Hey guys, this is my first real post here.

I come from a 2003 Lancer Evolution VIII with a Vishnu v390 kit. My Evo had about 350whp (on a DynoJet) and was a blast to drive. I took it several times to The Dragon with a local Evo group here in Atlanta. The Evo was a great car, but over the years it started to become very expensive to maintain. $800 tire changes every year, synthetic oil every 3000 miles, 17 miles per gallon, $3.00+ for a gallon of gas, and you start to get the idea. I figured when I was spending over $200 a month in gas it was time to make a change.

I first looked at a 2007 Civic Si. It was nice, the interior was ok, but it was just lacking the power that I had been used to with the Evo. I thought about GTI's or Mazaspeed3's, until one day my coworker mentioned a Mini in a story she was telling a friend. I thought to myself, "I've never considered one of those!" I started doing some research online on various car sites and message boards. I went to a dealer close to where I live and took a test drive. My wife and I were instantly hooked. It got great gas mileage. The MCS had the down low torque that I was accustomed to and was pleasantly fast enough for my cravings. It handled the turns with great ease. Plus it was turbocharged and I knew that the potential for mods was there. Can't beat forced induction

After a few snags over the past month or so I finally got my 2007 Cooper S last week. I've been having too much fun driving to post. I went down to Mini of South Atlanta with the intent on placing an order for a MCS with the mods that I wanted. While walking around the lot I found a white one with most of the options that I wanted, though, without sport suspension and cold weather. What really surprised me the most was the redwood leather. I was tempted to get the leatherett, but the real leather was so nice and smelled so good. I ended up driving my MCS home that afternoon.

I'm not sure what mod route I plan on going with. I have thought about going the suspension first. Maybe the JCW suspension, or just the rear sway bar for starters. I'm hoping that I can convince my local mechanic at Dyno4mance to give Shiv a call so that hopefully they can get the Proceed rolling for the MCS. Shiv did great things with the XEDE and the Evo and I know the same can be done with the Proceed and the MCS. Shiv comes about twice a year to Dyno4mance to tune Evo's, STI's, and 335i's so they have a very good business relationship.

Here's a pic:



If you want to see more, click here: http://picasaweb.google.com/tritiumn2/MiniCooperS

My old Evo: http://picasaweb.google.com/tritiumn2/EvolutionVIII

 

If my MINI experience is worth anything, you are in for a lot of reliability and a lot of fun....welcome to NAM, and good luck with whatever mod path you take...

 

Welcome to NAM!

Great color combo! My personal fav.

Can't wait to get an R56

 

Welcome to the red leather club. I should see mine in a week. The longest week known to man. Well at least this man

 

Welcome to NAM, you have a lot of prior exposure and appear to have a plan.

Nice PW/B, take your time and add the mods you want a step at a time. Then you will know what works, makes you happy and what does not.

I will have to check out your Picasa. Are you planning track fun or lots of time on the Dragon?

 

Welcome to NAM! Good thing you heard of the MINI... like you, I never even considered the MCS.

Sweet EVO, and even sweeter MINI

 

Welcome! Great color choice

Make sure you check out this thread:
https://www.northamericanmotoring.co...ghlight=pepper

 

modern day muscle car! that gets over 30 on the highway. just plan fun too. minis rule. you are going to love your mini like a first born child. welcome to the mini world.

 

Nice color choice! Congrats and welcome.

 

Thanks for the comments guys!

 

Congratulations! Glad to have you aboard the NAM and PW/B express!

Agree with jw34's recommendation -- get thee over to the Pepper White Peerage and get yourself a number. We need you.

 

thats the color combo I have decided on looks awesome and saves 500 greenbacks

 

There are some threads here about the Proceed if you search, they kind of died off. Alta makes a nice ECU, there are tons of threads about it and they post almost daily so I'm sure they could answer any questions you have about modding, also they have lots of Dyno's to back up their info

 

hey, I was in the same boat as you. I had an 06 STi 350hp over 6k in mods. I started to drive further away for work. I didn't want to run the car into the ground since I loved it to much. So I got an 07 copper S. Total 180 for the STi. I miss the power and and total road domination with it!! But with the cooper I will save bags of money. Better gas mpg more options and no need to mod. There are a few things I have to get use to like wheel spin, a lack of awd and no 4.5 sec to 60. But now that I have a good daily driver I can get a project car. Im thinking mk4 supra or Z32 TT like I had a few years ago.

 

The Unichip is great and all, but I like the flexibility of being able to connect to the Proceed using my laptop and turning down the boost if need be for the winter months or the ability of my local tuner to tune for my mods on a given notice without having to send it in. I had that ability with the XEDE piggy-back in my Evo. It was great being able to switch between multiple maps for drag racing or summer and winter maps.

I understand that Vishnu can be a little slow on product releases. We went through the same thing with the Evo and the Evolutionm.net forums. It's usually worth the wait when they do release it.

 

Awesome car. Welcome to the forum. Your story sounds a little similar to mine. I also had a mini in mind to order, but upon my trip to the dealership I ended up driving away with Nicodemus. Though he's a different color than I was initially wanting, I have absolutely no regrets. He came equipped with some very nice features, more so than I was planning, so I didn't mind.

Have fun with it!

 

Congratulations, tis gorgeous!!! Definitely gotta vouch for PW/B.



I also wasn't even considering the MCS while doing my car shopping; was pretty much set on a GTI or MS3. Sooo glad the MINI randomly came across my radar (can't even remember how) and the rest is history.

Definitely check out ALTA for mods. They have a pretty good selection and all top notch.

 

Gorgeous car, and great Karma as well, since it seems like it was meant to be yours. I didn't spring for the leather, but it is heavenly~ with 2 boys, I'll get leather someday if I really need it!

 

here's one to consider...get the jcw aero kit and work up fro there, with blackout as you like it and nice wheels. The biggest need is to lower the car off of it's pedestals and stiffen the suspension so it can apply the power already on the car. Lighten the wheels and you'll get rid of torque steer. Best of luck...

 

Very cool! Welcome to the club!

 

I've got 14 lb. Rota RB 16x7 running 205/55-16 Pirelli P-Zero Nero M+S tires and I've still got torque steer.

 

I have the 215 45 zr 17 Goodyear Eagle F1 All Season and 17 x 7.5 SSR Type C which did away with my torque steer. I don't know why. Guess it is the larger tire.

 

I have the LSD and haven't noticed torque steer all that much. Then again, I am still breaking it in with less then 500 miles and have not driven hard yet.

 

It has been said that if you eliminate all wheel spin you would eliminate torque steer. I don't know whether that is true or not.