hey OP... just curious which other models you test drove and how you came to the conclusion of the RA? My wife and I are considering one for her.

I came close to getting a RA to replace my 08 lancer GTS but our dealer down here does way to much sometiming. they make great deal then they decide to play hardball our dealership has only gotten one RA GG every single option only one they will get and they are not budging on the price any period so i gave up on it. Glad you were able to seal the deal

I test drove a 2009 Lancer GTS, 2010 Hyundai Genesis Coupe, 2009 VW GTI, and 2009 Lancer RA prior to deciding on the 2010 Lancer RA for sure. =)

The Lancer GTS was just too slow for what I wanted (had a 2008 Mazda 3 s Touring prior, which was already faster than the GTS).

The Genesis Coupe (2.0L Turbo) was nice feeling, but the acceleration seemed ridiculously slow stock. I'm sure that could easily be fixed with upgrades, but not what I was looking for to start with.

The GTI was a nice solid car, and performance wise it was great. I am just not a huge fan of the looks of it though (just looks too plain for my taste). But it is a great car for the money as far as I could tell. I was also worried about the maintenance on these, as I have heard horror stories about VWs. But supposedly these days they are much better, and I think VW pays for most of your maintenance for a while. But I have no first hand experience with that, just from reading reviews and talking to people.

The 2009 Lancer RA has the same engine and everything as the 2010, so it was fun to drive to start with. The interior however is not that great, which is one of the main improvements on the 2010 (along with the color info screen). So I waited to get the 2010 for those reasons, and so I could get a brand new one in the exact color I wanted. =) But if you can find one of these left you should be able to get a great deal on it at this point!

Hope that helps. It's all general opinion I guess, but that's all I got. =)

-Taranis

congrats brother

For what it's worth my girlfriend loves her '09 RA. My only complaint is the lag off the line, but she doesn't care about it at all, and I figure it'll actually make it easier to drive in the snow. At least until I do a few mods. I just can't help myself lol.

cool man, thanks for the info... I actually would have gotten the OB in my Evo if I could, RR was my second choice. You picked a great color. How do you feel the RA stacks up against the MS you used to have?

I had a regular N/A Mazda 3, not a Mazdaspeed if that is what you are asking. =)

But I still belong to a large Mazda group, so I still am around them a lot. Stock vs. stock the MS3 will give you more power and better handling, and is cheaper. However if you want to put a decent amount of money into a car, the RA will probably give you better reliable gains with less hassle than the MS3 will. The MS3 can get decent power with some of the bigger mods, however it seems to be pretty unreliable power, and things tend to go wrong fairly often from what I've seen.

Both are great cars, so you can't go wrong with either really!

-Taranis / Scott

The blue looks gorgeous!
I'm so excited, mine should be delivered by the end of the month...13 more sleeps! I've gone for the red...had to wait while it was being shipped here, docked yesterday and now the delivery process apparently takes about 10 days or so...sigh...

This!

The MS3 is a force to reckon with, I love that little car; You should've test drove the MS3 as well, seeing as you had a Mazda3 before (reason why I was a bit biased towards the RA is cuz I've been evo fanboy since the beginning of NFS and GT and already had an 08 Lancer ) stock for stock the RA has better launch to quarter mile times (thanks 2 the AWD) but that's about it, and the MS3 has better interior material

Glad you like your RA! and congrats!

I did not want a manual, otherwise I would have.

-Taranis

Hey Taranis, I hope that was you i gave the thumbs up to today on 167. If not, I think I freaked some random dude out.