Autioguide Sub $30K Shootout
 

About what I expected:

http://www.autoguide.com/auto-news/2...-shootout.html
http://www.autoguide.com/auto-news/2...-part-two.html
http://www.autoguide.com/auto-news/2...ee-winner.html

They broke it down to street test vs track test. Here are the final scores.

http://www.autoguide.com/gallery/d/1...re-sheet-3.jpg

LOL and it should read Autoguide :)

A couple of notes. The GTI is the model without the performance pack. I think that held the car back a little, but since you cannot buy it right now in North America and most GTI's sold will be the non-PP model it seems fair.

They also really loaded up the Miata and then complained about the price.. I thought that was a little unfair since you can get a Miata much cheaper.

I still don't get the hate for the Focus ST Recaro seats. I loved them, but it must come down to body type, or perhaps how long you are sitting in them (I was in there less than an hour).

Hmmm, I just so happen to own the #1 and #2 picks.

Just reinforces the confidence in my decisions.

Clearly though, the GTI is the superior car.

You could forego the PRHT and save a few grand, but to get the must-have options, particularly the LSD, you need to step up from the base model. I think the Club spec is the way to go (and most comparably equipped vs. an FR-S), but that's still a few hundred more than the FR-S. If they had used that one and tied it with the FR-S in the "price" category, it wouldn't have changed the points rankings.

Good comparison btw. Interesting comment on the FR-S having the third-quickest top speed on the straight, despite being down on power.

This is the exact phenomenon I noticed when I tracked with my FR-S and GTI (mk6). The GTI should have been faster down the straight, but only hit 98 mph whereas in the FR-S, I was constantly hitting 103 mph. The only explanation I could think of was the FR-S was carrying significantly more speed coming out of the preceding corner.

How is the Juke more fun to track than an Si?

True about Mazda pricing, but I think Autoguide should not have held that against the car. Will be really insteresting to see how the ND Miata will stack up to these cars when it is released...

I think you nailed it on the bolded. Just with some better tires I think the FR-S would have shown better numbers across the board too. They really gave it high marks for fun to drive on the track and, in some ways, I think the car being down on power vs most of the others is part of that fun. In that you can just push the car so hard to the limits and still control it. If the car made significantly more power, yes it would be faster, but I don't think that would necessarily equate to more fun. Especially for someone less skilled on the track...

If you read the article it sounds like they got a bad SI. There was clearly something wrong with it..

Yeah sorry I added a quick ninja edit in my post, but even if they had used the Club spec model and tied its score in the Price category to the FR-S, it wouldn't have affected the points ranking.

Definitely interested to see how the ND stacks up. Will be such a unique offering in the sub-$30k market because of how light it's expected to be.

GTI "could use more power" lol. Doesn't it hit 100 in the quarter? But it doesn't "have the pull" of the Focus which hits 95.

FR-S was the most fun to drive on the track, by a wide margin.


That's really all you need to know:thumbsup:

I may be reading wrong, but the WRX = 25 drive on the track, where as the FRS = 19 ? so the lower the score, the better the experience ? :eyebulge:

Fun to drive on the street, WRX = 20, and FRS = 17.5.

According to your reading, lower = better, then the FRS = the best in Street driving and Track driving

WRX scored a 25 in track time, 19 on "fun to drive on track"

FRS scored a 20.6 on track time, and a 24 on "Fun to drive on track"

I see, I mistook the first column. So

Track, WRX = 19, FRS = 24

Street, WRX = 17.5, FRS = 16.5

So WRX is better for street driving :) occasional track times, I want to see STI on the track ;)