I just returned from a day at Supercar Sensations, a private company offering various riding packages including a Lamborghini Gallardo, Ferrari F430, Porsche Turbo, Aston Martin Vantage, BMW M3, Nissan GT-R and Mercedes C6.3 AMG.

All cars have steering wheel mounted paddle shift automatic transmissions, called by various names by each manufacturer. The cars are current models, with the Gallardo and Ferrari 2-3 years old.

I drove the Ferrari, Aston Martin, Porsche and Nissan. Each ride was 5-11 miles in length (longer rides in lower priced cars) on public roads. The cars were very interesting and back to back driving on the same roads made it easy to compare each car.

In a nutshell, if I could own any of these cars it would be the F430. The suspension is easily the best of the lot, and the car does everything well. The transmission was the best of the bunch, at least to me.

The Aston was the biggest disappointment. The transmission is the worst of all by a considerable margin - late to shift, hard to maintain revs, more of a GT than a sport ride. Despite a pretty interior, it's not in the same class as the other top end cars.

The Porsche surprised me as well, and not in a good way. When the turbo spools up, the front end rises noticeably. The rear end is planted, but the front end doesn't give a lot of confidence.

The Nissan is the "Best-Buy" without doubt. Incredible car, great acceleration, and highly entertaining, but to me, a bit too electronic. Almost like playing a video game, with electronic monitors taking over control in many situations. Despite that, there is nothing close to it for the money and with the exception of the F430 it would be my choice.

So what has all of this to do with a "Just-a-Cooper"? Simply put, after a day of high testosterone in the above cars, I took a 175 mile drive to get back home in my Cooper. The ride, which I had considered "jittery" over the last several months of ownership, seemed far less so compared to the Supercars. The stock 15" non run flat tires were far smoother than the supercars, and despite front wheel drive induced torque steer, the overall suspension of the Mini compared favorably with the Supercars. I actually preferred it over the Aston Martin. My ride home averaged 73 MPH, mostly in 6th gear (manual tranny) and returned just a tick or two under 40 MPG.

Is the Cooper a Supercar? No, it isn't, but compared to some of the best cars on the planet, the Cooper has remarkably little to apologize for. In a slalom run at speed, I think the base Cooper would best the Aston Martin, feel more responsive than the Porsche (light weight is a big advantage), and less "nanny-limited" by intrusive electronics than the Nissan. Only the Ferrari clearly entertained me more all the time, but at $280,000 for the F430 my Mini cost about the same amount as California sales tax on the Ferrari.

Overall, I'd rather have the Ferrari, or any of the Supercars, but as a competent, every day ride, the Cooper impresses me even more than it did before today.

 

Well said!!

 

oh boy, i've wanted to do one of those supercar days but one: too far away (thousands of miles) and two: too much $$.

 

Hey MotorMouth start saving your pennys. World Class Driving does a run in Hawaii.

http://worldclassdriving.com/

 

Yes, I agree well said. There isn't much out there that I'd give up my MC for.

 

The way I always say it is this, 'Mini's are by no means my favorite car, they are just my favorite that I will ever be able to afford.' Because if I were really rich, I think I would be bigger than Jay Leno. I would still of coarse have a collection of Minis!

 

Wow. That was very well written and very interesting. Just kinda makes me smile.

 

My father (who is also here on NAM) has had two 911s and a Boxster.
He says his Clubman S is just as much fun.

 

wow! too bad that's still a lot of pennies. Be tough talking the wife into it.

 

MINIs are my favorite car, if I were rich enough I'd think about getting a Ferrari, but I'm not sure how practical it'd be as a daily driver, so I'd keep the MINI.

 

When I went car shopping recently, I looked at a Porsche Cayman S, a BMW 650i and 335i, and the MCS. We currently own a BMW Z4 3.0si coupe. I drove the Cayman first and though that it was slightly faster than the Z4 but not enough to justify the cost increase. The 335 seemed like a sedan (it was, but I expected more from a BMW sedan). The BMW 650 was...well, almost sexual. The problem with it was the 14mpg rating on it. I drove the MCS last and thought it had the best combination of fun and sporty behavior along with quirky looks (I always have been accused of being "different".). Of course, the great mileage was a bonus. The MCS isn't as fast as the Z4 and the Z4 is a just plain sexy ride, but the MCS probably holds a curve as well or better than the Z4 so I figured it would work well for me.

 

Nicely written! I have just as much pride in my car as any Ferrari or Lamborghini owner! I recently went to Cars and Coffee down in Houston and parked Abby right next to a Lambo. I feel that she is just as beautiful and perfect for what I need.

 

Well maybe not.

