Hi everyone, i am saying hello to the community for my GF. She recently got into a confrontation with bambi, and bambi laughed all the way back into the woods as her 04 350z was completely totaled... She then contemplated what new cause to get. She was up in the air for a more grown up car... or a car with soul... and me being me... cannot let her pick a car with no soul, so she got a used mini.

She purchased a 05 Chili Pepper Red MCS auto with a white top. Pick it up yesterday from a very nice older couple in the Albany area of NY. Cute little car. Shes very happy with the car so far and is already planning on some minor mods to try to seperate her car from the crowd. BTW the mini is in great hands as my gf comes from a purely sports car backround.

93 red rx7
03 brickyard 350z
04 white 350z

I also drive a heavily modded 350z, and thought maybe a little bit of a review would be appreciated by some of the members on this site.

I drove the car about an hour down the mountains and highway. Also about an hour or 2 through city traffic. This is more of my first impression of the car atm. As i get more used to it I will post again on how I feel

#1 love the suspension setup on the stock mini. Very tight and feels very planted through turns and inspires confidence. i think they found a very nice point where you can have lots of fun, and not get punished during daily driving. In comparison to the Z, the stock mini feels much tighter, and honestly gives much more driver confidence as you push through turns. Yet i am not really used to the FWD and must say... it feels really wierd... having the car pulling you instead of pushing you through the turn.... hard to explain

#2 For a daily driver, the car has sufficient power. Being able to pick up speed comfortably as you merge into the highway, and for driving around town. Now coming from a Z... the car feels slow. I do realize its a smaller engine but, i am just comparing the 2 cars. The main thing to me is... when you are redlining through gears... the car seems to fall flat on its face as it hits past 5k rpms. It has a nice pep before that, but im not exactly sure why this is.

I know that for the Z, the top end of the RPM's were losing power cause of insufficient/inefficient air delivery to the motor. That is why the plenum (intake manifold) upgrade was so popular. I am very curious if there is such an upgrade for the mini that is cheap. Ty for any info.

#3 Paint/fit and finish of the car. Great paint... i dont konw if any of you guys really appreciate this at all but wow. lol the Z literally has a paper thin paint job. Any thing that touches the Z will leave a mark, or a chip. The Mini paint job seems very nice and thick, and has survived 3 years very very very nicely. I am honestly impressed.

Fit and finish of the interior is definetly a knotch higher than the Z. I honestly prefer the interior placement of the Z's but that may be from using the Z for 4 years so far. I interior of the mini is very nicely done and seems to use some high quality parts. main thing that i hate about the interior... yes yes I may seem like im being picky.... is power window placement... such a pain the a33....

For now this seems about all i should write about since I dont have enough seat time in the mini cooper. I have a few issues with the car, which I was hoping maybe someone here could answer for me.

The automatic on the Mini seems to have some issues.... It constantly downshifts for some reason with even the slightest depress of the accelerator. I was hoping someone with more experience might be able to give me some ongoing issues with the automatic on the mini

wow... wasnt expecting this to be such a long post... im not even gonna go back to proof read this since im lazy... lol anyways thx guys. First engine mod that is planned will be a 15% pull with a tune in about 2 months.

If there are any issues with the car in general that I should keep my eyes open for any help would be greatly appreciated.

 

Welcome! I've got a few friends around with modded Z's. Nice cars, and I considered one before my Mini. My dream car is still an old Datsun 280 that I will build one day....

 

hey welcome to NAM. ill not be a jerk here, but politely mention that many of us here have had cars way faster than a 350Z with the 3.5. I had the option of buying alot of cars with my money but ultimatley chose the mini because its different. Once my friends got over the initial "you bought a Mini?!" it turned out to be one of my favorite cars ever purchased. Im proud to head out at night with my friends in their E39 M5 and 335i and S4 and tear up the highway. True that they will take me on straight out acceleration but the Mini is right up their butts on tight roads. The E90 335i handles very well and is a challenge but cannot eat up the turns like a mini. When you compare your R53 to your "superior" 350Z it makes some people a little gun shy. you called the mini "cute" but ill put dollars to donuts there is some R53s here on NAM that will take the 350Z. as a matter of fact a few months back my boss ( who drives an S2000 ) went to mid-ohio with a local GP owner and he said the guy in the GP was beating Porche GTs around the track! Long story short is many of us will take offense to our cars being called "cute" but im sure you didnt know. I used to think they were "cute" as well; until i started to really drive it and started modifying it. I realize that the potential is pretty amazing for my car. with relatively little money ( in perspective ) for what your trying to do, there are people here on NAM running crazy HP/Torque numbers. Don't get me wrong here the 350Z is a sweet ride. i almost bought one a few years back but comparing the two cars doesnt make sense. your talking about pitting a 1.8L SOHC supercharged chrystler engine against the VQ35DE ( 3.5 ) 350Z motor. cmon man. dragstrips are not what this car is made for. Im happy for you in purchasing a mini and wish you all the best. welcome to NAM a place full of information and people willing to tell stories and show you the "modding way" but watch the c word .

