Kris Hansen

Personally, if I was going for FWD, I'd go GTI, because you can get a 2 door. Don't get me wrong, I'm an Audi guy through and through, but the '10 GTI is a wicked little car, they are a BLAST to drive right out of the box.

The fit and finish is not exactly the same as the Audi, but they cost enough less to not care.

My mother has an 07 GTI 2.0t DSG, it's incredibly fun to drive.

RossA

The GTI has a 3 year warranty including full maintenance. Build quality is not much different, although I would guess the Audi is a bit more quiet on the road. As for dependability, I have owned both the 2004 and 2008 R32 and neither one had a single warranty issue. Oil change every 5k and that's it. On the 2008 I had a headlight go out about 2 months ago and the dealer replaced it free.
Personally I have been wondering how long Audi is going to wait before replacing the now very old A3 (they usually do a new A4 and A6 every 4 years). The Open Sky is great in theory except you constantly have the sun shining on you from above even with that screen closed. My wife's Mini has the same design and it is a pita.
Buy what you like the best. I think there isn't enough difference between these two to make a difference. Power is the same, weight too (FWD A3 vs FWD 4dr GTI)
I did see something about VW decontenting the MKVI with among other things, removing the rain sensing wipers. If that is anything you care about you might want to look into that. I don't think the MSRP on similarly equipped cars is as high as was mentioned. The base MSRP is about $3500 more on the Audi. Depends how you equip them

Mathemagician

Actually, I wish there was an AWD A3 with a stick. But given that I can't get any (new) Audi hatchback or wagon with a stick and AWD, the GTI is looking more and more attractive. I guess I could go Subaru, but I just can't - I like the German feel/sophistication too much. Almost makes me want to wait for the GTI-R (I'm assuming they will put a stick and AWD in that one).

prs4

GTI-R would be awesome. I would guess VW will bring over the GTI-R in the following configuration - 2 door, AWD, DSG, leather sport seats, moonroof, upgrade audio for 37K. If that happens, that will be my daily driver. But I still prefer a stick GTI-R. Just my 2 cents.

LWNY

European cars usually change their models every 6 years, with a facelift half way through. The A3, which came out in 2006, has had its facelift in 2009. The last A6 was around for 8 years.

bbbobbb

Nope, the current A3 (typ 8P) has been around since 2003:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Audi_A3

In the US it was first imported in 2006...

LWNY

The sport back was introduced in 2004, and in the US in 2005 (as a 2006 model).

bbbobbb

Yup, I should have been more clear, I think we are saying the same thing.

However, the 2 door has been out since '03 and when they do update it wont be for either the 2 door or 5 door it will be for the whole of the 8P line, ie the 2 door and the 5 door and whatever other models we don't see in the US. PQ35 + 1. :-)

With the global economy shot to sh*t a lot of manufacturers have either pushed their cycles or canceled vehicles.

Here is a May '09 article saying sometime in 2010, rumor is rumor:

http://www.motorauthority.com/blog/1...ew-a3-variants

and this, newer and fun translation but still rumor and 2011:

http://www.audicircle.com/Thread-Imp...w-Audi-A3-2011

original page at: http://www.groenlicht.be/2009/12/07/...-audi-a3-2011/