Owning a car is more than just how powerful it is and how it handles on the road. You also need to consider reliability, after sales service, cost of maintenance, availability of spare parts, repair time and ultimately resale value. You can have a car which is a pleasure to drive but poor reliability compounded by bad after sales service and long repair time can turn ownership into a nightmarish experience.
I've done research on the 3 most popular Conti cars in our market, namely VW, Ford and Peugeot and unfortunately none of them can be recommended for the average Malaysian wage earner who does not a spare car or lots of time to spend in service centres. But if I am forced to choose between them I would choose in order of preference Peugeot>Ford>VW.
I choose Mazda 3 because my research indicate that it does not have any serious problem (keok-keok sound when going over bumps does not qualify as serious), reasonably good after sales service, no horror stories of months in the workshop waiting for parts, reasonable cost of maintenance and a good complement of safety features. RV is lower than T and H but far better than Conti cars.
Of course your priorities may differ. If your foremost priority is cornering fast then by all means go for a Conti but go in with your eyes open because the ownership experience is very very different from a Jap car.