Mega Hatch Vote - Golf R v RS3 v A45AMGv M135i v WRX STI

Poll Poll Which one from the Autocar List

  • Golf R

    Votes: 19 30.2%
  • Audi RS3

    Votes: 10 15.9%
  • Mercedes-Benz A45 AMG

    Votes: 7 11.1%
  • BMW M135i

    Votes: 26 41.3%
  • Subaru WRX STI

    Votes: 1 1.6%

  • Total voters
    63
  • Poll closed .
Voted Golf my mates got one and they sound awesome when pushing the loud pedal
Would have been the bmw but the looks put me off
 
Just the road I had in mind! :) Out South Deeside, slug and then see how it deals with boring dualler work back to Altens.

Did you get to take it out yourself?
 
Yep - he said go and enjoy yourself and I did - Although it ended up getting expensive after VW i ended up across the road at Porsche and that was the end of the M not long after.


Sounds like we have a similar test drive route to mine - although the South Deeside is now ruined with the 30 mile an hour where they are building the new village at Blairs
 
If pure driving pleasure was your measure I would be going Megane Trophy R or even the regular Trophy with the options list ticked when it came to the Ohlins dampers. Plus you'll lose a lot less money on the Trophy R (if you can lay your hands on one) provided you can put up with two seats. By all accounts nothing else in that hot hatch market gets close for ability.

I guess by 'mega' hatch they mean the 300hp brigade.
 
gwatson said:
Just the road I had in mind! :) Out South Deeside, slug and then see how it deals with boring dualler work back to Altens.

Did you get to take it out yourself?
Go a bit further and take in the Cairn o mount - give it a proper test :thumbsup:
 
inkey$ said:
Always thought it interesting how car makers use tv ads to communicate their corporate personalities and how that might attach itself to a potential buyer. Creatively I'm definitely an Audi/BMW man I'm afraid.

Golf R

Audi RS3

Mercedes A45 AMG

BMW M135i

Subaru WRX STI

Based on the videos, rs3, just love the sound of the 5cylinder warble, in all black would be a nice sleeper too :)
 
The Subaru is by far the most analogue, touchy feelly car on that list. I think the problem is that Subaru haven't really moved the game on. The bods on pistonheads like to point out that the likes of Subaru were building boosted 2l hatches (or sort of hatch sized saloons) 15 years ago. The Germans have now caught up but the problem is the Subaru still has some of the crap bits of those late 90s cars. They are worse on fuel, higher tax, cost just as much to buy, depreciate worse and most importantly, the interiors are still rubbish.

I suspect it's the most driver focussed of the lot but I just think "what does it offer over a late blob eye model costing almost a quarter of the price?" It also falls into the type R are of not really being styled for everyone. I'd feel a bit of a twonk driving around in it.
 
All good points - Its funny how these things come in cycles the Big Japanese names ( Subaru and Mitsubishi) are out of favour in this market now - 15 years ago as you say they were at the cutting edge whilst europe struggled to keep up, I think the demise of WRC rallying by the brand has not helped along with a strong yen making them similar money . The dealer network has suffered a lot as well - in y own family my wife and sister both drove subarus ( non wrx ones) and have since moved on due to prices pushing the marque up against mainstream models and dealer disinterest.

Type R looks a bit to bold for a lot of tastes now a days .. but this is a German marque forum so I didn't expect it to do well.
 
Rather oddly, if the production type R had been as cohesive a design as the concept then i would have been more interested in it. Despite being a whisper away from 40 I have fond memories of my previous type R, and I'm pretty immature :)

An accountant friend recently completed an audit for the Subaru dealer in Eagelsham and they had sold 3 WRX (or whatever they call them now) models in the last 12 months. When we discussed the current car he also pointed out that taking inflation into consideration the most recent iteration of the impreza that isn't an impreza actually costs less than previous models.
 
How many left - looks like about 400 WRX a year are sold . q1 2015 is showing a 100 so they are on for the same this year .

Approximate figures for the others as the car is split across a number of Variants

Golf R 2.3K in 2014 , Q1 registration figures - 1.8K ! there are going to be a lot of good second hand ones of these in 3 years time :)

M135I sells about 1.9k a year looking at the new reg curves on how many left. didnt add M235I numbers in because where do you stop but there is another 1000 ( 80 % in Auto much greater percentage than Gold Rs which are at 50:50 )

So the Subaru does not fair too badly considering the much smaller brand .
 
So of these, i've seen all but the WRX in the flesh. The golf is the most subdued, but looks smart. The RS3 is somewhat boring, but relatively sporty looking.. more of a sleeper imo (typical audi). The AMG is not subtle at all, and the exhaust pops more than the rest put together (and it's not that nice really). The Beemer.. meh, ugly, doesn't have the specialty of the others imo. We're comparing RS/AMG/Golf R against what is essentially a top spec 1 series with the biggest engine, it's not the same.

Depending on use case, i'd probs go RS3 or Golf, RS3 is the nicer sounding and slightly bigger bruiser, so good for practicality, golf is the runabout but meant to be an incredible drive.
 
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