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What hot hatch do you own? This poll is closed. |
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| Golf GTI / R / R32 |
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196 | 0.02% |
| Impreza WRX / STi |
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133 | 0.01% |
| Mazdaspeed 3 |
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92 | 0.01% |
| Veloster Turbo |
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20 | 0.00% |
| Focus ST |
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149 | 0.01% |
| Other Hot Hatch |
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230 | 0.02% |
| Elantra GT |
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1000001 | 99.92% |
| Total: | 1000821 votes | ||
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Atmus posted:Does this violate the waranty, or what? Is it harder on the engine or something? Why don't the automakers shove them out the door with stuff like this installed? I think its a combination of things. Ford is probably erring on the side of emissions and reliability. A lot of people don't take very good care of their cars. If Ford sends them out highly strung from the factory and the engines grenade after 80k miles of abuse then people give them a bad reputation, even if they waited 15,000 kms to change the oil and did a 10 minute burnout before it happened.
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Sep 4, 2013 06:30
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I like the C30 T5 and its interior but isn't the handling kind of poor in comparison to the Focus?
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Sep 17, 2013 03:40
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Bovril Delight posted:You'd think Ford would have learned from other hot hatches. The first gen Speed3 had the same issue. I honestly can't remember a generation of Ford's where there wasn't at least one model plagued with poo poo motor mounts.
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Oct 19, 2013 06:07
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echobucket posted:Anyway. I'm at the dealership now. On the way down here I got a tire pressure monitor fault as well. Typical Ford behaviour would call for your ball joints, alternator and engine mounts to die next. After that you'll be fine.
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Oct 22, 2013 05:25
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I like those stats because it proves even the well off are down for a rad little hot hatch. The hot hatch appeal crosses all social and economic boundaries. Its a universal constant among car people.
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Nov 9, 2013 07:43
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I got caught in a snow storm with my summer tires on and I could make the rear end step out just touching the throttle. In 5th gear. I think that hour long drive aged me a few years.
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Jan 22, 2014 03:55
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Buying a 2006 Audi A3. Can't loving wait till it's ready. Two more days. Makes my 21 year old BMW feel like a box truck.
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Mar 11, 2014 04:59
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Its a black A3 with the sport package. Service records and all the things you want out of an Audi of any age. Car friends keep chanting STAGE 1 BRO but I think I'm going to keep it stock for a while and just enjoy it. Its an amazingly balanced and fun car. I can't help but smile at how power band on the engine. All the power at ~2000 rpm and a six speed so you can just keep rowing. They really did a turbo well in this.
8ender fucked around with this message at 07:00 on Mar 11, 2014 |
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Mar 11, 2014 06:57
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Bajaha posted:Post lots of pics when you get it, Audi does the best sport packs, they really know how to do subtle changes to improve the looks. Keeping it stock is probably best for now, once you're down the modification rabbit hole it just keeps getting deeper. If you're happy with the stock power then enjoy it till you start wanting more, no need to jump the gun and start throwing mods on it. Finally had it clean enough for pictures. 2006 Audi A3 with Sport Pack. The previous owner is an amazing person who kept meticulous service records and kept this car looking and driving like new. I love driving this thing so much right now. I honestly can't find a fault with how it drives. I guess the winter wheels that came with it are pretty ugly I dunno.   
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Mar 17, 2014 03:38
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1791apparel posted:Nice pickup! This is a 2.0T correct? Yes it is. It's a great engine. It's tuned to produce a shitload of torque at around 2.5k rpm which makes it hilarious fun. Clarkson was right about the engine in his review of the mk5 gti. There really isn't a wrong gear to be in at any speed for the most part. Handling is exceptional for a FWD vehicle as well even if it likes to set the tires on fire in the first few gears with traction control turned off.
