Ok, in simple man's terms... how quick would you say the MCS really is? Any street racing experiances?

 

Well if you are buying the Cooper S to be quick in the straight line (street racing) in stock form you'll be disappointed. Neither car is a stoplight queen.

The real place the Cooper S and the Cooper shine are in the curvy mountain roads. I had a great time in mine at the local BMW CCA autocross too.

BTW, I'll move this thread from BtB to racing and competition.

Dave

 

0 to 60 in 6.9 seconds seems fast to me. A BMW 740il does it in 5.9 sec and costs $50,000 more.

 

no offense Mike, but that is a bad comparo. The mini doesn't have a big engine or a huge turbo (too much tubro lag, anyways) so it isn't going to "smoke" anybody as IS. BUT... add some stuff here and there and whalla! A fast mean conering (ultimate driving) machine. You can get a crappy (sorry, i just hate dodge) Dodge Neon SRT-4, that is a tubrocharger car that goes 0-60 in 5.6secs. Pretty impressive since it is only 20k, but it can't handle and it is a Dodge. :smile:

 

npartist,
I don't care for Dodge either, but remember, we're now driving cars with Dodge (Chrysler) engines. In fact I hear that the Euro Neon and PT Cruiser will be available with the non-suped 1.6 MC engine as a base level. 115 HP towing the PT Cruiser doesn't sound very fun. See this page under "Engineering"
links"MINI News

Vince

 

Dodge, smodge. There seems to be such a buzz / concern amongst import car owners about the Dodge Neon SRT-4. I say hey, if you don't care how a car looks or how it handles, go for it and do as many burnouts as your little heart desires in your neon. But in all honesty, if I wanted a cheap as hell car that could kill most cars on the street, I'd buy a used mustang 5.0 for about 8 grand and put NOS, and a paxton supercharger on it and run high 12's all day long until the engine blew up. But being that I am not in it for just the numbers (don't get me wrong, I'd love to be able to do a 5.6 in my MCS) but instead i look towards other values:class, heritage, smile inducing looks, and something that represents another way of approaching the same question (how to build a fun sub-compact). So I say, if you want to be "that guy" with the yellow SRT-4 with a big nasty fin and wanna be racing stripes on your sooped up neon, go for it, but when you pull up next to me at a stop light playing anoying techno music and reving your engine, don't expect me to give you the time of day.

 

>>0 to 60 in 6.9 seconds seems fast to me. A BMW 740il does it in 5.9 sec and costs $50,000 more.

The 0-60 rating is only an average that is taken while the car is drivven by an experienced racer. I don't think many ametures, like myself, will see those type of numbers. I have raced many cars with more horsepower and still won. I think racing is probably 70% driver and 30% car, thats all IMO though.

Cheers

 

my question is how much 0-60 time is shaved-off when you add say 10Hp...15....etc. Do any of ya'll know. It can stare at a dyno with a 13 Hp increase at the wheels all day without knowing how much it helps 0-60.

 

I have found from my experience driving on road tracks that the best handling cars have better lap times than the cars that only have impressive 0-60 or 1/4 mile numbers. I've been on the track with some very fast american rwd muscle cars that would kill me at a stoplight, but absolutely cannot hang with me at all if there is any sort of turning involved.

I guess I prefer a competitive situation where the driver and not the car determines a winner, however my time on the track is only for pure pleasure with very little competitiveness involved beyond the day's bragging rights.

One thing I have learned though, is that no matter what car I drive, if I am a good driver I can really surprise a novice driver in a top notch car. I also know that no matter how well I drive any car, there will always be drivers with greater skill and cars faster than me.

I have never met anybody who is a regular stoplight drag racer who actually was a skilled and trained driver beyond their ability to mash a pedal to the floor. The most skilled and intelligent drivers know that the streets are a very dangerous place compared to a race track.

_________________
~Yucca Patrol~

2003 MCS, BRG/W on the truck to my dealer!

"Good judgement comes from experience, and experience comes from bad judgement."