April

away and will come 2 door and DSG only - at least that is what VW says for now.

Both the A3 and the WRX are 4 door vehicles - which may or may not be a factor.

The problem with buying a used performance car is that it has a high likelihood of somebody exploring those performance limits prior to your ownership, and that always leaves the question of the car having been abused.

And then there is insurance..... which I know is high on the WRX and (used to be?) high on the GTi VR6.

boki-san

i need the superiority of the 2 door for carrying tools and gear, and it looks better than a 4 door. that may not hold true for some folks.

and i've sat in the new one, it may be <i>slightly</i> better suspended than ours(stock), but the interior is not nearly as nice. and the exterior, urpp, is going to take some real getting used to. my friends who drove it said, 'yucko dsg', and 'meh'. it was a 4 door, and the door openings were too dinky, 2 door openings are huge. and ours is a very limited edition, when the new one comes it'll not be so. also the mk5 platform will have a micro production lifespan, it's already planned to be retired for the mk6

i must admit that most of us have explored the limits with this car, and they're holding up great. also, the typical R32 owner is over-**** about care. i wouldn't hesitate on a used one, unless i really got a vibe from the seller.

insurance wise, i can't imagine that a 3.2q a3 would cost much less to insure, but that's not my department.

i'm just offering that if you want a 3.2q a3 with manual trans, the R32 is the closest thing to it, and arguably preferable. don't get me wrong for frequenting this forum with an R32 attitude. i love a3's, when i had my a4tq, an s3 was all i could think about. i love the new a3, it's just that vag doesn't give america the good stuff, or the good combos. and the 2004 R32 was the good stuff and an incredible package

April

the seat is all the way forward, it needs a huge amount of room for me to swing the door all of the way open, or slide the seat all the way to the back, before getting out. And then there is levering those long doors - fine on the flat, but not a hill. It may be not a big deal to some folks, but since I use this car to run errands, the door opening issue was a big deal to me (I've had long door cars).

The handling and engine are first rate in the MK IV R32. I could have cried when I realized it wasn't going to cut it - but I already have too many other cars that require special treatment and this was to be a practical car first and foremost.

Yes, the MK V will see a front subframe (and styling) change so as to fit the 3.6 and and DSG as well as make it cheaper to manufacture, but that won't change the A3 for a while anyway.

The old R32 is a nice choice. For somebody who doesn't mind taking a little risk, and for whom the layout works, it is a viable alternative.

boki-san

april, you are one smart cookie, and an asset to this forum

judgegavel

and if you dont ski, and live in NY you will only miss AWD on those few snow days we get a year, and you dont want to be taking your new car out then anyway.

judgegavel

great points agree 100%

April

Thank you. There are a lot of other folks on the forum who deserve our thanks as well.