[FastRedPonyCar]

Night an day difference vs the Golf in a few ways but not so much in some others.

The Golf is built to a much lower price point BUT the fit and finish inside the golf are nice and they do use above average quality materials and stuff in the car vs other cars in it's segment (Civic R, Corolla GR, BRZ, WRX, Scatpack/dodge, etc) but it still sits squarely in the "pretty nice for what it is" interior.

The X3M has leather everywhere, real carbon fiber, real metal vs painted plastic to look like metal, etc. The soft touch points are softer too and the X3M gets real vernasca leather vs the synthetic stuff in the Golf. Also black only in the golf sucks in the summer here in the south east.

The performance of the two cars really can't be compared. The X3M is faster but that shouldn't be a surprise and gas mileage is about the same. I was kinda shocked at mid 20's mpg in the golf on the highway.

The exhaust sound of the two cars is also kind of a toss up. The X3M can be somewhat fixed with an unequal length midpipe but there is nothing you can do to fix the ratty sound of the EA888 and the S58 only really sounds bad at low RPM's and on cold starts. Once it's over 2500 or so RPM's it sounds incredible but the EA888 sounds bad all the way to redline.

AWD vs AWD is also very different. The BMW is mostly RWD and the Golf is mostly FWD. I took the Golf to Deals Gap as well as a couple trips up to Highlands NC to drive those twisty roads and it definitely wants to understeer (though this has been somewhat addressed with the new differential in the MK8 R) and the X3M wants to oversteer.

I've read on VW Vortex that the MK8 lane keep assist/auto pilot is kinda iffy and most people just end up using the adaptive cruise control and handle the lane keep assist themselves. I did this a lot in the Tesla because of how much of a pain it was to always be turning auto pilot off and then back on just to change lanes on the highway.

Ride quality I would have to say goes to the Golf. While my X3M isn't uncomfortable (and moving to the different size tires made a big difference), it's still not as soft as the DCC in the Golf and also in the Golf, the different settings feel very different. The softest setting is SUPER soft and nice on bumpy roads and the firmest setting is nice and tight but not uncomfortable. It was honestly one of the best aspects of that car.

I was seriously considering a MK8 R but between the obscene price gouging by the dealers and simply needing a bit more room these days with a bigger family now and more music equipment to haul around, the X3 made more practical sense. Could I have made the Golf work? Probably. But working around the smaller space aside, there was no getting around the $7000+ markup on the MK8's and I ain't about that.

To be honest, the Tesla felt like a nice upgrade from the Golf in basically every way (ignoring the whole charging thing). The AWD on the Tesla is absolutely incredible and when it slips, it is able to cut and apply power where needed at a speed normal internal combustion cars can't even comprehend and because there's no gas tank, it has a huge area of storage in the trunk below the main section which can hold a full size suitcase and the frunk is handy too.

The interior, as sparse as it is, does feel better a tad better than the golf but not by much. Despite not having buttons, the infotainment in the tesla is really well thought out and no matter what is on the screen, there's always a row of shortcuts across the bottom of the screen to quickly access common things like AC, heated seats, etc.

Like I mentioned in the video though, when you turn on auto pilot in the Tesla, they FORCE you to use the auto-high beams and the auto wipers and both are absolutely terrible and you can't disable them. It used to not be that way but they pushed that change via an over the air update.

When I got my Tesla though, no one else had one and it was a cool conversation starter but about 2 years into the lease, EVERYONE had them and they are so common now it feels like the vanilla ice cream of cars. It used to be special and then it wasn't.

I've yet to see another X3M driving around town. I saw 1 at the dealer in that tennis ball yellow and the guys at our local cars & coffee said they've seen a satin black wrapped one but that's it. No has a car like mine and I like that kind of exclusivity.

A Golf and a Tesla won't turn heads like the X3M.