When I was shopping for my current car, I test drove 2 DSG Audi A3 2.0 t’s, a Jetta GLI 6sp m, a GTI 6sp m, and a Civic si for comparison. Before I get started, This is purely my opinion, this seems obvious, but sometimes people get upset and forget. My biggest problem with the low end Audi’s is the blend of luxury and performance; to me the attempted combination at both leaves one unsatisfied with either the level of luxury, performance, or both. Don’t get me wrong, I’d take an S or an RS any day of the week. Honda and VW have no pretense of luxury, so you end up with a car that is made to give the driver something they enjoy driving. I was immediately impressed with the engine in the A3. At one point I test drove an ’03 Audi with a 1.8, and was not impressed, so I had no expectations for the new 2.0t. Even if I had had expectations for the 2.0t, they would have been blown away, even from the passenger seat I was impressed with the engine. I thought the DSG was great, the best auto tranny out there, even, but not for me. The 2.0t has no turbo lag that I can discern, but with the DSG, there was a slight amount of tranny lag, although if you start slowly and pay attention, you can actually feel the clutch(es) picking up, which was pretty cool. When I test drove the GLI I was immediately impressed. The low end torque this engine produces makes is feel fast, even though it really isn’t. Having all your torque at 1800 rmps makes this car feel very responsive; its wonderful for in town driving, and being able to pass easily going 60 on the freeway in 6th gear is nice. I do wish VW would put a limited slip diff in these cars to get the power to the ground better (Honda does). I was also impressed with the way the car handled. The interior quality is impressive, I don’t think many cars in this price range rival the quality. The layout is simple but functional, and full of high quality materials: brushed aluminum, quality plastics (the dash is one single piece of hard foam, which reduces rattling noises), the nicest steering wheel one could want to wrap their fingers around, and leather seats with quality that is on par with the steering wheel. The fit and finish of the VW’s impressed, the car felt finished down to the smallest (and biggest) details; from the standard Xenons to the hydraulic rod that automatically holds the hood open. The thought that was put into all the details really adds to the quality of the VW. The VW’s also have more standard features and options than the si: Xenons (s), heated mirrors and washer nozzles (s), heated leather seats (o), TPMS (o), one touch up and down for all windows (s), 18 inch wheels (o). An auto dimming mirror is another option that was pretty much necessary to much, unfortunately neither none of these cars have this as an option (although its pretty dang easy to install an auto dimmer from an Audi into a VW). I’m not touching on exterior looks much here, that is purely personal preference so commenting on it would be pointless. I have owned both VW’s and Honda’s in the past, and hold both automakers to a high standard. The si did not meet this standard. My first impression of the si was that it did not feel fast. After a driving it a bit, I realized it wasn’t nearly as gutless as I initially thought; revving it to 6 grand allows the Vtec to kick in. My problem with Vtech is that to me it equates to very late turbo lag, and I don’t want to have to wait for my power to become available. I don’t want to rev the crap out of an engine to get power out of it, especially around town. I guess I fell in love with the flat torque curve of the 2.0t quickly, and it set the standard high. Many people love the way the si handles, I wasn’t impressed, but that was just me, I believe I’m in the minority. My second car was a 1992 Honda Civic EX 5 spd. I loved it. The reason I loved it was because compared to cars in its price range, the interior quality and options far surpassed its competition; power everything, sunroof, disc brakes all the way around. This was not so with the si. The interior was not bad, but it just didn’t have the level of refinement and quality the others had. The seats were nice; heat and leather would have been a wonderful option, but I can say I liked the feel of the cloth seats in the VW’s better, they were sporty and supportive, although I can’t say VW’s choice to make them interlagos plaid was a good one. The seats in the si simply can’t touch the leather seats that VW sticks in the GTI/GLI. The dash is something I would never be able to get used to. Some people love it, I don’t. Overall, I finished the test drive feeling like I would have rather kept my current car, a ’95 VR6 Jetta. The Jetta is still a blast to drive, for a geriatric entry level sedan, and although pretty much every power option the car has has crapped out, the engine still runs beautifully with 160,000 on it, which brings me to my next topic; reliability. I have experienced VW reliability (or lack thereof) first hand on several occasions. Last fall I bought an ’03 W8 Passat with 60,000 miles on it, the car was gorgeous, completely loaded and a bit if a beast with 272 hp and 273 lb-ft. Six weeks later it was at the local dealership having an $8k rebuild because the cam adjusters went out. The Car also had problems with the tranny. I think my VR6 is a VW engineering anomaly given how good it continues to be to me. I took the Passat back to the dealership I bought it from and began shopping for my current car. I ended up with an ’07 GTI. I bough the car last feb, and it has 6,8xx fairly gentle miles on it. At just over 5,000 miles, the car was at the dealership getting its O2 sensor replaced. I was pissed. I wanted to get rid of the car for about a day. I was afraid I had another W8 nightmare on my hands. A new car should just work, period. I got over it, and I still enjoy driving the car as much as the first day I bought it, it’s a joy to drive. I convinced my boyfriend to buy an ’07 GTI last summer, and his was just at the dealership having its fuel pump regulator replaced, with 11,xxx miles on it. Clearly reliability is not a strong point for VW, although to their credit, in regards to the GTI’s, the problems are relatively minor and not catastrophically expensive repairs, although its sad that something like that even needs to be rationalized.
People also knock the GTI for being more expensive, when compared to the Si; after all, they have similar performance specs, so they should have similar pricing, right? Wrong. Pricing is not based purely on performance specs, and although the performance specs are somewhat similar, I think the similarities really end there. Options, features and quality also pay a role in pricing, and this is where the two cars really begin to differ. The GTI has standard features that the civic doesn’t even have as options, of course the price will be higher. More things = higher price, the concept makes sense to me. I’m fairly confident a similarly equipped si would cost about the same as the full loaded GTI. On GTI I looked at was a package 2 (sunroof, heated leather, sirius, and dual zone climate control), had 18’s, and the factory body kit. The prices were $2,000, $850, and $1650, respectively. The price was in the mid $25’s. Unfortunately Tornado Red isn’t my color (its actually the one my boyfriend ended up with). The point is, that was a loaded car for an excellent price, and a similarly equipped si wouldn’t be much less. Another really nice pro of the 2.0t is that one can tale their GTI down to their local REVO (or Guiac, neuspeed, APR) dealer and have their ECU flashed for $500, and leaves with a gain of 50 hp and 78 lb-ft, for a total of 250 hp and 285 lb-ft. I think this gives the GTI a bit of a performance edge, and helps make up for its weigh (3160 according to the manual, ouch). My boyfriend had his flashed, and it has had the ECU picked through by the dealer on more than one occasion, and there has never been a word mentioned about the change. Dealers don’t care, so it is a low risk mod in regards to the warranty. I don’t know of any mods that can boost the performance of the Honda for such a low price, but I haven’t looked, either. The bottom line is, this is all how I felt about the two cars, and it is solely my opinion. One could read this review, drive the GTI and hate, while the next person drives the GTI and loves it. Both cars have their own set of strengths and weaknesses, and it’s really up to the individual to decide which set of strengths and weaknesses they prefer.