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Mar 18, 2014 00:46
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veedubfreak posted:I often feel that 5th gear is pointless in both my current TDI and my old 1.8t. It's like all they did was push everything closer together and make 5th into 6th. If I'm passing I'm going from 6th to 3rd and when cruising I pretty much always just go 4-6. The 2.0T seems to have enough grunt that it has its uses. I'm using it right now for cruising and lazy passing on the two lane 100km/h roads. I do mainly 6-4 though for most cases. If anything 1st is annoying on this car. Its a really short gear and you want to immediately be out of it to get some speed, but starting in second requires too much clutch. It does make nice noises though 
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Mar 19, 2014 05:43
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Trambopaline posted:Am I totally crazy to think that way or does that mirror the goons' experience? This can really depend on your tires and whatever else the car is doing to compensate. Right now my A3 has a terrible set of winters on it and I can smoke the tires in a corner easily if I get the turbo going. Its really disconcerting coming from a RWD car.
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Mar 30, 2014 07:22
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japtor posted:Crap I keep forgetting about that. I thought (hoped) it was only in extremes to prevent more unintended acceleration incidents, like full throttle and full brake application or something. Have you experienced it yourself in anything yet? I don't think I've noticed it in my patents' recent Prius but I can't say I've driven it all that hard around corners The ESP in my Audi can be pretty annoying in low traction situations like snow. Mainly because it's decision to fire a brake on one side or reduce the throttle is acting counter to the counter measures I'm already instinctively taking to control things. I blame the misunderstanding to years of driving FWD, AWD, and RWD cars with no electronic assistance at all. I have a bag of tricks I do to drive each type through slippery stuff but it's expecting me to just sit back and let it work. I can't not do these tricks at this point because it's instinct so me and ESP fight until I remember to turn it off.
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Mar 30, 2014 19:40
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Bovril Delight posted:This was actually in C&D but not much more reputable. I'd love to see a new MS3 but not holding out a lot of hope. Mazda seems like they've crawled back to focusing on profits and selling as many sort of boring vehicles as possible since they split from Ford.
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Apr 8, 2014 06:20
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I love my A3 hatch so much. It's probably the first car I've owned where I have no complaints and no real desire to mess around modifying the ride.
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Apr 8, 2014 18:03
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KYOON GRIFFEY JR posted:VWoA sold the A3 hatch in America for years and it was completely unsuccessful. What do you think they should do differently? Continue to push cars that people don't buy? On the plus side the used ones don't hold value at all and are largely ignored by the kind of people who put coffee can exhausts on things. You can pick up one for 8k and it's like a really extra nice GTI. The owners also tend to be the folk that get everything serviced at the dealer and keep records. In contrast trying to buy a used GTI is like shopping for a Honda Prelude. Every single one is trashed or has a collection of terrible mods on it. 8ender fucked around with this message at 06:30 on Apr 9, 2014 |
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Apr 9, 2014 06:28
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LoopyJuice posted:Agreed on the colour choice: So jealous of this. I have the less hot A3 in black.
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May 19, 2014 16:01
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LoopyJuice posted:From my brief reading of the thread it doesn't sound like the A3/S3 are sold in the US other models are though so i'm not sure why... As far as I know the A3 has been available in the US since 2006. However more recently it's become a sedan only car in North America. I don't think the car has been a huge success for Audi in NA. It's essentially a GTI in Audi trim but with a much larger price tag and less features standard. It was sold in the same price range as a good 3 or 1 series BMW so you had to really want an Audi hatchback over the GTI or the competitors offerings. That said they don't attract nearly the attention a GTI does on the used market so they're cheap and usually not modified. The Audi interior and exterior is really nice too.
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May 19, 2014 19:36
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I personally prefer the look of the S3 over the R but agreed.
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May 20, 2014 00:56
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Rhyno posted:I wish Mazda would say anything firm about future performance cars. It's too bad they aren't still in bed with Ford because we'd probably have a Mazdaspeed 2 right now.
