Hey everybody, I've been around the forums for a couple months now learning and gathering opinions etc. I want to share my car buying story with you all and I'll try to make my review of both and why I chose what I did. So background story: I am a commercially rated pilot who's currently going back to school for engineering as I work at Chrysler FCA Proving Grounds doing test driving/Event Coordination. I own a 2007 GTI, 91 Miata turbo/track project car, and a 94 Chrysler LHS winter beater. The GTI was full bolt-ons and K04 turbo at about ~320WHP. After about 20K miles on the big turbo I randomly threw a rod while cruising on cruise control at highway speeds. I had it shutdown/ignition off before it even threw a CEL. Anyways it was cheaper to sell it than to buy a new shortblock and rebuild etc so I was in the market for a new car.
What I was looking for was:
-Below 25K budget
-Newish with a warranty
-Newish meaning usually more reliable than a used car
-Fun to drive
-Preferably turbo
-Winter drive-able (FWD/AWD preferred)
-A nice place to be everyday
-Straight-line Fast/Touring car feel would be nice
-Manual is a must because I'm not a girly man
-Cars will be modded so a strong aftermarket would be nice
I test drove everything possible and here's some options that I kicked out:
2016 Mustang Ecoboost: Out of budget after I optioned it out
2015 BRZ/FRS: Drove great but it was slow as balls and a terrible place to be everyday (Noisy, plastics everywhere, Not very tune-able without aftermarket FI)
2015 Focus ST: I have a lot of miles in my buddy's ST. Great cars but for the same price or less in some cases you can get a MK7 GTI which is a much better car in general. In addition the Fiesta is considerably more fun to drive in my honest opinion.
2015 WRX: Much improved over the last generation as far as quality goes. Very quick and fun. Still light years behind VW/Audi quality and interior materials. Stock tuning is awful, I mean laughably awful. It would need a tune day 1. Ugly as sin. Not my favorite shifter and harsh clutch.
It came down to the Fiesta ST or the MK7 GTI. Here's my first impressions of both:
1. Fiesta ST: The was the first one I drove. My buddy had to drop his Focus ST off for a recall so we just test drove one while we were there. (He also works at Ford so I get the friends and family discount). It is rainy cats and dogs today but we were given the keys with very few questions asked. The salesman did not go with us. When I got it is was clear the car is small, but not surprisingly so. I don't have a family and it's really only the weekends carting friends around that I even need 4 seats. Backseat room was actually quite good. There's not too many winding roads by the dealership so we found an industrial park where I could throw her around a bit. Being the Friday after Thanksgiving the park was completely empty. I pretty much ripped on it for a while. The power was good, honestly very good. There's cars that are faster than they feel, and there's cars that feel faster than they are and this one was definitely the latter. It feels quick and I think the poor 0-60 time is because of it's way too short gearing (3 shifts needed to hit 60). I turned the traction control off and it was a joke. It is very cold and rainy here and the traction was laughable. Less traction than my K04 GTI had. I believe this was down to the 205 all-season tires and I will take another test drive with the summer tires to confirm. It spins 1-3 with no issues. I continued to throw it around and boy does it handle. It's playful and wants to be tossed around. It oversteers too... a lot. It will do lift off oversteer on command and it was an absolute blast. The tires really did feel like I was on ice though but that just made it even more fun. Hitting the limits of a car is much more fun then being well within the limits. The Ford sync 3 is actually quite a good interface, and everything that you touch feels great including the shifter and clutch. The downsides were the economy interior. It's a fiesta, and you can certainly feel where they saved the money. All in all, it's a cheap car that is a blast to drive and puts fun in front of everything else. Price was $21,000 before haggling, and $23,000 for a loaded blue one.
2. MK7 GTI: We went to the VW dealership and unfortunately they didn't have one in the spec I wanted (Base S 6MT, or Base S w/ PP 6MT). Fortunately they actually got one delivered during my test drive. I ended up taking a loaded SE w/ 6MT out on the test drive. The salesmen went with us which was a big negative for me, but I understand it was a more expensive car etc. Anyways it was still raining balls outside but we drove the exact same route in order to keep things consistent. The difference was immediately noticeable. The GTI is a better car in literally every quantifiable way. It feels like a more expensive car and the ride was better than the ST. The touch points were high quality and the interior is not only bigger, but an overall better place to be. The clutch feels good and the shifter feels decent, nothing to write home about but a Dieselgeek will fix that. When I hit it, it became clear that the GTI is more powerful. It's much faster than the Fiesta and the new Gen 3 is a great motor. Power everywhere with very little lag across the rev range. I didn't get to hoon it as much but basically it felt like the same dynamics as my MK5 but just improved. Honestly I think the only downside was it wasn't as playful as the Fiesta. It is also more expensive but not by too much. The bigger reason why I am hesitate is what I'll explain below. The price was $26,000 for the base S BUT with the awesome $1,500 discount and the $500 SCCA discount it comes out to $24,000 before haggling.
