Now let me set something straight first off...i ****ing love my Cooper S. I don't think I could ever have such an attachment to any other car which makes up for the few down points I've seen. That being said;
I've been getting into the tuner style cars a lot more recently which is odd being a muscle guy most of forever. The WRX seems to be calling me. I just love the style of it and the layout. I don't think I'd ever trade my MINI for one though. Once I sell the MINI or make enough for a second car maybe.
I also like the GTIs as of late and one guy came into my job and were were talking about his. He loves it. Says the thing is fast, fun, and next to bulletproof. So I ask about the DSG and he replies "DSGs are for pussies, they're missing a pedal" which easily makes him my new best friend. I then tell him that I have a Cooper and it turns out he's a MINI tech at the dealer I got my car at.
He was saying don't do any engine mods because chances are the thing will pretty much fall apart and BMW will **** me over on warranty. While I don't take all of that to heart I can't say I will totally disagree with someone that fixes them for a living.

Idk I figured I'd share it with you guys. It really did make me think of what a WRX would cost me because I got really paranoid about **** breaking, but then I got the 22mm sway bar in my car and all was forgiven. It still is lingering in my mind though I must say.

Btw I only have an intake and hot side tube...can they even void warranty for those mods?

 

They can't really void warranty unless your aftermarket part causes the problem. Like if you had dirt or something stuck in your intake manifold and you have an aftermarket intake, they're obviously going to blame it on your intake. But if something goes wrong with your stereo or windows, they can't void your warranty because of an intake.

I have heard of someone's warranty being voided when they had drivetrain issues because their car was lowered. But that makes sense.

If your worried about it you can just pop the parts off and swap them with OEM ones when your car has to go to the dealer.

I love tuner cars and I always have, but GTIs and WRXs just aren't for me.

 

To each his own

Thanks for the input btw.

 

I just came from an 05 WRX (well 9-2x). The MINI is a heck of a lot more fun to me but I do miss the awd. The car just feels more responsive and frankly less like a souped up econobox. If the MINI were RWD... that would be my dream car.

 

VWs have a bigger aftermarket support and respond to mods pretty well. If I wanted to mod my car I'd probably choose a VW over a MINI. But I'm at a point where I'm over heavy modding, so I'm planning on keeping my MINI stock.

 

I traded my 06 GTI for my Mini. My GTI was modded, Stage 2 chip, TBE, CAI, lowered. I miss that car everyday. The mini is great and I am looking forward to modifying it the way I want, but the GTI is a great car. I had my car chipped from 5k miles. I sold it with 75k. I drove it across the country 3 times (running stg 2 and lowered). The car loved to get beat on. I would cruise great, but when you needed it the powere was there.

The mini seems floaty when driving (which can be fixed with lowering, swaybars and new tires), the GTI was tight from day 1.

I just did not have the patience to bring the car back to stock to pass CA regulations, nor the time to do deal with the police.

Next car in the garage 66 VW fastback.

 

The GTI Dynoed at 250 bhp and 285 torque.