Now this might not be the most fair thing in the world, a 11 year old car, with about 5k of mods into it vs a 4 year old car with 450 dollars of mods. But I just recently bought the MCS, to replace my e36, but I'm torn, but here is a comparison for anyone in the same position.

96 328is
152k
H&R Race
Tokico 5 way adjustable Shocks
Brembo Blanks
Hawk Pads
Flik Lex 17s
Kuhmo 711s 245/45
m50 manifold
Air intake
Sharked



03 Mini
70k
Alta 15% Pulley
BMP Air Intake



Comfort

I like the seats alot in the MCS, and all the controls are pretty good, while getting into the car is easy, but the e36 has vadars and those are really nice seats and the arm rest is a most to me. The e36 feels more like your in the sleek car that forms it self around you, while the mini is more daily driver 9-5 drinking my star bucks kinda feel.

Interior

After driving the mini the e36 just looks dated at first, but after you get out and drive it a bit more you see that everything has a reason and was very thought out in the e36, in the mini while it is nice looking seems its just trying to look good and not so much please you.

Exterior

My e36 is old, it has its chips and its dings, the mini is near flawless, yet there is just something timeless about the e36, if you have parked just the right way, I would say you would have a hard time finding a better looking car. But the mini just puts a smile on your face and looks like fun, while the e36 is just sexy, and has a great tail section, while the MCS is ugly from behind in my eyes.

Controls

MINI wins, hands down, the steering wheel feels great, the clutch is nice and short, with actually some feeling to it, the shifter while odd looking is nice and short. When I first get back in the e36 I feel like I'm driving a caddy with loose steering. But I must say the lack of arm rest is killing me on the MCS. But the rest of the car makes up for it, I don't feel like I'm going to break off the hood release or the door handles when I use them.

Motor

To me the MCS motor feels rough, I keep thinking something is wrong with it, my e36 has well over 150k on it, and by driving it I would think the motor has 10k on it compared. The funny thing about this, is the e36 has its check engine light on. Granted the m52 in the e36 is moded, so is the minis, but the e36 just feels like it has power all over the place, never letting you down. The MCS is powerful, but it seems to very, some times its all there but after it gets some heat soak, it looses hp.
They are close in the quarter mile though, if the mini hasn't gotten hot yet. My e36 has stock exhaust, which I love cause its nice and quite, yet fast as hell you rev it up all you hear is what sounds like a purpose built race motor in all its beauty, the mini has a sort of tuner exhaust sound, probably even more so when I "one-ball" the exhaust. Which isn't bad, but the e36 is much more of a calm, pleasing sound. But the sound of the SC changes all that as it whines past 5k.

"Twisties"

I always loved seeing that term on the BMW forums, but for lack of better words, I will use it. At sub 70 mph the mini owns, even with the run flats, I have a very clear understanding what the cars going to do and how its going it do it. I thought I was going to loose the feeling of getting the tail loose but the mini can do just that. With a slight whip it can slide out on you just a bit and its so much fun. But I do miss doing fish tails around slow corners, high speed slides that can be brought back in a split second are fun too. Above 70mph, not that you should ever take a corner above that speed, is where the e36 excels, its locked on the road and by then the steering doesn't feel so loose. At low speeds my e36 over steers alot, so you can't really be on the gas like you can with the mini, but then again when you get the lsd going with fwd you just keep going straight which isn't ideal on a corner. The mini also has a much faster corner exit speed because of the short gears and SC.

Brakes

The e36 by a long shot. 120 to 60 in almost no time at all, and 60-0 even better. The suspension on the e36 does help with this I'm sure, but the mini does have decent sized brakes for its size, and with 500 less pounds that is a plus, but it can't touch the heart stopping feel the e36 has, every time I do it, usually to scare a passenger, I stop 20ft earlier than I planned. Not to say that the minis are bad, there does seem to be almost no nose drop, but its just nothing special to me.

Daily Driving

Both are nice, in the e36 you feel sleek in your **** pit, with this sports car like feel, but every bad bump there is in the road is something I watch out for and nearly stop to go over, while the normal cracks in the road really aren't that bad. But it does tend to track very badly and find grooves in the road and just pull the car. Last night I was trying to show my girlfriend what I met and let go of the steering wheel, it turned left a bit then grabbed some piece of the road and cranked right to find the groove in the road which it stuck with. There is one poor road that is so beat down in the path that everyone drives that I don't need to even turn the wheel to go along with the corners it just kinda turns it self. The gas millage in the e36 isn't bad, when I do my normal, highway miles with flooring around certain turns and from certain stop signs, I get 26mpg, which isn't bad for a 11 year old car. As for the mini, I just feel like I'm moving on to the world of being married, with a professional/quirky view on life, yet when I want to get into the corners, its just like being in a go-kart. I know everyone uses go-kart, but thats really the best word for it. Its just a joy to drive, while it handles bad bumps very well and if the are little speed bumps it hops over them like a bunny, its the small ones that get annoying. You know all those little cracks on the road, the ones you can just hardly see, I feel all of those, as the cars short wheel base rocks back and forth, but you get use it. As for millage, when I took my parents for a trip to see my sister we got near 34mpg, but as soon as there out of the car and I don't have to worry about my mom peeing herself, I get more like 27. Which I wasn't to impressed by for a 1.6 liter, but what can I say, bmw makes a great motor, chrysler does not. (MINI uses a chrysler motor)

Conclusion

I think both cars are both a mix of e46 and e30. While the e36 is the evolution of the two, the mini takes the refinement and modern technology of the e46 and puts it with the tossablity of the e30. When I was younger, not that I'm old, I would say e36 all the way, but it is nice to have a newer car, that I can drive year round, but the e36 is cheaper, probably will last a long time, and easy to work on. I will miss the e36 when I sell it, but maybe I'll get a e46 330ci next year.....

 

well, ill be the first to agree to disagree. my sister had an e36 328 and i cant say i was a very big fan but she soon upgraded to an e36 M3 (4-door) and i liked that a lot better

 

there is little difference between the 328 and m3, basically more displacement, there is lsd, different front suspention, bearly, and bigger brakes, but if you swap out the manifold on a 328 its a whole different car, but then again you can do the same swap to the m3, and then its a great car