Next car may be a VW GTI
 

I really like my 2007 Fit. It's good on gas, has excellent handling, very versatile with good cargo capacity and fun to drive. But I have a few complaints:
- it's seriously underpowered
- the seats get very uncomfortable after and hour and a half of driving
- it's butt ugly

So I'm seriously considering a used VW GTI as my next car when it's time to sell my Fit (at least 5-9 years down the road).

What are your thoughts on this? A used 4 or 5 year old GTI will cost slightly more than a brand new Fit. I know for sure the Fit will be more reliable, but the GTI trumps the Fit in performance (acceleration, handling), and interior quality and still matches the Fit in terms of fuel economy, and cargo capacity.

they are two different cars, of course the GTI trumps everything the fit does.

i would never buy a volkswagen, better yet a used volkswagen. i also think the 07 fit looks sharp.

dunno about gti but i gotta say im a convert to german engineering. ive driven hondas and acuras my almost my whole life.

my 2015 golf sportwagen tdi handles so much like my wifes 2010 bmw 535i. above 80mph you start to feel the diff between the two cars. the gti sits a little lower than the sportwagen, which is already really low. if you jave a hilly driveway might be something to consider.

gti probably has a more sport tuned suspension than the wagen, which is still better than any stock honda or acura suspension ive ever driven. every stock honda i have ever driven has had so much body roll.

in 2014 vw came out with gtd (gti+tdi). not sure if it ever made it to the states but im in love with the 2.0l tdi. 0-60 unimpressive (10s?) but 0-30 it def gets me some respect off a red light. dreamy on the highway AND still gets 45mpg doing 80mph (50mpg@70mph).

AND has almost as much torque as v6 F150. tow capacity (in europe) listed as 3500lbs, which is class II. the fit/jazz (again, in europe) rated for 1100lbs/class I.

drove a friend's cc tsi 2.0 gasoline turbo and it was pretty zippy too. nothing like the torque you get with the tdi but a 2.0 tsi in gti would be pretty damn quick.

we strongly considered 2016 hrv and crv when we bought that car but the interior styling seemed so cheap and "kid-like" for lack of a better word. german interiors, even in my base model vw, seem to have a more grownup feel. very similar to our bmw. the pleather interior is perfect for our lifestyle and (messy) new baby. of course, this is a purely subjective opinion.

on the down side, german parts are more expensive. hondas are so easy and cheap to fix.

I would not consider any modern German car unless leasing.

I'll never own any non-/M car from Germany outside of warranty (unless pre-1990 model)

We love our '10 VW TDI Sportwagen 6M. The Germans definitely know how to build a superior gearbox and the car is a great deal of fun to drive with 236 LB/FT of torque on tap. But, our TDI has been swept up in diesel emissions drama and we don't know yet what its future will be with us.

My wife loves a manual gearbox and it's getting very hard to find affordable, garage-able family cars with manual trannies with the luggage space of a wagon. Perhaps the Subaru Forester might be a candidate, but our last Subaru had eternal problems. Sure wish Honda had retained a manual in the CR-V, but that option faded away years ago.

The diesel VW?

Yep, VW TDIs are diesel. VW has offered just over $14,000 to buy it back and we might take the bait if we can find something as nice with a stick.