What to do? New car or not new car?

[Stewart]

I think I'm getting itchy feet again...

Partly prompted by the urge to move onwards and upwards (newer) and partly because 8L S3's are long in the tooth now...

I will miss it, I was one of the people who DID try out Glens recommendations and loved it, we must have very similar driving styles. It's a great all rounder.

I need something practical I.E I need a decent sized load area, the S3's load area is pretty restrictive for my day to day stuff but I can live with it.

I'm thinking about :-

S4 (B6) Avant - Easily tunable to 500 horseys, super practical - boring and heavy? If the suspension was sorted, would it equal my S3?

Mk5 Golf R32 DSG- Will I find this too heavy compared to the nimble S3?

MK5 Golf GTi - Great handling car, ok looking, looks even better with CH's and lowered - Would I miss the 4 wheel drive?

A3 3.2 S-line DSG - Same as R32? Not tunable? Supercharging?

A4 1.8T Quattro S-Line - Check out Awesome GTi's example, that's how it would end up - Super practical, similar MPG to the S3, would I hate this on the track?

E46 M3 - Running costs kinda put me off this, I havent driven a RWD car since my rally days, can see myself getting seriously out of shape all the time

Budget? £20k- £25k

Discuss..

 

[S3-James]

After spending all that money on getting yours sorted i wouldn't change unless it was for the B6 S4 or M3, although obviously both will cost quite a bit more to run. For some reason i'm not that keen on the mk5 R32 prefer the normal GTi and Mk4 R32. How much would it cost to get the A4 1.8t upto the Awesome GTi spec? WOuld you not be better off just starting with the S4?

 

[Stewart]

Come on guys, what are your thoughts?

I really like the look of subtly modded MK5 Golf GTi's and reputedly they handle really well, but better or worse than my sorted S3?

 

[rodenal]

The Mk5 Gti's are in a different league to 8l S3's in terms of chuckability, depends what your after i suppose, they look particularly nice in white.

I'd probably have one over the r32 because

1. The price

2. You'll feel better going quickly in the Gti as you have to try that little bit harder

 

[Stewart]

What do you mean in a different league? Worse or better?

 

[rodenal]

Corners much better than the S3, itll still understeer when you push it but you'l lbe able to carry much more speed in and out

 

[dultanur]

an R32 with a supercharger kit would be exciting, but probably understeer a lot..
i love the S4, but i guess its no good for trackdays and is too heavy too be too much fun...
golf gti is pretty nice but is FWD so you can only give it sight engine mods, anymore and it will be too hard to control (at least for me) hence not much fun.
i also love A4 1.8ts but wouldn't it be a bit "some more of the same thing"?
M3 s are great but you need to find a good example plus agree with the running costs thing...great if yoo can afford it.

btw the A3/golf choices would be very similar to the S3 in terms of practicality...

i think i'd go for...an S4 avant?not much good for the track but super practical, super potential and super stealthy