I've enjoyed the tournament very much!!! :-) My choice won too!

I'm so surprised the GTI did so well. I see it as a great car, but as a hot hatch I think it's woefully inadequte. I prefer the Cobalt SS.

Two words - "Zoom Zoom"

WIN. Chalk up another overall victory for the MS3.

We all know the real winner is the WRX.

It's OK. I'll motor off in my GTI with a smile on my face.

Yeehaa! Just one more win to rationalize my purchase and keep the darkness away. :-)

There's always a subie lurking. :-)

I suggest using a better voting tool, maybe something you can click on.

it was fun.

Already almost 3 years old and still winning comparisons... I just washed mine yesterday in prep for the win.

I think it's funny that the voting followed almost exactly the same lines as the most recent C&D comparison test. Meanwhile, I'll enjoy motoring in my MINI.

Just a thought: I wonder how a V6 Camaro would have done...

I enjoy my comfy DSG GTI with 250hp and 294 tq on tap. It always makes me feel like I'm driving something far more expensive and its a beauty of a car in a parking lot of bland cars and played out entry level luxury cars.

As fun as any of these cars are, they will never be a true sports car because of their FWD layout. That is why I chose the GTI... take away the performance factor and you have a great car still.

Guess I'll have to take my speed out to celebrate.

you can't call it "America's Favorite" because it barely won. the MS3 is the Obama of car elections, i guess.

^^ a v6 camaro? Talk about an arbitrary comparison.

^^ Your 250 hp GTI isn't stock. I think it's crazy to own a VW out of warranty, or to void the warranty with a chip. That's why the Mazda wins. It comes with even more power straight off the showroom floor. Plus there's a warranty safe aftermarket through Mazda if the power isn't enough for your taste.

Good job face-off guys at keeping it entertaining. I enjoyed the back and forth dialogue. Maybe include more smack talking next time (about the cars).

I still feel like the Cooper S is the more realistic vote.....but thats just me :P

Everyone knows Magrath is a no-good, yellow, vote rigging cheater...but so is Riswick so I suppose that makes everying ok.

Seriously, loved the competition. Please branch out into other segments. I think that would be fun.

One suggestion, the guy who delivers the first opening argument should deliver the second rebuttal. Always going first sort of puts one guy at a disadvantage. Really fun reads though.

Thanks guys.

"^^ a v6 camaro? Talk about an arbitrary comparison."

Not really. Actual buyers don't always follow the prescribed car magazine rules for comparison tests. The V6 Camaro packs a lot of performance into $25k. Isn't that what sport compact buyers are really after?

Next comparo has got to be exotics.

^^ No. Comparing a nimble 5 door fwd turbo 4 cyl to a bloated v6 n/a rwd coupe makes no sense. They are completely different cars targeting completely different markets. Marketing 101, LOL.

Here's what I don't get: here in Chicago, I see GTIs all the time, and I can't swing a dead cat without hitting a MINI Cooper S (I've got one myself)...but I've never, ever seen a MazdaSpeed 3 in person. So how is it "America's favorite hot hatch?" Or is my experience vastly different from everyone else's?

Just curious. :)

-Will

It takes a trained eye to separate the standard 3hatch from the speed3. So its possible you have seen it, but didn't notice, which is one of the reasons why I love my car. I don't see alot of others on a regular basis, but usually a couple a month (besides out regular meets where sometimes more than 20 MS3s will show)

Wow, the MS3 took the win! It's true that the standard 3 hatch, and Mazdaspeed 3 are hard to distinguish because of the very subtle differences. I see many of them around because I know what to look for. (Hey Ziggo, I'm one of those 20 MS3's!)

Right on, knew this victory would come. I agree with "jesuswaswrong", to the gentleman with the 250hp VW GTI, yea, lol, not "STOCK" lol. Even then, and just as "jesuswaswrong" stated, Speed3 from factory has MORE power (besides the torque, but very close)than that.

See, to me, I never saw the comparison of the Mazdaspeed 3 & the VW GTI as reasonable because of the two major factors that come to mind:

1st: HUGE Power & Performance differences.
2nd: BIG difference in interior space between the two.

I would suggest to stop comparing the two lol, not a competition anymore lol. And I don't care how the Mazdaspeed 3 lost this past year to the GTI in Car and Driver, because the Mazdaspeed 3 won 2 years in a row, and the loss was just stupid lol, looked like they wanted to make VW happy or something lol.

"^^ No. Comparing a nimble 5 door fwd turbo 4 cyl to a bloated v6 n/a rwd coupe makes no sense. They are completely different cars targeting completely different markets. Marketing 101, LOL."

Meh...Front wheel drive tends to kill the fun on the limit. Most true performance cars have rwd. As for na vs turbo, some of the MS3's competitors are na (Civic Si comes to mind). Finally, I don't really care what kind of cars the marketing men are trying to sell me; I only care about the cars I want. The last several C&D comparos have been titled something like "Cheap Speed." Cars like the Camaro V6 and Genesis Coupe sound like they fit that bill rather well.

^^ I agree that the Camaro and Genesis are examples of cheap speed, but cars with similar cost and horsepower aren't necessarily direct competitors. If that wasn't the case, you would've seen Mustang GT's facing WRX's and Speed3's in those C&D Comparos. The average consumer will also take into consideration things like practicality. A 5 door hatchback, while perhaps not the sexiest layout for a car, is argueably the most practical.

I, along with everyone who has ever raced a car, agree that rwd > fwd. That being said, fwd can still be a lot of fun if you can control it, especially if you live someplace temperate.

^^ Sorry, the Civic Si is defintely not worthy competition to the Speed3. Most 6th gen si (8th gen civic) owners will hesitantly agree.