skills and priorities are different and they are not cheapskates. That doesn't mean we are boys in men bodies, we just like to have fun. And it's a great thing! So if someone call me a boy it's ok too because it's always good to have that inner child inside, it keeps you young! If you are old, grumpy and cheap those are all bad qulities. I buy car to have fun and not to show off or save money on gas. That's what it's all about. Life is short and you gotta have fun in any ways you can and driving is one of my ways to have fun. it's not all about saving money in life.

 

[rationull]

I think both of your arguments would be more believable if you'd stop insulting each other. Ad hominem is a logical fallacy, not a tactic.

 

[DmanWho]

Have you considered the very affordable, made in Japan, iAWD Suzuki SX4? (My personal favorite.)

Aftermarket Turbo available, and COBB was doing some R&D on an ECU just today. So that "more performance" potential is there.

With the AWD and Bosch ESP/TC, the car is brilliant in snow.

 

[Thermo1223]

Well coming from a current Rabbit owner let me tell you I wish I would have waited for the 170HP engine.

The car does lose it's breath past 5kRPMS but the tq makes it enjoyable.

The multitude of standard features makes it nice as well if only I could have convinced the wife that a manual was best.

We usually average 28-32 mpg on the highway. I was very surprised to get 28mpg going 80mph up a lot of hills. I figured it would be far worse. The car seems to be breaking in nicely though. Right around 16k miles now and not one issue besides a dash noise.

 

[BigJohn]

Another current Rabbit owner. Its in my name and I drive it a few times a month, but it is really my son's vehicle. In regard to build quality, solid, etc....it is the best car we have ever owned. And oh my gosh...that 5 cylinder, 2.5L engine...causes that little car to be a rocket ship!!! Wow it is fun to drive.

We have 25k miles on the car and it is perfect. Nothing loose, no rattles....just very solid performance.