Well the original reasons I came to these boards was to check out a possiblenew car for my fiance. We still have not found one and if it werern't for me telling her she needs one she would just run her altima into the ground. The first time we got somewhat serious about it we looked at cars that I liked and thought were sporty, she does enjoy some spirited driving. Those cars were all the usual suspects Z, S2K, G35, STi, EVO (the plan with the last two was she gets my WRX and I get the STi or EVO...


Welll times changed and now she wants somthing to carry the dogs around in and carry stuff from Ikea home in yadayadayadayada. And we still want something spoty.

Focus SVT
Options are
Mini Cooper S
Subaru WRX Wagon
Mazda 3
Subaru Forester XT
VW GTI
Saab 9-2 wagon (wrx with a saab shell)

I see good and bad in all of them, though I'm really in love with the Mini and would love to tinker around with some mods on the XT.

What do you guys think, what would your pick of those cars be?

P.S. I'm keeping my WRX, her Altima will be traded in.

Originally posted by IkeWRX
Mini Cooper S
Mazda 3
Subaru Forester XT


Three VERY different choices! I narrowed it down for you: do the rest! :D

Hold it right there!!! I just read the Subject with a bit more attention: Soon to be BRIDE?!

Congrats! WHEN?!

<sighs> No date yet but I have the ring in my possesion...

the gti is sweet and you can fix it up

I have a friend with a Focus SVT, and it has been a lot of troudle for him. Granted, some of it has been crappy repairs by Ford, but I would be scared to own one after what he has gone through. Oh, and since you and I both live in Wisconsin, you should now his car sucks in the snow.

A couple of friends have the GTIs and love them. They've been reliable and fun to play with.

Look at the Volvo 850 wagon - its fast & holds alot of crap.

Wow! Good job on getting engaged - how much did she have to drink when she said yes! JK

BTW- I bet I could arange a RX-8 to drive you around on the big day - you dont want a boring limo. :) also JK

I don't know what the US spec Forester is like but my dad had a Japanese import Forester turbo (same engine as Impreza turbo), and he thought it was a great car. Was reliable, fast yet practical.

I like the Mini. I like the retro British styling to it. It certainly doesn't blow you away with speed, but it is sporty, and it still is a lot of fun to drive.

One big negative for me was the interior. The overall design is nice, but I thought the materials looked very cheap. A friend of mine has the textured finish (anthracite?) and it looked like some tacky home depot faux finish.

That being said, my wife loves them. If we get her a new car any time soon, we'll probably get her a mini, and I won't mind driving it around the block a few times.

Wahoo!

out of the cars listed, my preference goes towards the Mini simply because it's fashionable and ladies look great in it...the other choices aren't even choices unless someone asks you to pick one out of them...station wagons just don't do it for me

I have a 97 Volvo 850glt with 95K miles on it and it has been/still is, a good car. It runs vey well with the turbo but could use some help to stiffen it up, too much body roll. But it is nice, roomy and sort of sporty. My wife hauled her show dogs all over the eastern US in it until we got her a Odessy, now this is a first class min-van/dog hauler.

Originally posted by IkeWRX
Focus SVT
Options are
Mini Cooper S
Subaru WRX Wagon
Mazda 3
Subaru Forester XT
VW GTI
Saab 9-2 wagon (wrx with a saab shell)

How big are the dogs? An RX-8 might be just perfect, and you know it's a leading candidate for Car of the Year in several competitions over here in North America, and did you see the thread in the Media section called EVO UK: Car of the Year (http://www.rx8club.com/showthread.php?s=&threadid=16368)? Here's a choice quote or two:This year, an even more impressive crop of vehicles has hit showrooms. But this time around, I believe one of them stands out from the crowd to such a degree that it is not only the best new car of 2003, but the best by a mile. It's the Mazda RX-8.
it's a sports car, a coupé and a four-seat family car in one.
Mums and dads who need a proper family car for the morning school run, a high-quality tool for work purposes and a credible and sporty-looking fun machine for evenings out have the ultimate in the RX-8. A couple with two children could easily live with the Mazda's tight but acceptable levels of occupant and luggage space.

There you go - acceptable levels of occupant and luggage space - perfect for your girl, and it comes with great presence and style to go along with the world-beating sports car experience.

Knowing that you'd rather eat dirt than own an RX-8, though, let's move on to the inferior candidates you listed:

Mini - are you joking? Sure, they're supposed to be fun to drive, but utility? You can fit people OR luggage, not both. Further, reliability is already demonstrably poor. We're not talking a few nit-picky things or a few rare, isolated instances that get blown all out of proportion like happens on certain internet (*cough*rx8forum*cough*) forums, but consistent, serious problems.

Mazda3 - excellent choice. Best of the bunch for utility and quality. It's got the engine the Focus wishes it has (in fact, the Focus does have the Mazda 2.3 engine in CA and certain CA-emissions equivalent states).

Subaru variants - good, solid choice. Short on style, but good performance and good reliability.

VW GTI - end of model run. Could wait for the new one, but it's even bigger and heavier. You never know what VW will deliver in terms of suspension tuning, but they tend to think North Americans want soft and floaty. A Golf R32 would be nice, but of course, we know that EVO magazine (after choosing the R32 as the best of the new breed of hot hatch, including the Subaru STi) compared the R32 against a certain new rotary powered 4 door coupe and chose the RX-8 as the better, preferred car. Which, of course, brings your fiance back to the RX-8. Must be fate, she's destined to get it! Would you still marry her if she bought an RX-8? ;)

Regards,
Gordon