New here (i'm a VW guy looking into other options)

[akaria930]

hey guys so as you saw i'm a VW guy, currently i'm deployed to iraq and am gonna spend my money on a new car. mazda and vw both offer discounts to soldiers who are deployed and will deliver it to my house right before i get home, i can get a good deal on either one but i would like some insight from you guys.
right now i'm debating between the MS3 and the gti.

thanks

 

[Hirudin]

I'm a former GTI owner (2000 1.8T, bought new), the car was awesome (while it worked). I don't remember everything, but at one point the driver's window fell into the door, the cruise control stopped working, the remotes stopped working (I think it was both remotes), and there was an intermittent vibrating noise that was never checked out or fixed. Also the dealer blew my sub-woofer amp and refused to take responsibility. The kicker though is the clutch went out at ~15,000 miles. I mostly attribute that to a friend driving my car very poorly a couple days before (a short 3-4 mile trip).
I don't know if all GTI's are built in Germany, but this one was.

I was a little hard on the car, but for 15,000 miles it had a lot of problems IMO.

Once again, the current GTI looks very good on paper, but my previous personal experience prevents me from considering it.

 

[Mocoso]

We are going to be somewhat biased on the answer but here is MHO:
The MS3 is a much better bang for the buck... I believe Road&Track and/or Motortrend (I think both) did a compare recently of the MS3, the GTI, Honda Civis, and one more... the MS3 came out on top...

The value you are getting and the overall high scores in every category: interior, exterior, handling, power, reliability, fun factor outweight any one category where the GTI may be better

I think the GTI wins in the interior and in the handling but by too slim a margin - not enough to compensate for the reliability, cost, and power/fun factor....

The MS3 wins the "sleeper" category as well....

In short for me its a much better value for the fun factor and I dont expect the repairs to cost as much as a VW....

 

[akaria930]

thanks guys i think i got my mind set on the MS3 but i just needed the encouragement from an outside source

 

[lukey]

the 1.8 20VT GTIs had a lot of engine problems that they ironed out at the transition to 2.0 TFSI and the DSG box is awesome but a very expensive addon. But the current 20VT cars are also a lot more reliable, so i wouldnt worry so much about the engine/turbo going bang anymore.

VW (in UK) anyway have a reputation for being real tossers, they have a "you dont look rich enough to buy this car so im not even going to bother with you" when i was trying to buy an R32.
Thats why i bought an MPS, apart from the power etc of the car the dealer experience was much better. The MPS was a much more urgent car to drive, felt faster and more lively too, and that was against the R32 which has similar power output, the GTI is way down

Also, if the GTI isnt an edition30 its not going to be anywhere near as quick as the MPS

 

[SwampAss]

hey guys so as you saw i'm a VW guy, currently i'm deployed to iraq and am gonna spend my money on a new car. mazda and vw both offer discounts to soldiers who are deployed and will deliver it to my house right before i get home, i can get a good deal on either one but i would like some insight from you guys.
right now i'm debating between the MS3 and the gti.

thanks

I own an MS3 and have a good friend with two MK5 GTI DSGs (one 4dr and one 2dr) I've spent some time in the GTI.

Fit and finish of the VW is considerably better than the MS3. Both cars handle very well stock. The MS3 has a lot more room. The cockpit of the VW is a mile ahead of the MS3. That's not to say the MS3's interior is bad, it's not at all. The VW's is just that good. The DSG works waaaay better than I expected. I had a hard time learning not to "lift" when shifting. Foot to the floor and keep it there when shifting. It's counter intuitive at first.

THe MS3 feels considerably more powerful. The FSI 2.0 has no real peaks or valleys. It's kinda boring for a turbo car in it's power delivery. It's plateau flat where as the MS3 gets a big and fat surge from about 3k to 5k. The MS3 feels like a turbo car. I like that. The GTI feels like a torquey 6 cylinder.

I think the MS3 looks better than the VW but my tastes sometimes err on the side of the non popular. I love station wagons. The MS3 is very close to a station wagon.

 

[Derek88]

After working at VW, and driving plenty of MK5 GTIs (not hard, but moderately...), I chose the MS3. I could even get a discount at my dealership to make the prices about the same. And once I parked my new MS3 beside a new GTI... no contest. The 2.0Ts are great motors, and it's unlikely you would have many problems from the drivetrain (and a 4yr 50k warranty is nice too) but the rest of the car will fall apart before anything else.

Not to mention VW's "which light of the day" game.

Drive both first, then come back and tell us how right we were.

 

[akaria930]

unfortunately i can't drive either right now seeing as i'm in iraq and the deal is only good for soldiers deployed overseas, but i might get 2 weeks of leave this winter and could drive them then but it'll be winter in MN so i couldn't do any fun driving on a test drive.

 

[mrlilguy157]

i too am a vw guy at heart, and came from the vw scene.

i priced out an 07 4 door gti with the body trim package, 18's, navi, leather, etc, (all of the same features as an ms3 GT w/ nav) and it came out to be about 5500$ more for a slower car.

ms3 wins. and i have absolutely no regrets.