Hey all. I'm Sean, 47 from South Shields. For the past five years I've had a Mk3 Focus ST (three of them in fact) and I love them, in my opinion the best bang for buck car in it's sector.
Just over a year ago my dad passed away and left me able to pay off my debts, including car finance, buy my house outright from my landlord and move up a car class.
My bucket list car has always been an Audi RS3. However with the emission regulations they have not been available since October, and there's a good chance that they won't come back for various reasons. My second option was the new A45, which isn't available yet. So I thought I'd have a look at at some more 'grown up' options and maybe move from hooning around in a hatchback to something a little more luxurious whilst still having enough under my right foot to put a smile on my face.
The Jaguar XE 300 Sport was first and, whilst I didn't get to test drive that actual model, it was very nice. Too nice. Uninvolving. Boring.
On Saturday I test drove a C43. Unlike the Jag it felt big and will take me a while to get used to. However the cabin was a very nice place to sit in and I loved the car. Especially the sound when I floored it, and especially in Sport+ mode, and especially considering it had the standard exhaust and not the AMG version that I would opt for. With my foot on the floor it felt like it just wanted to keep going and going and going and didn't want me to stop. The thing I liked the most - no torque steer while I did this!
The C43 ticks a lot, if not all, of the boxes for me. It has the matrix style headlights of the RS3 which I lust after (yeah sad I know!), I can have it with a pano roof, it has similar power figures and is just a little slower then the RS3 to 60 - although if the RS3 does come back it'll no doubt have a PPF and be slightly down on power. It has AWD, but better than quattro it's rear biased so I get the 'feel' of a rear wheel drive sports car but the safety and stability of AWD. It even has the digital dash and whilst this isn't as good as Audi's virtual cockpit it is a proper dash, not a flat 'stuck on' screen like in the A and E class. The other screen still looks stuck on, and I wish Mercedes would do the whole 'disappears into the dashboard' thing that Audi do on the 3 series, and I wish it was angled slightly towards the driver to make it a little easier to catch with the corner of the eye. But that was my only gripe, that and the way the gearbox changes down as you slow down which seemed more jerky than it needed to be. But that's what you get with a torque converter gearbox I suppose.
So now the C43 is a serious contender I thought I'd join a Mercedes forum, and this seemed like the most popular, to see people's opinions and experiences with the C43 to help make my decision
Just over a year ago my dad passed away and left me able to pay off my debts, including car finance, buy my house outright from my landlord and move up a car class.
My bucket list car has always been an Audi RS3. However with the emission regulations they have not been available since October, and there's a good chance that they won't come back for various reasons. My second option was the new A45, which isn't available yet. So I thought I'd have a look at at some more 'grown up' options and maybe move from hooning around in a hatchback to something a little more luxurious whilst still having enough under my right foot to put a smile on my face.
The Jaguar XE 300 Sport was first and, whilst I didn't get to test drive that actual model, it was very nice. Too nice. Uninvolving. Boring.
On Saturday I test drove a C43. Unlike the Jag it felt big and will take me a while to get used to. However the cabin was a very nice place to sit in and I loved the car. Especially the sound when I floored it, and especially in Sport+ mode, and especially considering it had the standard exhaust and not the AMG version that I would opt for. With my foot on the floor it felt like it just wanted to keep going and going and going and didn't want me to stop. The thing I liked the most - no torque steer while I did this!
The C43 ticks a lot, if not all, of the boxes for me. It has the matrix style headlights of the RS3 which I lust after (yeah sad I know!), I can have it with a pano roof, it has similar power figures and is just a little slower then the RS3 to 60 - although if the RS3 does come back it'll no doubt have a PPF and be slightly down on power. It has AWD, but better than quattro it's rear biased so I get the 'feel' of a rear wheel drive sports car but the safety and stability of AWD. It even has the digital dash and whilst this isn't as good as Audi's virtual cockpit it is a proper dash, not a flat 'stuck on' screen like in the A and E class. The other screen still looks stuck on, and I wish Mercedes would do the whole 'disappears into the dashboard' thing that Audi do on the 3 series, and I wish it was angled slightly towards the driver to make it a little easier to catch with the corner of the eye. But that was my only gripe, that and the way the gearbox changes down as you slow down which seemed more jerky than it needed to be. But that's what you get with a torque converter gearbox I suppose.
So now the C43 is a serious contender I thought I'd join a Mercedes forum, and this seemed like the most popular, to see people's opinions and experiences with the C43 to help make my decision
