So after going from a Rabbit pickup, to a Cabrio, Corrado and finaly a 99 B5 Passat i have finally laid down the hard earned cash to pay the extra for these fancy 4 silver rings. I have always had great luck with VAG products as long as I did ALL the necessasary MAINTAINENCE.

The OTHER car in the garage has always been a Honda something. Its funny but to keep them for 10 yrs or about 175K miles they ultimately end up costing me more. I do tend to like the service departments a bit more, but since I do most of my own work not an issue for me.
My First Love was a 66 Mustang. My First Toy (if you called it a car it wouldn't start) was a TR6. My first CAR was a 72 Civic. Yes the Civic was utilitarian, tiny and kind of odd, but for transportation it always worked and it was so small and light a real hoot to drive.

So now that my 99 B5 has spent close to 9 years in my garage and is pushing 120k I was thinking... The wife has a Honda Pilot, more than adequate for "Family Trips", 90% of my driving is by myself, I hate trying to cram stuff into the Passat trunk or rear doors and I miss driving the old 72 Civic.... So....

Down to the dealer and test drove a A3 2.0t Sport Back with Sport package and the 3.2 Quattro S Line. I don't know why but I liked the overall dynamics of the 2.0t DSG more. So a little shopping around and I found a 06 A3 Sportback with DSG, Sport pkg and Winter pkg that was a dealer loaner (5155 miles on it) and picked it up for just north of 24K with Audi Cert warranty.

So lets see: 4 doors for kids, check, Hatchback for utility, check, 30+mpg Hwy (If I behave), check, No more clutch to deal with on the commute, check, Toss-able and Fun to drive like my long lost Civic, check, Not this funky new styling direction VW has gone in, check, (Is it just me or have the German Cars all starting looking like the Asian brand of the week? What happened to the reserved styling that stood the test of time and made a 8 yr old car never look completly out of style ?)

Last but not least: Affixes a PermaGrin to my face, CHECK.

I don't understand the appeal of the WRX/Evo crowd. Stuff a high strung motor in an econobox, but at the end of the day its still an econobox. The A3 wont beat them but who cares? I love the reserved/constraint and quality this car exhudes. Its value proposition will not be a fit for all, but for me, this is the best VAG product I have owned yet!

 

the EVO is an adrenalin junky motor and I think we all understand that and welcome to Audi

 

I get my adrenaline fixes by skydiving or drinking espresso, both of which I will be driving the A3 to

 

Ive done the skydiving and love it I also have a glider which is awesome depending on the weather

 

Welcome to the forums skydiving sounds fun but i dont know why anyone would jump out of a perfectly good plane

 

Diving to the Drop Zone is more dangerous than flying in a plane.
Flying in the plane is the most dangerous part of jumping.

I am just trying to get away from all the danger!
Besides where else am I going to go from 0-150 mph in 6 seconds?