StrayKiwi
Well-Known Member
- Joined
- Mar 7, 2019
- Messages
- 330
- Reaction score
- 284
- Points
- 63
- Location
- Hamilton, NZ
- Members Ride
- MY18 ZB VXR
I thought I would waste bandwidth give you guys a recap of my car search to replace my trusty 2018 VXR. Mechanically the only thing that has gone wrong with it was the rear diff leak defect which was repaired. It has developed an annoying rattle in the dash somewhere near the HUD gap behind the drivers instruments, but other than that the rest of the damage has been inflicted by yours truly (kerbed wheels and a paint swirl in the clear coat).
The cars I evaluated in order driven: Audi S5, Audi RS4, BMW M3 Comp, Cupra Leon Sportstourer.
The S5 is a pretty nice car, but over this side of the ditch it costs more than 3 times what I paid for my Commodore, has less tech and is only slightly faster. The only places it by far exceeds my Commodore is the audio system (not a difficult feat - the Bose system in the ZB is pretty ****) and ride comfort - how it achieves such a luxurious ride on 20" wheels is mindboggling.
The RS4, what an enigma! Most of the time it is happy to masquerade as an A4 station wagon until you enable RS mode and suddenly it turns into a snarling monster that is seriously rapid, both in a straight line or on twisty back roads it makes little difference. I quite like Audi's attention to detail but for all the tech onboard it integrates seamlessly in a way that doesn't get in your way.
The M3 Competition sedan. You can immediately tell the difference between the design philosophies between Audi RS and BMW M. Audi like to design sleepers that change character at the touch of a button. BMW M hold no such pretence. The M3 never makes any excuses for what it is, it is always an M car no matter how fast or slow you drive it. And oddly enough, that is a good thing.
The Cupra Leon Sportwagon. VAG MQB cars - you either like them or hate them. I found the VWs and Skoda's I've driven that share that platform kind of soulless and lacking in character. Sure they are fast, in some cases, seriously fast, but I always felt they never asked anything of you as the driver for all that pace. The Cupra Leon was supposed to be the version with soul. It is there, but a lack of refinement and some seriously annoying intrusive tech ruined any chances of it winning the competition. On the way home after the test drive I realized that despite being 5 years older the VXR is still a better drivers car.
You may wonder why I would bother test driving something sub NZ$100k when the M3 is north of NZ$200k. Well, I was looking for the right car and I don't necessarily need 300+kw to have fun, I honestly went into all of the test drives with an open mind.
So the wife and I narrowed the list down to the RS4 and the M3. The advent of the new M3 Touring model means the two may be more directly compared as they are both wagons, which we prefer (I am allergic to SUVs). We were fortunate enough to drive the RS4 and M3 back to back, and truth be told, the M3 is a superior car. However, the RS4 is NZ$28,000 cheaper, so the actual question was, is the M3 worth spending an extra NZ$28,000? It took me more than a week of thinking about it to find the answer and it was a pretty close run thing because I changed my mind several times.
The cars I evaluated in order driven: Audi S5, Audi RS4, BMW M3 Comp, Cupra Leon Sportstourer.
The S5 is a pretty nice car, but over this side of the ditch it costs more than 3 times what I paid for my Commodore, has less tech and is only slightly faster. The only places it by far exceeds my Commodore is the audio system (not a difficult feat - the Bose system in the ZB is pretty ****) and ride comfort - how it achieves such a luxurious ride on 20" wheels is mindboggling.
The RS4, what an enigma! Most of the time it is happy to masquerade as an A4 station wagon until you enable RS mode and suddenly it turns into a snarling monster that is seriously rapid, both in a straight line or on twisty back roads it makes little difference. I quite like Audi's attention to detail but for all the tech onboard it integrates seamlessly in a way that doesn't get in your way.
The M3 Competition sedan. You can immediately tell the difference between the design philosophies between Audi RS and BMW M. Audi like to design sleepers that change character at the touch of a button. BMW M hold no such pretence. The M3 never makes any excuses for what it is, it is always an M car no matter how fast or slow you drive it. And oddly enough, that is a good thing.
The Cupra Leon Sportwagon. VAG MQB cars - you either like them or hate them. I found the VWs and Skoda's I've driven that share that platform kind of soulless and lacking in character. Sure they are fast, in some cases, seriously fast, but I always felt they never asked anything of you as the driver for all that pace. The Cupra Leon was supposed to be the version with soul. It is there, but a lack of refinement and some seriously annoying intrusive tech ruined any chances of it winning the competition. On the way home after the test drive I realized that despite being 5 years older the VXR is still a better drivers car.
You may wonder why I would bother test driving something sub NZ$100k when the M3 is north of NZ$200k. Well, I was looking for the right car and I don't necessarily need 300+kw to have fun, I honestly went into all of the test drives with an open mind.
So the wife and I narrowed the list down to the RS4 and the M3. The advent of the new M3 Touring model means the two may be more directly compared as they are both wagons, which we prefer (I am allergic to SUVs). We were fortunate enough to drive the RS4 and M3 back to back, and truth be told, the M3 is a superior car. However, the RS4 is NZ$28,000 cheaper, so the actual question was, is the M3 worth spending an extra NZ$28,000? It took me more than a week of thinking about it to find the answer and it was a pretty close run thing because I changed my mind several times.
We're ordering a 2024 M3 Competition Touring this weekend.