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May 26, 2014 20:16
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I think the Mazda2 looks beter than the Fiesta, just sayin. A Mazdaspeed version would probably look hot.
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May 27, 2014 03:00
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What would everyone recommend for decent performance all season tires? I need something with good tread wear but that also isn't a slouch for performance. Normally I'd just buy something like the Michelin Super Sports but i have a big commute every day and its Canada. Car is an Audi A3.
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Jul 6, 2014 04:55
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veedubfreak posted:DWS for the months when there's less than 1-2" of accumilation I've found the General Tire Altimax winter tires to be excellent as well. They do as well as the Blizzaks with the downside being some fairly noticeable road noise. Cheap though.
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Jul 10, 2014 03:55
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Snowdens Secret posted:On my A3 I've had cases with really wet snow and all-season tires where the TC shuts down all attempts to turn the wheels. It allows essentially no wheelspin. Amusingly the dash is constructed to such tight tolerances that in such cold conditions it will sometimes shrink enough to jam the TC on/off button. My A3 also has the super nanny TC system. It aggravated me enough last winter that part of my morning startup routine was to stab the TC off button so I could actually make it out of my driveway.
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Jul 16, 2014 04:32
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priznat posted:I have an E46 and without power seats or sunroof it is very comfortable for me, seat could even go back a bit further. E39 best BMW though I'm still very pleased 6 months in with my Audi A3. It doesn't get a lot of love because it was just a really expensive VW GTI but for that same reason it seems to go cheap on the used market. Insurance is less as well. It also shares nearly everything but sheet metal with either the Golf or GTI so part prices haven't been bad at all. As a bonus you'll catch scorn from people who hate people who own Audi's AND Audi owners themselves for buying the cheap one.
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Jul 27, 2014 06:18
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Don't like the new ones at all (also price) so that's why I'm looking at hatches now. 
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priznat posted:I testdrove an A3 hatch ages ago for the fun of it, it was really nice. Mostly I wanted to check out the DSG which I thought was really cool. I believe thats only 2013 onward. Theres still lots of excellent used ones around.
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Jul 27, 2014 07:30
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BoostCreep posted:Reversing up hill. Building up revs for a spectacular j turn reversing up hill priznat posted:Is it sacrilegious to be eyeballing the DSG in the new GTI vs the MT? I have a 5 spd manual now but the whole dual clutch thing just sounds neat. Its definitely very competent for an automatic but sucks all the fun out of the car in my opinion. Half the fun of a turbo hot hatch is revving the balls off it and doing stupid things with the clutch.
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Aug 9, 2014 06:26
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priznat posted:Wow that seems pretty odd. Should have the option for either really. Must be your area. I found A3's here to be cheaper than GTI's of the same year. Picked up a 2006 for 8k.
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Aug 11, 2014 23:16
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priznat posted:Someone at my work has a Veloster Turbo parked near where I park most days, and I really like it. It's not the car for me, but I'm glad it exists, you know? I also have a co-worker with a Veloster and I feel the same way. It looks like a big ugly carp that I'd never own but its good that someone other than the usuals is trying a hot hatch.
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Aug 14, 2014 20:17
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Bajaha posted:The onboard trip computer is hilariously optimistic with regards to mileage and the real world highway fuel consumption kinda sucks. What kind of mileage are you getting on the highway? The Veloster is specced similar to my car and I'm getting 32-25mpg consistently.
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Aug 15, 2014 05:06
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priznat posted:I like how most of the hot hatches don't get optioned up like crazy like anything from BMW, Audi or Infiniti. Trying to build anything on their website is agonizing when you end up $8k away from the base price for really nothing too extreme, options wise. It must be a luxury brand thing. In Canada the GTI vs A3, at least for the mk5, is weird. They're essentially the same car but the GTI came decked out with only a few options (leather, xenons) while on the A3 almost everything was an option. It was possible to option out a stripper Audi A3 with cloth seats, no LCD on the gauges, standard Golf suspension, and the basic CD player.