Motormouth knows that I own one of these-


And if he comes to autocrossing events next season it's pretty certain that during one of the funrun sessions at the end of the day he'll get a chance to see what the fuss is all about.



So far I have about 53K miles driving my MINI. and about 1400 miles driving the GTR. Just got out of break-in so beginning to see what's possible.

Driving the MINI for daily driving is more fun. You can go full blast and hit 100% throttle (as measured on my scan gauge II) a lot and you make a bit of noise and because I have race suspension and good tires it's fun and well controlled.

Driving the GTR is silly fast. If you are not careful you can scare the pants off of other drivers that are not prepared. 0-60 in 3.2 seconds for the stock version is not a dream, nor 11.6 seconds for quartermile. Top speed is 193 plus.

On a freeway entrance if I hold the throttle at about 25% in four seconds I get to about 80 or 85 and have to brake to enter at a reasonable speed. It's a glimpse of what is possible. Speed limit is about 50 or 55 on most highways.

Mostly I do easy freeway driving at 55 and I get a ton of fast cars slow down to drive side by side. No need to go fast when that is the easiest thing you can do. I'm trying for an ave 30 mpg which I have done easily for highway cruising and in fact the best is 60 mpg in cruising with throttle at 5% or less. In most mixed driving I can get about 20-22 mpg per trip.

Yes, there are paddle shifters and you can drive fully automatic or manual. In traffic I'm happy to use automatic. Manual is also fine but you will burn more gas. One fun fact is with so much torque at low rpms you can use higher gears at low speeds. Using the automatic you are in 6th gear at 30-35 mph, it shifts for good mpg but if you hit the gas it downshifts and off you go. Over 400 HP and 400 Ft-lbs of torque in midrange rpms.

Yes, it's heavy at 3860 lbs but fairly nimble and it handles well. Not as tossable but pretty good in stock form and even better if you lower it and add some wider non runflat tires.

Yes, it's heavy into electronics but you can turn it on or off or just ignore the technical stuff and just drive. You can do no particular settings and it will be fine or you can adjust suspension, transmission, and traction control as you wish.

An no I have had no problems whatsoever except sometimes it rains so I usually wait for some clearer weather to go out for a drive.

So I do think that the MINI is easier to drive and likely more fun to drive just because you don't have to hold back and you won't scare old folks and little children. The MINI roars when you want it to while the GTR is mostly quiet with hints of raw power.

Nowadays mostly I fight with my son over who gets to drive the MINI. When I win he catches a ride to school. When he needs the MINI I drive the GTR to work.

I think there is room enough in my driveway for both MINI and Supercar.

 

the GTR is a beautifull car. Ive yet to see one on the road, but when I do. i'll be slowing down to cruise by the drivers side to admire it for a few clicks!

 

Yeah just don't pull out a camera and start clicking away while driving with your other free hand and one eye.

That's what one 350Z driver did to me on the freeway on the second day out.
He was on my left and I was ready to exit. I was at 50 mph and he slowed to my speed to get a few shots. I could see a hand and camera.

I do drive around town. I think there are only about 5 or 6 others out of 15 sold in the state willing to drive around. There is one driver with about 2100 miles so far, the rest are low miles.

If you see a red one, it's quite a site. Worthy of a look. There are no red ones in my state. I almost never see a Ferrari out or in my work parking lot ever. A rare 911 may show up now and then. One of my co-workers said that she pre-ordered a Karma Fisker for 2010. If she gets it the closest dealership may be in San Francisco. Then we'll go for a drive.

 

I have always considered my humble R50 Cooper to be an exotic.
Hope my recently ordered R56 MCS elicits the same feelings...

 

F1 transmissions are not "automatic" transmissions.

 

wow minihune..now i can say that i know someone who owns a GTR!!
i do wish tho you lived near me so i can pester you everyday to ride-a-long with you awesome car that is..
(that's a dream car..for me )

but i live in maryland and apparently my friend saw one driving on the highway..
no pictures to prove tho..

 

Very, very well said . . . the thing about my '06 cooper is that it has "character," which is not that easy to define. I think the styling is great, and it's one of the few cars that doesn't look like 2 or 3 others. The overall handling package is terrific - combo of precise steering, good stick, decent ride and "toss-ability." It's quick enough to be entertaining, but with 115hp, I can be entertained w/o jeopardizing my life, limbs or license. My other car is a BMW 330ci, and when I drive it I'm always struck by what a great all-around ride it is . . quick, quiet, good handling, comfortable, pretty . . . but after 4 or 5 days I'm always happy to trade off with the wife and get the Cooper back. Over 30mpg is just icing on the cake.