ayap

Would you prefer the 3.2 over the 2.0?

Would you spend a bit more for a 3.2 engine or put your $$ in the S-line trim?

Do you prefer wood or brush aluminum? why?

Are the paddle shifters really necessary for the 2.0 engine? did a search here and some said on or "S" mode, tranny don't shift to 6th gear.

tonypilot

I'm in roughly the same boat as you but here is what I decided.

I currently have a 2003 3.0 6 speed with the lease ending next month. I thought about the new 3.2 but you are talking about $5,500 premium. I test drove a 2.0T this last weekend and felt that it had adequate power roughly similar to my current car. In addition, the gas mileage numbers are pretty good for the 2.0T.

My current car has the platinum interior with the dark brown wood trim. It's one of the best interiors I've seen around. The new 2.0T has the same interior except it has the aluminum trim which gives it a nice sporty look. To me I like them both. I would only get the black or platinum interior with the aluminum trim since the beige and alumium don't really blend well in my opinion.

As for the S-Line, $3K seems a lot for added trim features. I do wish they had more cars with the standard sports suspension without the S-Line but that is the one sacrafice I'm willing to make.

As for the transmission, I wouldn't know. I am getting the 6 speed stick which is far superior than my current 2003 manual transmission.

RJsAudi

forget the sports package, and buy aftermarket (eom)

98

The 2.0 had almost every option and the 3.2 had the few typical options (no sports though), so it's not really an apples to apples comparison. I honestly didn't notice that much of a differnce in feel between the two engines, but the real bottom line is that I felt that the fully optioned 2.0t was very close to a complete car. I have the interest, but neither the time nor money to spend modifying it and in my eyes 2.0t w/ s-line was basically done. It really depends on your needs and preferences. I found my list of things that I wanted to change a lot shorter and at the same time the 2.0t engine leaves a window open for easy performance modifications.

I prefer the aluminum trim to the wood. It just gives it a sportier feel. Actually, I kind of felt uncomfortable with the wood trim. I don't think I'm ready for it.

I don't have any experience with the automatic transmission, so I can't help there.