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Aug 28, 2014 10:18
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BraveUlysses posted:pretty sure they dont bother computing the price of insurance off the number of doors anymore--i'm sure it's far more complicated than that. For instance, state farm quoted me higher insurance rates for e90 328i than the more expensive and faster 335i. Insurance told me an A3 was cheaper than a GTI of the same year based on crash statistics alone despite similarities.
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Aug 28, 2014 18:11
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Seat Safety Switch posted:Yeah, you can go on the IIHS website and look up stuff like total-loss and liability statistics for different cars. It helps explain why Lancers are more expensive to insure than a Civic, for instance (Lancer owners total their own cars, and when they do, they total a lot of other cars on the way out). Thats a cool resource and mirrors what my insurance told me:   Interestingly the A3 comes up under "mid-sized station wagon" while the GTI is under "2 door small cars" which I assume makes a further difference. So I guess all the young 20 something professional women driving the A3 is helping my insurance costs. 
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Aug 28, 2014 22:10
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God I hope Audi brings the new RS3 to the US as well.
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Dec 12, 2014 07:18
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Mr-Spain posted:If they did it would be no poo poo 60K I don't think that would fly. Dealers around here have the S3 at 52k or so. But I need people with shitloads of extra income to buy these things so I can pick them up cheap 5 years from now.
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Dec 13, 2014 06:20
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leica posted:I really miss having a hatch and can't afford any of the newer hot hatches so I've been thinking about possibly "making" my own. For awhile I've been wanting a second gen ZX3 Focus and recently they have been coming down in price big time with low miles. IIRC they are relatively cheap to make better as far as handling but I'm not so sure about engine stuff. Basically I would put most of the money into suspension and wheels/tires and maybe some bolt on poo poo for the engine (intake/header/exhaust) if it would even help at all......Any advice on these cars? I would most likely be rally crossing it and maybe auto crossing as well. Co-worker recently scored a blobeye Impreza hatch for a grand with the intentions of making it a rally car. It had a scratched up fender and needed some maintenance but was otherwise ready to drive. If Sockington's Impreza is any indication they can be made to handle amazingly well with some suspension work.
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Dec 15, 2014 06:37
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Mcqueen posted:The only thing I hated was the huge amount of wheel hop, I know it's been a problem for others before I bought it, just had no idea how bad it was until I romped on it for a while. I had no idea how bad the wheel hop on my Audi A3 was until I installed the poly insert and holy poo poo it can put power down now. Taking off fast and having a smooth transition from wheel spin to grip is amazing.
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Dec 28, 2014 08:01
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It can really depend on the engine management but modern cars are pretty good at getting a lot of power out of good ol 87 octane. The GTI for example: VAG also seems to consistently be good at sandbagging on their official HP figures as well.
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Jan 5, 2015 23:44
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veedubfreak posted:Why does VAG refuse to go bigger than 2.0 on their 4 bangers. It's getting somewhat out of hand that the new R has almost 300hp with a 2.0. The giant turbo and headwork/internals seem like they would cost more than just bumping displacement a bit. VAG agrees with you but decided displacement and an extra cylinder was the answer because Germans http://www.topgear.com/uk/car-news/new-audi-rs3-2015-revealed-2014-12-11
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Jan 7, 2015 08:26
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| # ¿ Apr 27, 2024 14:09 |
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needknees posted:My big question is (since I tend to keep vehicles for a VERY long time) is about all the electronic wizardry - am I going to have a nightmare 8-10 years down the road with all that crap? Their engines and transmissions seem very solid but all the gizmos are a bit worrisome when it comes to reliability. Complete heresay and opinion but I've found Ford's don't generally have higher than average issues with electrical in the long term. Usually the old bastard Ford hat trick is motor mounts, alternator, and heater core going all within 6 months of each other.
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Jan 30, 2015 07:39
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