That does not look like an Alfa Romeo. If it is one it looks disgusting.

I got a new job recently that came with a significant raise and a dramatically shorter commute. Since gas mileage is no longer really an issue, I've been looking for something faster and more enjoyable than my 12 Impreza hatch. At first, I was dead set on a Mustang GT because I could get a lot off because of how many Ford dealers are in my area. But after I ordered one, I decided to test drive some other used cards in the price range to figure out if it was really the best idea.

2015 Mustang GT
Looks
I adore the way this car looks, especially in Guard Green. There's so much detail and small touches in things like the lights, or the way the hips of the car meet the roof line. I love it.

Interior
Not bad. There's still some hard plastic here and there, like the center console and top of the doors, but it's otherwise a nice plan to be. There are some nice aluminum pieces scattered around that make it feel more high end. The seats are also great. Nice amount of bolstering without feeling too tight. I'd also be ordering a 2016, which will come with Sync 3. I've used it at work, and it's the best infotainment system I've ever used. The "Premium" shaker sound system wasn't very good.

Drive
Fat and lazy. The steering was responsive, but uncommunicative. The automatic transmission seems to hate letting the engine rev, even in sport or sport+ mode, so getting the car to get up and go required pretty much flooring the pedal. At city speeds, it seems to continuously hunt and pec for gears. It really lets down the car and makes it pretty much a no-go for me, even with the optional 3.55 gear ratios.

2012 Audi S4
Looks
I like it. It doesn't beat you over the head with the fact that it's fast. The 13 is much better, though. The grill and LED accents are so much nicer.

Interior
The CPO I looked at had alcantara accents that I couldn't stop rubbing. Absolutely fabulous interior. Fit and finish was great, materials were top notch, and everything just felt right. Really great seats. The infotainment, however, felt dated. The screen was small and low-res. It also didn't have bluetooth audio streaming, which blew my mind. The B&O stereo was great.

Drive
Jesus tapdancing fucking christ. Fast. VERY fast. The instant torque of the supercharged V6 combined with the amazing dual clutch means you go from 0 to speeding ticket before you even realize it. 90 feels like 50. Absolutely effortless power and lots of grip through turns. Steering was more numb than I would like and it felt a little big, like it was made more for cruising than anything else. Some road and wind noise came through the cabin, but I'd say less than the Mustang.

2011 BMW 335i xDrive
Looks
It looks like a BMW. I like this gen better than the current one.

Interior
Not as nice as the Audi, but still good. Very no-nonsense with a hint of luxury. I liked the leather and aluminum trim, though the seats were definitely not as nice as the Audi's. It came with iDrive, which I liked more than the MMI system in the Audi. It also had Bluetooth audio streaming, which is a big plus for me. I really liked the size and location of the display, too.

Drive
The steering is phenomenal. Seriously, you move the wheel an inch and the car moves an inch. Other than that, kind meh. Felt slow after coming out of the Audi. The automatic was better than the Mustang, but wasn't as crisp and happy to let the car rev out as the dual clutch in the S4. A lot more road and wind noise than I would like.

2012 BMW 135i
I drove 2 of these. One with the M-sport package and the power pack, and one without.

Looks
It looks like a small BMW.

Interior
Similar to the 335i, but maybe a little simpler. Steering wheel on the M-sport version is amazing. The seats on the M-sport are probably the best car seats I've ever sat in. Neither of the ones I drove had iDrive, but the base radio seemed easy enough to use. One had the Harmon Kardon stereo, which was pretty fantastic.

Drive
I'll really only comment on the M-sport with power package.

This is the best car I've ever driven. Usually small, nimble, and balanced come with costs to power or the transmission, but not here. This car felt just as fast in most situations as the S4, and the 7 speed dual clutch was amazing, especially in sport mode. Slapping the pedal for downshift was met with a near instant response and tons of torque. Everything about the way this car drove felt exactly how I've wanted every car I've ever owned to drive.

When you first get in a car, there's usually a learning curve where you're getting comfortable with how it brakes, steers, etc. That didn't exist in the 135i. It was just perfect.

I'm probably buying a 135i. I should come $5-10k under budget depending on what year and options I end up having, so I'll have some money for the inevitable maintenance costs. It'll also be cheaper to insure than the Mustang, so I'll have some extra money from that. I'll try to drive a new WRX, newer 335i, and Golf R this week as well just to do my due diligence. The WRX seems to be a little too much of a track car, though, with a crap interior and too little refinement. I probably wouldn't go for a brand new Golf, but if I like it more than the 135 I might hold off a while and pick it up CPO. But by that point some M235i's or S3's will be coming off lease, so the situation gets more complicated.

Car shopping is fun.

If you're going to get a 135i, it should definitely be an '11+. Prior to that year the car used the old N54 TT motor, which is notorious for munching on high pressure fuel pumps like candy. You also need at least an '11 for the DCT I believe.

Oh yeah, definitely. I'm looking at low-mileage 2011 and 2012. The DCT is amazing, and I want to avoid the N54. It looks like the N55 is pretty solid. Not Toyota or Honda reliability, but not something I need to be too antsy about.

I don't think you're going to be happy with a WRX as compared to an Audi or BMW. A fast, great handling econobox is still an econobox at the end of the day. The Golf R is a much better middle ground between the WRX and something like an S4. The interior looks and feels like it costs $20K more than the Subaru, and while the AWD system is a FWD biased Haldex setup instead of the "real" AWD systems in the Audi and Subaru, it's good enough if you're not going to be doing track work.

This was my thinking as well. The WRX interior looks almost exactly the same as my Impreza, which is fine for an econobox, but not for something that I'm comparing to formerly $50k German cars. I mean, a Fiesta ST even has a better interior.

APR can also turn the Golf R into an absolute beast, and probably the ultimate sleeper car since you can barely tell it apart from a run of the mill Golf 1.8T. That being said, APR can also turn the S4 into a road rocket. If you thought it was fast before, after they're done with it you'll be effectively even Steven with a $70K+ RS5. That's really what the S4 is best at. Massive speed, and loads of grip no matter the weather. Short of the R8, Audis are rarely as fun as the equivalent BMW, although the S4 is probably more fun than a new F30 gen 335i xDrive. BMW is promising to make the upcoming 340i less bland, we'll see.

I definitely looked into that. If I buy a car with FI, which is almost a sure thing at this point, I'll flash it the day the warranty runs out or I decide it's worth losing the warranty, whichever is first. I mean, the 135i can easily gain like 50 HP or something with a JB4.

I'd say the Golf R is probably a no go because it's a brand new German car, which means heavy depreciation. I mean, I could probably wait a year and pick up a used loaded one for the cost of a new base.

The interior is weird. Design and materials wise it's back comfortably ahead of the 3 series and the Japanese...but there's a bit of a mishmash of A6 and A3 which I'm not sure works. The cup holders and that empty slab of black plastic with the exposed 12V power socket are pulled straight out of the A3. The start stop button is oddly placed, and the MMI controls are in front of the shifter which seems backwards.

They've gone to contextual HVAC controls which I don't think they've done before. Those look great, but the row of controls below that are inelegantly pulled from the TT, and of course Audi blank button-itis remains. The matte open pore wood and what appears to be alcantara on the doors looks better than the typical vinyl they use, we'll see if the leather armrests survive on to US spec cars. My guess is no. Definitely the worst aspect is the full width fake "vent" on the passenger side, which is now a thing at VWAG and in a few other cars. Why? What's the point? Overall a big improvement over the cheap looking and feeling interior of the current car, but still second best to the C-class. The sooner the fake vent trend goes away, the better.