I am curious if there is a huge difference in the feel (power wise) of the 850cc and 1000cc engines? Obviously the 1000cc has more power but does a Mini feel more dinky with the smaller 850cc engine?

Any input is welcome

 

how dinky is dinky ?

until you find one who has extensively driven similar vehicles in both displacements your question is ....

 

Well, dinky as in someone can walk faster than the car getting up to speed.

I don't know a good way to explain what I am thinking. oh well...

 

few Mini owners have unmodifoed motors

in a car this small, size matters

very difficult to answer your question

A 'tuned' 850cc could stomp a neglectd 1275 . . .

refine your question . . . .

 

"A 'tuned' 850cc could stomp a neglected 1275 . . ." answers part of my question. I am just trying to figure out if a 850cc still has enough power to get up and go if it's properly maintained.


I think I am good though, sorry for the vague question (I hate answering them in other posts). I am tired from work, my brain is a mush so pardon me

 

the Mini was NEVER known for raw horsepower off the line . . .

b4 I would spend much money 'extra'ing' an 850, I'd just buy a 1275 (straight bolt in replacement)

My 1275 Metro with an oversized carb (HS-6 1.75) and LCB exhaust, PlayMini twin DTM, 10 inch rims, stock gear box, is still exciting to get up to highway speeds to merge

 

I would just fix it up enough so it drive well enough, not really looking for performance. Then once I get enough money for an engine then I would invest in that.

Thanks for the information, it really helped.

 

This statement makes me wonder if my 998cc isn't tuned or modified in any way now. It feels great getting on the motorway. Up to 70 MPH (GPS) and still has more to give. It gets there quickly enough, too.

 

and let's not forget that what's in the gearbox, and even wheel size plays into this equation.

Every month MiniWorld has a section where they report on a group of cars examined on a dryno (rolling road). You'll quickly see the variations as I describe ... for example in the current (July 11) issue there is a tweeked 1275 showing 45.2bhp @ 5,500 rpm. The next car is a tweeked 998 showing 46 bhp @ 4,750 rpm . . . . while an even more tweeked 998 pulls just 36.4 @ 5,400 .... attributed to a bad selection of cam.

You could hang a turbo on a 900 and then what do you get??? It's all variable . . .

 

An 850 in decent tune is fine for around town driving and anything short of +60mph freeway jaunts. It does take a while to get up to speed. Probably the most noticeable attribute (detriment?) is if you ever need the throttle to get you out of trouble (like speed up out of someone who is about to broadside you or to squirt out of someone's way in a parking lot) forget about it. It will get up to 60-65mph, but it will take a little while. It will cruise at 60, but it will slow down while going uphill. If you have 2 people in it, you will notice it appreciably.

a 998 the same applies albeit less so. A 998 is a much more drivable engine for higher speeds or more regular use. The 850 is adequate, but the 998 more. The 850 actually can be pretty torquey, but you need to use the gears. A 998 is more forgiving/less sensitive to early or late shifts.

All of the "upgrades" you can do to a 998 to make it faster you can also do to an 850. A 12G295 (cooper/sprite) head and a stage 1 kit will make a good running 850 better and may be about even with a stock 998 in performance. Maye even a slight edge.

For a "sometimes" or weekend show car, the 850 is fine. If you want to go on club runs, you're better off with a 998 or bigger.

 

Thank you for the helpful information, Spank!

 

I picked up a 62 Mini that is stock with an 850 and it is fun to drive. Not looking to autocross so it is a great car to sport around in with the stock engine. You can see from the picks the car is a real survivor.

http://karmannghias.org/Mini/

http://karmannghias.org/Mini/slides/...10701-2028.jpg

 

As you can see from my sig I've had a couple of these beasts. 850 is great around town and really fum til you get to 50 mph when things start to bog down. If you have the standard drum brakes you don't want to be going any faster.
How's the Bentley doing for ya?

 

That's what I figured, it would just be for around town/back roads - no highways. I'm looking at a 1970 Austin for something to work on and use a weekend car when it's nice, so an 850 would be perfectly fine.

 

I had an 850. It really wasn't too bad, but it couldn't keep up with stop and go traffic on a metropolitan freeway. It could go 70-80 all day, but it took awhile. If you got caught in the left lane behind cars that were stopping then accellerating, it had a severe deficiency.

The other thing that the 850 needed was a transmission that worked perfectly since you do a lot of gear changing. Some of the gearboxes were pretty notchy and sometimes it was difficult to tell if they were in gear till you let out the clutch.

But they were still fun for weekend driving. I sold my 850 and bought a 1275. It was a lot more fun, but also required a lot more tweaking to keep it running in the sweetspot.

But ALL Minis are fun. If it looks good and runs well, buy it. You'll love it.

(and you can change tires with one hand -- try that with an R56)

 

Thank you again everyone for the knowledge. I ended up passing on the Mini for numerous reasons and but up finding another one for a better deal.