So I've had my 03' JCW R53 Mini S for about 10 years now. It's at it's power limit as far as cheap mods that make decent power....and I've done just about every mod I want to do to it at this point. It's my daily driver, and it's got right around 175K miles on it. It's been a great car.

So, a few months ago I decided to pick up a new "fun" car...something with more power, faster, and "more fun" to drive. So I picked up an 07' BMW 335i (twin turbo N54 motor).....I've put a few grand in suspension and engine mods in it, and now it's making around 400-ish hp, and 475-ish torque to the wheels. It's an absolute beats compared to my R53....and engine mods are much cheaper than the MINI, and give you much more HP per dollar spent. My plan was to sell the MINI after I got the 335i to where I wanted it. Well, it's there.....and I just can't seem to get rid of my MINI.

Sure....the raw power is fun to play with on the street, all that torque will break the rear tires lose in 1st, 2nd, and 3rd with easy.......but honestly, I like driving my MINI more. It just feels smaller, feels lighter, and it FUN. I can put my mini really hard around twisty roads, and other stuff....and I don't have to worry about it trying to kill me....so that's a bonus. With the 335i....it always feel like I want to go faster, but I just can't on public roads......it's great to have all of that power at your fingertips, but it stinks that you can't really use it. The mini has good power, and you can actually use most of it.

Anyone else have a big HP "fun" car....but still enjoy driving their MINI more? I always though people who said "driving a slow car fast is more fun than driving a fast car slow" where nuts...but now I know what they are talking about.

 

I have a FBO 135i prepped for HPDE use and I feel the same way, outside of going to a "HP" track I prefer the mini or our toyota 86. I also have a bmw 128i and I find it more fun than the 135i on most backgrounds because I can beat on it. The 135i's window of opportunity is so small due to the excessive HP/TQ it's hard to enjoy it.

I do enjoy commuting in the 135i, all that torque is fun on the freeway and in traffic, I hate commuting in either of my r53s

 

Yep, I know what you mean. I'm pretty sure that 135i has the same N54 motor as my 335i. Crazy power and torque is easy to get from them, but it's really hard to find a place to use it.

 

Yes same motor as the early 335i or the later 335is I wear out my rear tires 3x faster than the fronts, torque is a wonderful thing I wish my r53s had some

 

Yeah.....it's a completely different animal. If my R53 had even half the torque as my 335i it would be the perfect car.

 

My NA was way more fun to drive than my R53. Bolt on mods only, I probably wasn't getting 100hp to the rear wheels in that car.

For a dissenting opinion, my buddy DDs a C5 Z06 and a BRZ. He says the Z06 is more fun.

 

A few other quotes from years ago from guys who discovered just that.
"if you can't go fast with 90 HP, 900 won't help you."
and
"Anyone can drive a fast car, few can drive a car fast."
and
"...anybody driving slower than you is an idiot, and anyone going faster than you is a maniac."

 

For me, quick is better than fast. Had a Jag V-12. As the tach went up, the fuel gauge went down at the same rate. Rented a M3 covert in Florida. Felt like I was driving a boat.

 

Having driven both of those I came to the opposite determination, then I went and bought a 86. I can't stand driving vets, they should tick all the right boxes for me but I just hate driving them . I do like mustangs but not as much as lighter cars like the brz/86

 

I'll be honest, I have driven faster cars and don't find the need for much more power than my R50 has. The handling is so good that I don't care. Plus, there is something to be said for being able to hit 30 mpg in city driving. It also somehow manages to be slow but not ponderous to drive. My Prius C daily is not much slower 0-60 but just feels completely unresponsive in a way that not even my 3 cylinder 5 speed Geo Metro managed to achieve! Some cars are just designed to feel better than others. Now if I could only get the looks, performance and feel of the MINI with the reliability and operating costs of the Prius C all wrapped up in one car, I think i would have the perfect vehicle!

 

I just bought a 2015 F56 base Mini to replace my 2003 R50. The F56 is obviously a LOT faster than the R50. But, by seat of the pants impressions, the R50 FELT faster. In the R50, it would feel like I'm going 50 but when I looked at the speedo it was only 40 - and vice versa with the F56. 40 mph feels like 30. I think two major factors contributed to the feeling of greater than actual speed in the R50:

1. size of the car and how low it is to the ground
2. the smaller engine is always working harder and at higher RPMs

I love my 2015 F56 every time I get in it, but it does not have the sensation of speed that the R50 had.

 

early review of the Miata commented it made going the speed limit FUN! Had one for 12 years and it was a blast to drive. For a time, living near a good driving route with hills and twisties the garage held a 95 Miata, a (newish) 2002 MINI S and a 79 Mini ..... Driving the same route with all 3 cars gave great comparison ..... each had strengths and weakness ... all were a BLAST!

 

I must def be in the minority here then.
As much as I love my MC, it is not even on the same ecstasy planet as my Viper... even when driven slow.
Everything is relative as they say.
Troy

 

Yes, I owned many straight line cars with high HP, A 56 Chevy Belair with a D/Gas dragster engine putting out over 500Hp (in the 60's) and a 61 Corvette with a 420 HP 327 engine(came with a 283 mechanically fuel injected engine), that was not fast enough for me back then. I owned many Euro cars, as I went to high school in Germany and really loved the handling more that the Horse power, so in the long run, the Mini fits my needs and the roads around me are loaded with twisties and I can push my 06 R53 JCW hard, without it trying to kill me and faster that most cars that try to follow m in them! Power is only good for short thrills, while a handling cars. pleases you all day!

 

I've been driving my R53 for a year now and I love it.

My performance car before that was a 13 GT500 with 662 hp. I dropped a couple thousand in to the suspension to get it to handle better and put the power down more effectively. I enjoyed that car, but I wasn't driver enough to handle it. It taught me that it's more fun to drive a lesser car at its limit than to drive a car that could exceed my limits. With that much power, you could find yourself in kill-ya trouble with the slightest error. I can get plenty of thrills from my R53, or a well set up NA V8 in a Mustang.

 

I had a few V8's (400+HP) couldn't play with the gearbox as much as they would very quickly "exceed" the speed limit. Definitely fun having all that torque tho.
Wanted something light and fun this time so I test drove a Miata RF w/Bilstein before the JCW, Miata's needed mod'ing to fit my desires i.e. eliminate body roll. Test drove a Camaro 1LE also (had a V8 burr momentarily) that's a fantastic car.
As signature states, got a JCW, to me it was just more fun (and cute too).

 

well you have a clubman, while they are ok they do not feel/drive anything like a r53