Honestly The MS3 was the only other car that I was considering (Test Drove the GTI and it was ok but the power delivery was almost TOO linear and a little boring. Besides which, I have NO faith in VW service and reliability) and it had it's advanteges in some ways. These included: Lower MSRP (not that that was really a concern as I paid cash anyway), extra gear in the tranny, nicer/richer interior materials IMHO, more options available (Xenons, sunroof, leather, navi--no nav. on Canadian WRX's), more power stock and better stock handling (I'm sorry but Subaru should be embarassed by how pitiful the stock sway bars on these cars are--RalliTEK bars were my FIRST upgrade). A few things swayed me towards the WRX--first I never even got to test drive an MS3 because the 1 dealership that had them in stock in town wanted me to put down a deposit before they would let me drive it!!! They were reluctant to even let me sit in it.
Now, you have to understand that the Canadian market only gets 250 of these cars of the 5000 or so that come to North America, but come on, WTF!! I'm a serious buyer, not a test pilot, am paying cash for the entire purchase, have test-driven the competition already and know more about the car than the fucking idiot trying to pressure me into buying it before I've even sat in it, let alone driven it. Conversely, my Subaru dealer was an awesome guy who I had been dealing with for since last April when the 07's were still available. I decided to wait and check out the 08's first. He called me as soon as an '08 model WRX had arrived on the lot, which was back in July for those of us in Canada. He let me take it out immediately and was just overall, a stand-up guy that I would recommend and buy another car from unlike that douche-hat at the Mazda dealership!!
Other resons that I bought the REX were: More aftermarket support, a more supportive/close-knit enthusiast community and oh yeah, AWD!! I live in a place where it's winter for 6-7 months of the year and I want to be able to use my performance car's performance!
But seriously...Subaru NEEDS to firm up this car's suspension a little: Stock, the MS3 eats it's lunch in terms of body and chassis control.