hello, im in the market for a car that will serve primarilly for road trips from southern cali to northern cali and once a year trips to south dakota. most of the trips will be me driving solo. the rest of the time i will drive the car on the weekends with my wife and two young daughters.

i really dont want to spend any more then 25k

i want a car that can get up and go pretty good around town and at highway speeds (90mph?)

i want great braking and handling.

basicly, i want a little car i look forward to getting into,,,,what mini would you choose?

 

Go with the Cooper S or the Clubman S. The braking on both is exceptional, you barely have to touch the pedal, plus, the 1.6L turbo will easily get you to 90 mph...or more. Go test drive one, you won't look back.

 

I say clubman, everyone can always use a lil' extra room, especially with two young girls.

 

the cooper s will take care of you well, but i agree the clubman s has more space for the family man. go get one you won't regret it

 

A Cooper would do all that, a Cooper-S would do it faster. The Cooper has pretty good brakes, the S has beefier brakes as you need to stop from faster speeds on average. Its difficult to configure a Cooper-S for under $25k, but its pretty easy to get a Cooper under $25k.

 

cooper/clubman. both have plenty of power better gas mileage stable at speed, easy to get under 23000!!!

 

With 2 kids, you'll definitely want the clubman, the $2k extra for the S is a screaming deal for what you get, but it doesn't leave you a lot of room to stay under $25k. Spend some time playing on the configurator so you're familiar w/ the options & expenses, then go test drive. Some options really don't show up well online, like the leatherette seats, they're brilliant in person.

 

Get a fully loaded used '08 Cooper S with about 8k miles on it.
It should be right at your price point of about $23k or so.

 

From your post, I think you'll want the space of the Clubman, and the power of the S. Not so sure about the $25K, though.

 

Listen, I love my MCS, but honestly it (or a clubman for that matter) would be to small for road trips, with two children (unless they are like under 5, and will be for the life of the car). I actually have a much bigger car for road trips with my wife and daughter (2 yo). The MCS is for commuting, jaunts into the city, and spirited drives through the twisties, I actually hate it for long straight hwy trips. IMHO you'd be better of looking at a VW Jetta or GTI (4dr), a Subaru, or a Mazda 3 for under 25K.