I almost bought a Mini Cooper S back in 2/07, but decided to get the Mazdaspeed3 because of the extra room in the front and rear seats in the MS3. I've been very happy with the Mazda, especially the 265hp and 6spd manual. I still like the Mini a lot and may get one someday...

matt. new car? yawn....no surprise there ;) (hahahha, congrats dude. i like the mini)

Here's the best I can do for pictures because I'm too lazy to take any right now. After a little research, I've found that my car has sport seats and the sport package, which is a bonus.

http://i122.photobucket.com/albums/o.../IMAGE_100.jpg
http://i122.photobucket.com/albums/o.../IMAGE_101.jpg
http://i122.photobucket.com/albums/o.../IMAGE_103.jpg

Pics are from a BMW club drive last Sunday. I spent most of the trip following a Z4 M Roadster or a 400 whp LS1 240Z. I'm happy to report that the Mini is very impressive on the curves, but on the straights......not so much. It's really an impressive car in the twisties, I was able to pretty easily gain ground on the others even with my wife yelling at me to slow down. The shifter and steering are nearly perfect and the pedals are excellent for heel-toe downshifts. But when the road straightened out, it was all over.:) Still, for a car that is also pleasant to drive daily and can get 37 MPG on the highway, I'm damn impressed. All it really lacks is another 60 HP or so, the Cooper S must be a pretty perfect car.

I loved my JCW MINI Cooper S. It has 205 HP and I weighed it myself and it tipped the scales at 2640 lbs. Not shabby, BUT, I always contended that my JCW needed another 50 HP to be a menace on the track.

I had tracked it a couple of times and found that it would whip serious butt in the braking zone and in the turns but as soon as things straightened out anything with serious HP would walk it and at DE's the ones holding you up in the turns would NEVER let you by on the straights choosing to gun it and repeat the holding you up routine over and over and over again.

I miss my JCW a lot, it was a really fun car and that supercharger whine was intoxicating.

Dump the stock rims and get a set of Kosai K1's for it with some aggressive tires, that alone was a huge change in my MINI.

Man I miss that car...... :(
http://i6.photobucket.com/albums/y21...mewminisig.jpg

I had a 03 S and loved it, excellent car.

A friend just bought a new one and I agree about the 'new' interior. The center speed was changed to include the radio and is huge. I guess it takes a while to get used to. The early versions were quirky but the interior was quite functional and looked damn good.

lol..my little brother bought a miata today...my sister in law isn't gonna like hearing this..he's also a really nice dresser! :p:D

Its the wrong color Matt. I'd talk my dad into coming and looking but he isn't in for silver or hardtop it would seem.



OTOH If you come across a red or blue S2 Cab give me a shout. He came to his senses and backed away from the Miatas.

My wife has this sticker on her Mini:
http://www.aestheticreations.net/Sti...size-decal.jpg

I would own one right now if they hadn't dicked me around at the dealer. They didn't have one with LSD. I said fine, lets order it. They said cool, but the special financing might not be there when it was delivered. Apparently, you can't lock in the financing prior to delivery, even with a deposit. So I went home dejected. And then I started looking at old BMWs, and now I have an old bmw with a bunch of parts on my livingroom floor and my wife is beginning to question my judgement.

Minis are shockingly good handlers. Its amazing just how much a car can do when it doesn't weigh 4000lbs.

Your E30 should be sub 3000 lbs as well. You made a good choice, sort that sucker out and take it to a PCA event and you will love it.

You really need to take it up to the mountains in Nov with me.

Well, I got the seat 99% done, then on to the next project- the back left window.

But enought off topic- back to Minis.

You're assuming I'm going to keep this one. Silly Jim..........:cool:

Then your doing it wrong, you MUST drop money on a nice set of rims so the next guy makes out better. If I count the cars I have been through in the lst 5 years its almost stupid..... well.... it is stupid. I have been changing them like... well.. you.


<embed src="http://www.metacafe.com/fplayer/2790196/hendrick_mini_shopping_cart_gauntlet.swf" width="400" height="345" wmode="transparent" allowFullScreen="true" allowScriptAccess="always" name="Metacafe_2790196" pluginspage="http://www.macromedia.com/go/getflashplayer" type="application/x-shockwave-flash"> </embed><br><font size = 1><a href="http://www.metacafe.com/watch/2790196/hendrick_mini_shopping_cart_gauntlet/">Hendrick MINI- Shopping Cart Gauntlet</a> - <a href="http://www.metacafe.com/">Click here for another funny movie. </a></font>

Nah, doesn't add up. Good deal for the next buyer, not for me. Fixing the little things on my cars does pay off, as I can sell them for a good price. But spending money on mods not only doesn't pay back, it narrows down the potential buyers. If I sell this Mini to some college girl that thinks it's cute, she's not going to care how light the K1s I installed are.

As an example, thus far I've pressure bled the brakes with ATE super blue, replaced the wiper blades, and detailed the hell out of it. I still need to order an air filter and a new seat bottom cover, as the passenger side has a tear. At that point it will be a super clean car that is 100% mechanically, caught up on maintenance with service records, clean title in hand, no accidents and original paint, and ready to sell.:)

I like my mini a lot. Great little commuter andlots of fun to drive. It's a keeper for now.