Greetings!

In the September issue of Sport Compact Car magazine the MINI Cooper S is one of the top ten cars !! No big deal there until you start comparing performance and price. I was shoccked to find the base price of a Mitsu EVO III starting at 28 grand !! While the Subaru WRX starts at 24+K. The performance figures of these cars and the Neon SRT 4 are real impressive out of the box !!
However, for the price I could add 5 grand of Rands's mods at Mini Cooper Motorsport and blow their living doors off. I know that all of us MINI people really have the best of the bunch. Because at the end of the day the other guys are just driving a hopped up car -- were driving a MINI ! ! ! !!!!!
Best Regards,
Ron

 

You're right... the MCS really packs awesome big performance bang for the buck. Both the Evo VIII and WRX are mad performance cars capable of beating a stock MCS in straight line and wet performance, but their styling just isn't for me and their prices are crazy. I drove the WRX before buying the MCS and it isn't all that great. Fast off the line, but certainly doesn't handle like the MINI.
I'll have to check out the article. Thanks for the info Ron.

 

Hi Vince,
Thanks for the insight!!
BTW: I like you new signature photo - its FASSST !!

Ron

 

>>BTW: I like you new signature photo - its FASSST !!


haha what? a ///M MINI??

 

However, for the price I could add 5 grand of Rands's mods at Mini Cooper Motorsport and blow their living doors off.

I have driven both the works and the Evo and the EVO is just unbelievably fast, just a different league than the works regards to performance, but hard to beat any of the MINI's for handling......further note...guess Car & Driver next month will have a article called tuner's shootout among 5 or 6 4 bangers that tuners have done the works on......they all posted time trials on a very quick track and the works style MCS mods with many additional mods like brakes, suspension, reduced weight, rims, tires, etc.....and the MCS finished 2nd....to you guessed it the EVO, but should be a good read...don't think the WRX was included in the test though...

 

the base price of a Mitsu EVO III starting at 28 grand

forgot to add, the base price of the EVO is basically everything included which was pretty impressive...13" Brembo brakes, recaro sports seats, enkei 18" wheels, yoko tires, sport tuned suspension, LSD premium stereo with 9 speakers, etc...I was looking at a reg Lancer for my son and the salesman let me drive the EVO....damn, reminded me of my muscle car days whem i had a 440 Charger, speed ticket city.....but damn that spoiler is ugly, is that really needed..lol !

 

MINI 2 thread of this

 

I should have known to post it over here, more performance oriented people on MCO than MINI 2, but I was lazy.

 

I should have known to post it over here, more performance oriented people on MCO than MINI 2, but I was lazy.

I just read the mag this morning at a Starbucks, someone left it lying around. Good article on the best cars under $30K. It appears they used $30K, instead of $25K so they could include the EVO which is their favorite car...

But did you happen to read the EVO/German shootout. that was a hoot to read. The EVO destroyed the 911 CR4, BMW M3 & Audi S4. I wasn't surprised with the straight line performance as I have test driven an EVO, but it destroyed all 3 german cars in the slalom, fastest time they have ever recorded at 73.3 mph.

After test driving the Evo, I got out of the car and told the sales rep "damn, that's an M3 at half the price".....lol.....after reading the article, my seat of the pants evaluation was pretty close...it's 40% less than the M3...but over 50K less than the 911...amazing....hope the germans are taking notes...

 

The Evo is a fine performance car, but I doubt Porsche or BMW will lose many sales to them. All the EVO offers is performance and the occasional thumbs up from guys coming out of Vin Diesel movies.

The Mini in my mind offers more than just performance for the dollar. It's a styling statement and a connection to a different era. There is more to the M3 or the 911 than trying to make a race car street legal.

I think there is a lot more to the Mini as well as any owner of a Cooper will affirm. The car is still a masterpiece turning 8.4 second-sixties. The MCS is just a bonus of little more rocket.



>>But did you happen to read the EVO/German shootout. that was a hoot to read. The EVO destroyed the 911 CR4, BMW M3 & Audi S4. I wasn't surprised with the straight line performance as I have test driven an EVO, but it destroyed all 3 german cars in the slalom, fastest time they have ever recorded at 73.3 mph.
>>
>>After test driving the Evo, I got out of the car and told the sales rep "damn, that's an M3 at half the price".....lol.....after reading the article, my seat of the pants evaluation was pretty close...it's 40% less than the M3...but over 50K less than the 911...amazing....hope the germans are taking notes...

 

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The Evo is a fine performance car, but I doubt Porsche or BMW will lose many sales to them.

I don't think they will lose any sales as well, as the bimmer and porsche customer is not who Mitsu is after (people don't buy 911's for the performance just like they don't buy a Rolex to tell time)...they are after the under 30 crowd...under 30K car and under 30 years old....the crowd that can smirk that they can blow away those pricey german cars......what the Evo will do is put a real hurt on the WRX sales which is Mitsu's intention IMO...I would never buy one, but I was absolutely blown away by how fast and how well it handled compared to a M3...cheers

 

>> I drove the WRX before buying the MCS and it isn't all that great. Fast off the line, but certainly doesn't handle like the MINI.


The WRX is a drift car...when turning, you expect the rear end to kick out a bit. when just driving a little hard, it seems to be a rather poor handler, but if you haul ***, the car's *** end gets loose and the fun begins w/ alll wheel drive.

all that said. the MINI is more refined, more stylish, and sexier! =)