vaBooM said:
Definately the 3s!
The 2.3l screams.... the breakin really fools you. Makes you think you got no power. But then after 400 or so WHAM... its suddenly faster lol
I really would just be using it as a commuter car during the remainder of my college years (of course that would include 180-mile round-trip trips home a couple times a month).
As long as that 2.0L can pass traffic on the highway and merge onto on-ramps I'll neither ask nor expect anything more from it.
I don't have a car on campus with me right now, but my dad drives my high school car up sometimes when I go home and I drive back and rarely do I need to apply much throttle when passing someone...That car only has 156hp/160tq and weighs over 3200lbs. (excluding occupant+cargo weight), so I'm hoping the 3i could do as good, if not better, with 148hp/135tq having to pull about 2700lbs. (again, excluding occupant+cargo weight). Of course, my old car is a V6 auto and the 3 is an I4 (I'd be getting a 5-spd.) so torque curves and gearing come into play...Oh my...
Of course, the 3s definitely has that "cool" factor and is well worth the extra money. And the price isn't the issue. At first I was dead-set on the 3s, but the more I considered my actual needs, the more appealing the 3i became (due to the fact that it is more conservative).
Also, I think the 3i will age more gracefully, so to speak, as it is not as agressively styled as the 3s.
As far as the 3 is concerned, the Starlight "i" and the Titanium "s" are on opposite ends of the spectrum, so I know this is going to be tough...