KharatosGTI said:
Hi all:
Now with the Acura I'm pretty certain it will offer me relatively cheap and trouble-free motoring for the time that I plan on keeping it, but with the GTI, I'm not so sure. I'm not so sure it will properly get me to my finals on time, I'm not so sure it's not gonna leave me stranded half way to my first job's interview, I'm not so sure it's not gonna make me call a tow truck when I'm on a road trip. Due to Volkswagen's recent history I just simply CAN'T be sure, this will be my only car so I NEED it to work all the time and every time.
First, good selection on your cars. I too love the RSX-S. It's got my favorite manual gearbox in just about any car. It's also a very nice interior, however, it's not up to the GTI standard as the GTI is new and the RSX-S is now quite old.
You want to keep the car for 5 years? Then, don't get the RSX as it's qutie old hat now. The interior is showing it's age and it's due for a redesign very soon. The new Civic Si will probabl outperform it or match it. Unless you can get an extremely great dealer, well under invoice, on the RSX-S, I wouldn't do it.
The GTI has a better ride, and is much quieter overall. The GTI is a bit faster depending on the trans. and the mod options are much more satisfying on the turob GTI than the NA RSX-S.
As far as reliability, if odds of reliability are more important to you than getting the car you like better, the Acura might be for you. Yes, overall the Acura RSX-S has better odds that you won't have as many problems. However, not having as many and not having any are NOT the same thing. Every car has the potential to have an issue even an Acura, Honda, Toyota.
Check into the history of what the VW problems have been and you might find that the problems are not that detrimental. Also, look at how many problems pop up per 1000 vehicles and you'll see that most cars today are quite reliable.
The warranties are qutie good on both cars.
Honda/Acura have finally increased their warranties, probably due to the big success of Hyundai and it's 10/100,000 power train warranty.
Currently the RSX has a 4/50k bumper to bumper and a 6/70k power train warranty.
The GTI has a 4/50k bumper to bumper and a 5/60k power train warranty.
The Acura has a slightly better warranty by 1 years and 10k miles.
Overall, both have a very long warranty.
The GTI has been out for at least 1 year in production in the Euro market and the intial teething problems have been fixed. In the US we are getting a car that has been on road tested for at least 1 year, so that is a good thing.
I wouldn't sweat the reliabiltiy. It's not as if VW's are strewn across the roadways with people being stranded. Consumer Reports is a much exaggerated publication that does better with TV's and toasters. VW and Audi had a large rash of failing ignition coils, and CR jumped on the lack of quality by giving the worst score it could for "electrical-ignition" problems.
The problem was diagnosed and fixed. Sure, it would be great if the problem never happened, but they did fix it.
Also, Toyota as well had a rash of engine problems with V6 engines sludging badly, however, have you heard of Toyota's being given a poor score of reliability for their V6 engines of late?
No you haven't .
I'm a driving enthusiast first and choose my cars based on their ability to make my daily drive a fun experience. Relability is below that on my list because I know that all things mechanical can break and have problems. If I choose my car based on my changes of not having a problem I would be buying a toaster rather than a car. Reliability is very important, but to me, the more rewarding drive is more important. I can get an ignition coil fixed, or a squeeky belt, but it's really hard to fix yourself when you see the car you really like driving by and you say to yourself, "that's a cool car, I wish I would have got that one instead."
:thumbup: Go for the car you really want.
TT