Just my personal experience- I originally bought mine as a low cost train commute car that looked nice and was fun to drive. Instead of a Corolla, I thought why not this. So my expectations were low, and honestly I liked it but didn't love it from a performance perspective. It took me several months to really "get it", then I started loving the car. The overall combined experience for me is far beyond the sum of the parts as they say, but sometimes it takes time to realize it, so test drives never really so the car justice.
After that, started modding here and there. Billet shift knob, camber bolts, lowering springs, mudfler change, wheels/tires. The latter made a big difference, and graduated to better mods like headers and RCE T2 coils. A quality header and quality covers transform the car. Still not fast in a straight line, but not slow - maybe on par with an E36 M3 or close (power delivery is different). Not a huge investment, and not hugely fast, but quick enough and really fun/rewarding to drive compared to many other cars. It's the little things that set this car apart, when considering short/monitored test drives and magazine numbers, those little things are often missed. Personally I've never thought the car is too slow unless I'm trying to boot it at 80+ mph (which is rare). Majority is backroads, and has more than enough power to have fun (and get me in big trouble).
I think if you want one, you have to take a leap of faith in some regards.
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