As far as your questions go Mini does have some issues with CVTs and Automatic transmissions but i wouldnt know, i happily drive a stick. try the search option for auto trans problems. as far as modifying goes happy to hear your going to do a few things, you wont believe the difference. a 15% pulley is the best bang for the buck when your starting out and is a very safe mod. let us know how and what you do to it in the future.

 

I didn't really get the impression that he thought the Z was vastly superior, but then again sarcasm and tones of expression are hard to interpret over the net.

 

ummm... yah...??? the only part where i said the Z was better was in straight line acceleration... and I said the Mini was much tighter and seemed better in corners...? im not sure why you are getting all defensive..

I mean... i dont feel like getting into a pissing fight but my Z runs low 12s... but thats not what i was comparing it to. I was just saying stock for stock, straight line the Mini felt slow. I wouldnt have told the GF to buy a mini if I didnt htink it was a great car overall. I think you for some reason are over compensating....

 

now see, i simply tried to politely ( without insults ) show you that some people here dont like their minis being called cute. i then tried to give you a little of what i know for your questions. I welcomed you here and wished you all the best.
i just dont think comparing a 350Z and a mini makes sense. lets compare the 350Z with an E60 M5. doesn't make sense.
Im glad you like the mini and hope you get to realize all its potential, and if i was compensating i would have bought a huge truck.

 

i do realize the potential ^^ thats why I will be the one researching the performance mods and modifying it.

 

bhk1004, welcome.

I didn't read your post and think you were trying to start trouble, contrary to what others might have misinterpreted...

I say, welcome; you're now among the converted.

Yes, the best bang-for-the-buck mod is the pulley. There is also the obvious, and easy to install cold-air-intake and cat-back exhaust combination, which helps that newfound boost that the pulley gives you.

After bigger injectors, custom dyno/ECU tuning is also really helpful to round it out. After that, you really have to get into the inside of the engine to see much more gains. Head, pistons, camshaft, etc.

Any of these mods are talked about ad nauseum here on NAM, within hundreds and hundreds of posts... Use that search function!!!

Good luck!

Oh, and BTW, can't help you regarding the automatic. Sorry.

 

BHK - Welcome to NAM and enjoy the MINI with your GF. I thought your post was great. Some folks get more defensive over these cars than over criticisms of their children.

 

Welcome!

All I can say about the MINI Auto is that like almost every auto out there with a torque converter, it likes "Gear Searching". The 6-Speed and a competent driver will always best the transmission logic for picking the right gear.

 

yes true... but my gf has a 100 mile commute a day she really wanted to get a stick.. but honestly its just 2 tiring for her

And thx for everyone welcoming ^^ i can already see that this car is gonna be a blast for my gf and me... i already find myself stealing the keys from her =D

 

Excuses excuses... . I used to commute 70 miles a day in LA Traffic... 3 hours a day just driving to and from work, I'd probably kill myself if I was stuck driving an auto...

 

Well atleast I know I have good girl... only regret she has on this car is that its an auto. She even taught me how to drive stick on her rx7 (which btw is a money pit... dont recommend it to anyone unless thier pockets are deep =D)

 

I also recently got an 05 mini. I traded in my old 06 Mustang GT, and all i can say is im sad i didnt do it any sooner. Minis are so much more fun to drive than cars that go fast in a straight line. My Stang did 0-60 in 4.7, so it was fast, but that is the only aspect that is better than the mini. Everything else, the minis got i beat (probably because someone used their brain to design it)

 

I demand Pics of said Z!

 

1. i call my mini cute because its cute as f.ck ; p
2. get a 6 speed and you will have full control, period.

 

Welcome to NAM, I hope to see more of you on here!

The power window switch placement is a throwback to the original Mini which had similar switch placement. I thought it was a bit awkward at first, but now I think it is weird how it is done with other cars. I really like the set-up.

There is a lot of the historical attributes of the original Mini worked into the new MINI (and yup, spelling matters, the new MINI is spelled with all caps). I enjoy reading about the original Mini and seeing how much of it is bred into my MINI.

 

oh yes, i forgot to mention, i LOVE the middle console. window buttons and door locks etc. it is soo clean not having any controls on the doors. : )