New AWD Sports Hatchbacks and their Options – Value for money

By Lawrence Minnie 

The competitive realm of the performance hatch is still a hotbed of activity. Does adding options to these road-going racers add any more value than what they already have?

Performance hatchbacks have come a long way since the heady days of the late 80’s and early 90’s. Gone are the stiffly sprung suspensions and throaty roars of the monsters built for racing and in their place now highly tuned, computer controlled, precision instruments of speed.

The Europeans dominated in this segment for years, and continue to do so, as is shown by the three examples we’ll be using for our comparison today. All of them are German and all of them are all-wheel drive.

Now if speed and handling are not all you want out of your car, then you’ll be glad to know that all these vehicles follow the same German strategy of offering a base model with an extensive options list to make it your own.

Let’s take a look and see if those options add any more value to these performance beasts.

Audi RS3 Sportback

We begin with the 2.5 TFSI Quattro S-Tronic and its base price of R 905 952. We’ll add the RS styling package and gloss black detailing along with the red brake calipers - that’s an extra R44 000 in extras so far. Pearl effect paint is another R25 000, which seems a bit pointless if no one can see you because you’re going to fast, so we’ll opt for the Crystal paint at a mere (!) R15 000.

On the inside, we’ll start by adding a set of Nappa leather, diamond pattern S Sports seats at a respectable R9 079, and far as technology is concerned we’ll add MMI Navigation, Audi virtual cockpit, and a Bang and Olufsen Sound system. That brings our grand total to R 98 640 in options.

That means that RS3 now comes in at R 1 002 140.10

Mercedes Benz A45 AMG

Mercedes Benz’ competitor in this segment is none other than the A45 AMG.

Coming in with a base price of R805 807, the A45 still needs some work to make it properly appealing.

We’ll begin by adding the carbon fibre exterior trim at R 17 500, the rear aerofoil package at R 12 500, the AMG sports exhaust at R 9 800, red brake calipers at R 8000, and the adaptive damping suspension system at R 22 200.

Interior fitment sees the addition of AMG Sports seats and red AMG seatbelts at R 28 100 and R 6300 respectively. An AMG Dinamica and Nappa leather sports steering wheel set you back R 13 700.

As soon as we begin looking at technology for the interior, you can check off the COMAND Online system at R28 800, the Harmon/Kardon sound system upgrade at R 10 700, keyless entry at R 8 900, and the reverse camera for R 5 400.

This raises the retail price of the A45 to R 977 707 – that’s R171 900 worth of options.

Volkswagen Golf R

The evolution of the one that started it all, The Golf R starts out at a very reasonable R 665 500, before we begin ticking boxes to get just the right result.

A pearl paint job will set you back R 12 750, with some carbon detailing at R 5080 rounding off the appearance. For the interior, we select Nappa leather seats at R6 450 and then begin adding in technology.

The navigation and audio system will set you back R 30 000, and on the driver assistance side there’s adaptive chassis control, adaptive cruise control and semi-autonomous driving, keyless entry and a reverse camera, bringing the total to R 747 700.

There's not much else to spec on the Golf R which means that the options list is only worth about R 85 000.

Do you really need the options then?

In short? Not really, but they are nice to have. If you buy a vehicle of this nature you’re buying it for its performance credentials, but in reality, when you’re paying close to (or in excess of) a million Rand for a performance car, you are also going to want some nice toys to play with.

When it comes to this type of vehicle, it’s safe to say that potential buyers probably aren’t really interested in things like panoramic sunroofs and tow bars, so making sure that they are specced with essentials such as driver assistance and safety systems will ensure a proper resale value when the time comes.