Stage2Sasquatch
Go Kart Champion
Hey guys, So I need a little help. As some of you may know my 2007 GTI threw a rod randomly while cruising on the highway. It is more economical to part it out and sell it as is then to rebuild it. Thus begins my journey to find another automobile to daily drive. I test drove a 2016 MK7 GTI, and a 2015 Fiesta ST... Here are my thoughts:
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.
Conclusion? I'm torn. I literally have no idea what to do, but I think the first step is to test drive them when it's dry out and without the salesman in the GTI. A couple little side-notes is that I also have a track only Miata for that and having an American made car is going to be a big plus for me. I work at FCA and I regularly travel and work at the plants. The union workers there are VERY old-school and non-american cars get vandalized all the time. So an American car is a big plus. Anyways guys, I know its gonna be fairly biased on a GTI forum but tell me what you think and what would you do? Cheers.
**Edit** The cars will be modded if that matters. Honestly and I'm not kidding, they will most likely be tuned on the way home from the dealership.
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.
Conclusion? I'm torn. I literally have no idea what to do, but I think the first step is to test drive them when it's dry out and without the salesman in the GTI. A couple little side-notes is that I also have a track only Miata for that and having an American made car is going to be a big plus for me. I work at FCA and I regularly travel and work at the plants. The union workers there are VERY old-school and non-american cars get vandalized all the time. So an American car is a big plus. Anyways guys, I know its gonna be fairly biased on a GTI forum but tell me what you think and what would you do? Cheers.
**Edit** The cars will be modded if that matters. Honestly and I'm not kidding, they will most likely be tuned on the way home from the dealership.
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