After contributing to and seeing a number of threads / posts regarding noise levels of various mods, a few comments have led me to ask the following - do rumbling exhausts and louder intakes create the perception of MINI owners joining the "Super Street" crowd? I will admit that I am 36 and have really enjoyed modding my car. I never had the desire to touch previous cars I have owned - Celica, Accord, GTI. But this is different.

And owning a Cooper, I realize that my mods may make little or no power (although my car performs better than stock on the dyno) So am I just as guilty as the guys in their Civics and coffee can exhausts when I am at WOT on the highway passing somebody?

Is the MINI (MC or MCS) going to be grouped in with the rest of the import scene? Or will it be seen as "outside" of that circle due to the BMW bloodlines and past heritage?

sorry for the length here....

 

Thats a good question. Could make a case either way. I have never looked down on the "Ricers" for their mods although they do seem to be inclined to go more Over The Top than the Mini folks. I guess we all have our own little quirks. Don't think the Mini Modders can be classified with the Ricers any more than the Hot Roders, Classic Car guys, etc. We are the same in many ways yet, different in many ways.

 

>>After contributing to and seeing a number of threads / posts regarding noise levels of various mods, a few comments have led me to ask the following - do rumbling exhausts and louder intakes create the perception of MINI owners joining the "Super Street" crowd? I will admit that I am 36 and have really enjoyed modding my car. I never had the desire to touch previous cars I have owned - Celica, Accord, GTI. But this is different.

Although it is possible to get a rumbling exhaust (Magnaflow or Borla Race with headers) there are so few MCS owners in my area that have this combination (like zero) it doesn't seem likely that many people will be exposed to that level of MINI tuning. Most MINIs are left stock, a few are upgraded with modest exhausts and most of the headers are going on JCW kit MCS which is a quiet exhaust system. Simply put there is no/little perception of rumbling MINIs because there are few to be heard. Whereas about 3 or 4 times a day I hear very loud Hondas from even a block or two away. Louder intakes are minimal noise compared to exhausts.

>>And owning a Cooper, I realize that my mods may make little or no power (although my car performs better than stock on the dyno) So am I just as guilty as the guys in their Civics and coffee can exhausts when I am at WOT on the highway passing somebody?

While it is true that the MC has limited power gains no matter which upgrades you do, there is enough real power gain to have functional improvement. Personally I don't think you are guilty of anything as long as you drive responsibly. Certainly you are no where near as obnoxious as a noisy Civic that is going slow or fast.

>>Is the MINI (MC or MCS) going to be grouped in with the rest of the import scene? Or will it be seen as "outside" of that circle due to the BMW bloodlines and past heritage?

I've been to events with the British Car club, the Eurocar club, the MINI club and the BMW Car club in my area and while I think the MINI fits in with the import scene it has a rich heritage and tradition thanks to the original mini and that is what sets it apart from all others. Remember the classic mini sold 5.4 million cars, it just never really caught on in the US. So far the MINIs have been accepted at each event and all is cool. I haven't been to a Honda club or Subbie club event though-might need NOS (twin tanks) or turbo upgrade before I go.

 

I actually went to a Scooby WRX dyno event my cousin organized. Got lots of questions regarding the MINI, dyno guy wanted to throw it on and see what it could do. It still gets quite a few looks from the young import guys - they tend to look at the wheels for the most part.

 

>>I actually went to a Scooby WRX dyno event my cousin organized. Got lots of questions regarding the MINI, dyno guy wanted to throw it on and see what it could do. It still gets quite a few looks from the young import guys - they tend to look at the wheels for the most part.

dandp,
I think they could easily appreciate that you have a much better than stock MC. Nice wheels are a universal thing.
Shucks you could have dynoed your MINI!

I did go to an SCCA autocross just to watch and parked my MCS. While I was out walking the course to learn more my MINI was attracting a crowd that was checking out my "non stock parts". I don't think they were thinking cute. There were a fair amount of WRX and STI at that event.

 

I've actually dyno'd it twice. Would have been interesting to see the difference on a different brand of dyno.

 

Great topic, dandp.

The wife wonders where I'm headed with my mod-enthusiasm.

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MINI: Best horse for the buck!

 

from my perspective, a car with performance mods that coincidentally
result in louder tone are 'cool' mods as long as the performance
differentiates from a stock car by a big margin.

if not, it becomes a dressup mod. overkill performance mods for the
street are also dressup mods imo.

dressup mods are by no means a bad thing. the car just needs to be
balanced. out of balance cars are usually called 'riced' and this is
not the direction we want to head with our MINI's.

how much louder, how overkill the mods are is really a subjective thing
so it really depends on your tastes and goals how you want to have
your car classified. I like to classify my mini as BONE STOCK because
for the street, the MCS does not require any futher mods based on my
experience modding other cars in the past. it is a well balanced car.
what it needs is a good MINI driver and that's where im modding myself
on this car

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03MCS IndiBlue/Blk