[Egrunt]

Looking for the next vehicle for my of 37 years, she is very frugal but I have her considering the price difference from a Golf R to the Audi RS3 and BMW M2.

We currently have a 18 BMW M5 (F90) and prior to the F90 we had a 15 BMW M3 F80. Both purchased new and used as a 3rd vehicle since we have other vehicles. My wifes current vehicle is a 12 VW GTI Autobahn DSG 2-door (puchased new), with a APR stage 1 tune and APR DSG tune. She loves that car and I am thinking about keeping it.

The cars in the running for her: 24 Audi RS3, 24 VW Golf R, and 24 BMW M2. Currently the RS3 is in the lead, it has a proper dash, stereo sounds great compared to the others (very important to the wife) and we both like the looks of the vehicle over the other two.

The Golf R is considered but the lack of buttons and having to go through the center screen just to turn on the front defoster was a time consuming task. This is well documented online and others have stated once you own the vehicle for some time you will become use to finding the functions through the center screen. Stereo is just ok and I would have to spend roughly 5k - 8k for a system upgrade.

Then there is the M2, we think the looks of the vehicle on the outside is just ok, yes we are old pushing 60 and we miss the days of our E46 M3 and E39 5 series. As they say looks are subjective. Not a fan of the computer monitor looking dash but as my wife stated once you are sitting in the drivers seat it is an after thought. To us the exhaust sound is the worst of the 3 but we also did not like the sound of our F80 either. Again the sound of an exhaust is subjective.

Any input good or bad on the vehicles we are considering.

[strohw]

Considering you listed multiple positive points for the Audi and not a single one for the other two, I think you already made up your mind.

[Ugly Kar]

I would suggest a lightly used 22' M240xi. It doesn't have the ipad dash and can be easily tuned/chip to be faster then the RS3, M2 for $12-$15k less than the RS3, M2.

The VW just doesn't seem likes it's in the same class and looks like a cheaper car being a hatchback. Although, it is a good value for what you get if that doesn't bother you. BMW is ranked significantly better in reliability also.

[mjj]

Your definition of your wife being frugal was interesting being she has an M5 and came from an M3. Frugal to me is 2002 Chevy Malibu with 190,000 miles.

My wife’s definition of frugal is similar to yours. LOL