Second Impression/Long test drive:
1. Fiesta ST Round 2:
It's the same car in the dry. Just an absolute blast to drive. In the dry it hooked up a bit better. The main difference of this drive that I found was the shifter and clutch. They are excellent. Probably the easiest shifting unit I have driven in a long long time and they give you the confidence to quick shift and power-shift only minutes after you step in the car for the first time. Once again I found that it feels faster than I know it is. Honestly, I think it feels faster than the GTI even though I know it isn't. It still handled like a dream being very tail happy but was lacking in total mechanical grip (Would be fixed with 225's). The 1.6 sounds a bit better too. This time I was able to focus on the details more and the interior between the two cars are completely in a different league. Even the steering wheel, while nice, was much cheaper and this was clear this time around.
2. GTI Round 2 (Base, 6MT)
I gotta say, going out on my own saved the GTI. They had the configuration I wanted this time so I was able to see exactly the one I would buy. I drove my brothers MK6 there and it's actually pretty crazy to see how much the cars change in just one generation. Anyways, the plaid seats are comfortable and well supported. The infotainment system seems okay at best, but the interface is nice and quick. I drove this right after I drove the Fiesta and my brothers MK6 and the difference in interior quality is absurd. Minus the gauge and infotainment center bezel, I think you would have a tough time finding any touchable hard plastic. It's just a nicer place to be. I got to really rip on it this time since it was nice out. The power is good, but truly it feels slower than the ST (I know my mind is playing tricks on me because it is significantly faster). Shifts are decent but just like on my MK5 I think there is too little feel/communication in the clutch pedal. On some twisty roads the car felt great with a smoother ride than the ST. Again I still think the ST actually handles much better or at least more to my preference but the GTI is still amazing compared to the previous gens. I really want to feel a PP car but they didn't have one sadly. The power is good but I was surprised at how much more lag there was than than old K03 turbos. It actually felt like very similar lag to my K04. The car just looks great too. Funny story too... The winding road I take goes by a Hotel and I turn around in a business lot right after that. There was a young guy maybe ~25 walking out to his car and his head turned on a swivel when he saw me coming around the corner. So I turned around and he's actually on the sidewalk just waiting for me to go by, so I rip it and pass him while he's giving me 2 thumbs up haha. Kinda weird since usually these cars don't attract attention but that lad was loving it. My closing thoughts was "Why the hell does any person need any other car than this?"
So I bought the GTI. Here is the prices:
So I figured out how much they should be before haggling:
Fiesta ST: $20,380
GTI: $23,500
(That's after incentives and rebates).
So that's my review of each. I originally thought I was going to get the Fiesta for several reasons. It was much more fun to drive, and a LOT of ST tuners are local which would be really cool to just drive by after work and pickup parts whenever I get the itch. I chose the GTI because it's a better place to be in general and the incentives were crazy good. Now my conclusion is that I made the right choice for ME since I already have a car for pure fun. BUT if I were to only have one it would be the Fiesta ST, Hands-down. Figured Id post my story, and maybe I'll pick up a FiST when they are more available used to replace the old Chrysler. Thanks for reading this wall of text. Cheers
What I was looking for was:
-Below 25K budget
-Newish with a warranty
-Newish meaning usually more reliable than a used car
-Fun to drive
-Preferably turbo
-Winter drive-able (FWD/AWD preferred)
-A nice place to be everyday
-Straight-line Fast/Touring car feel would be nice
-Manual is a must because I'm not a girly man
-Cars will be modded so a strong aftermarket would be nice
I test drove everything possible and here's some options that I kicked out:
2016 Mustang Ecoboost: Out of budget after I optioned it out
2015 BRZ/FRS: Drove great but it was slow as balls and a terrible place to be everyday (Noisy, plastics everywhere, Not very tune-able without aftermarket FI)
2015 Focus ST: I have a lot of miles in my buddy's ST. Great cars but for the same price or less in some cases you can get a MK7 GTI which is a much better car in general. In addition the Fiesta is considerably more fun to drive in my honest opinion.
2015 WRX: Much improved over the last generation as far as quality goes. Very quick and fun. Still light years behind VW/Audi quality and interior materials. Stock tuning is awful, I mean laughably awful. It would need a tune day 1. Ugly as sin. Not my favorite shifter and harsh clutch.
It came down to the Fiesta ST or the MK7 GTI. Here's my first impressions of both:
1. Fiesta ST: The was the first one I drove. My buddy had to drop his Focus ST off for a recall so we just test drove one while we were there. (He also works at Ford so I get the friends and family discount). It is rainy cats and dogs today but we were given the keys with very few questions asked. The salesman did not go with us. When I got it is was clear the car is small, but not surprisingly so. I don't have a family and it's really only the weekends carting friends around that I even need 4 seats. Backseat room was actually quite good. There's not too many winding roads by the dealership so we found an industrial park where I could throw her around a bit. Being the Friday after Thanksgiving the park was completely empty. I pretty much ripped on it for a while. The power was good, honestly very good. There's cars that are faster than they feel, and there's cars that feel faster than they are and this one was definitely the latter. It feels quick and I think the poor 0-60 time is because of it's way too short gearing (3 shifts needed to hit 60). I turned the traction control off and it was a joke. It is very cold and rainy here and the traction was laughable. Less traction than my K04 GTI had. I believe this was down to the 205 all-season tires and I will take another test drive with the summer tires to confirm. It spins 1-3 with no issues. I continued to throw it around and boy does it handle. It's playful and wants to be tossed around. It oversteers too... a lot. It will do lift off oversteer on command and it was an absolute blast. The tires really did feel like I was on ice though but that just made it even more fun. Hitting the limits of a car is much more fun then being well within the limits. The Ford sync 3 is actually quite a good interface, and everything that you touch feels great including the shifter and clutch. The downsides were the economy interior. It's a fiesta, and you can certainly feel where they saved the money. All in all, it's a cheap car that is a blast to drive and puts fun in front of everything else. Price was $21,000 before haggling, and $23,000 for a loaded blue one.
2. MK7 GTI: We went to the VW dealership and unfortunately they didn't have one in the spec I wanted (Base S 6MT, or Base S w/ PP 6MT). Fortunately they actually got one delivered during my test drive. I ended up taking a loaded SE w/ 6MT out on the test drive. The salesmen went with us which was a big negative for me, but I understand it was a more expensive car etc. Anyways it was still raining balls outside but we drove the exact same route in order to keep things consistent. The difference was immediately noticeable. The GTI is a better car in literally every quantifiable way. It feels like a more expensive car and the ride was better than the ST. The touch points were high quality and the interior is not only bigger, but an overall better place to be. The clutch feels good and the shifter feels decent, nothing to write home about but a Dieselgeek will fix that. When I hit it, it became clear that the GTI is more powerful. It's much faster than the Fiesta and the new Gen 3 is a great motor. Power everywhere with very little lag across the rev range. I didn't get to hoon it as much but basically it felt like the same dynamics as my MK5 but just improved. Honestly I think the only downside was it wasn't as playful as the Fiesta. It is also more expensive but not by too much. The bigger reason why I am hesitate is what I'll explain below. The price was $26,000 for the base S BUT with the awesome $1,500 discount and the $500 SCCA discount it comes out to $24,000 before haggling.
Second Impression/Long test drive:
1. Fiesta ST Round 2:
It's the same car in the dry. Just an absolute blast to drive. In the dry it hooked up a bit better. The main difference of this drive that I found was the shifter and clutch. They are excellent. Probably the easiest shifting unit I have driven in a long long time and they give you the confidence to quick shift and power-shift only minutes after you step in the car for the first time. Once again I found that it feels faster than I know it is. Honestly, I think it feels faster than the GTI even though I know it isn't. It still handled like a dream being very tail happy but was lacking in total mechanical grip (Would be fixed with 225's). The 1.6 sounds a bit better too. This time I was able to focus on the details more and the interior between the two cars are completely in a different league. Even the steering wheel, while nice, was much cheaper and this was clear this time around.
2. GTI Round 2 (Base, 6MT)
I gotta say, going out on my own saved the GTI. They had the configuration I wanted this time so I was able to see exactly the one I would buy. I drove my brothers MK6 there and it's actually pretty crazy to see how much the cars change in just one generation. Anyways, the plaid seats are comfortable and well supported. The infotainment system seems okay at best, but the interface is nice and quick. I drove this right after I drove the Fiesta and my brothers MK6 and the difference in interior quality is absurd. Minus the gauge and infotainment center bezel, I think you would have a tough time finding any touchable hard plastic. It's just a nicer place to be. I got to really rip on it this time since it was nice out. The power is good, but truly it feels slower than the ST (I know my mind is playing tricks on me because it is significantly faster). Shifts are decent but just like on my MK5 I think there is too little feel/communication in the clutch pedal. On some twisty roads the car felt great with a smoother ride than the ST. Again I still think the ST actually handles much better or at least more to my preference but the GTI is still amazing compared to the previous gens. I really want to feel a PP car but they didn't have one sadly. The power is good but I was surprised at how much more lag there was than than old K03 turbos. It actually felt like very similar lag to my K04. The car just looks great too. Funny story too... The winding road I take goes by a Hotel and I turn around in a business lot right after that. There was a young guy maybe ~25 walking out to his car and his head turned on a swivel when he saw me coming around the corner. So I turned around and he's actually on the sidewalk just waiting for me to go by, so I rip it and pass him while he's giving me 2 thumbs up haha. Kinda weird since usually these cars don't attract attention but that lad was loving it. My closing thoughts was "Why the hell does any person need any other car than this?"
So I bought the GTI. Here is the prices:
So I figured out how much they should be before haggling:
Fiesta ST: $20,380
GTI: $23,500
(That's after incentives and rebates).
So that's my review of each. I originally thought I was going to get the Fiesta for several reasons. It was much more fun to drive, and a LOT of ST tuners are local which would be really cool to just drive by after work and pickup parts whenever I get the itch. I chose the GTI because it's a better place to be in general and the incentives were crazy good. Now my conclusion is that I made the right choice for ME since I already have a car for pure fun. BUT if I were to only have one it would be the Fiesta ST, Hands-down. Figured Id post my story, and maybe I'll pick up a FiST when they are more available used to replace the old Chrysler. Thanks for reading this wall of text. Cheers
