I'll be in the market again soon for another car and torn on practicality and fun. Wife got rid of her 2016 Countryman S All4 for a new Outback. It's really nice and comfy on long trips but I really don't like driving it. I've had an 05 JCW that I had a love/hate relationship with. While I liked it overall the practicality of it was not the best. I don't want to do another go kart like my 05 JCW that had 19's with non run flats. I'll have to drive an hour to Charlotte to find one for a test drive so I'm trying to narrow down some options.

How much of a difference is there with the adaptive suspension. I went this route on a 2020 VW GLI and it really didn't do much, test driven other cars that sport mode was barely noticeable.

Also a big concern is stereo. I'm looking for a decent Hifi good sound quality that does have at least some decent bass how does the newer systems deliver? I'm hoping I wouldn't have to do much to a system at worse case add in a DSP and maybe replace the factory amp to fix the OEM stuff.

Manual vs automatic, when I looked at cars a few years ago the rev hang took several cars off my list. Is the manual even worth looking at now days?

Any years to avoid I was thinking 2018-2020


Cars I'm currently considering with the reasons I'm also not

2018 Mazda3 manual - solid car but little slow
2015-2016 228i/230i manual or auto - haven't driven one to make any decisions
2019 Genesis G70 3.3T - really nice car, don't really need one that fast
2018 Genesis G80 Sport 3.8 - luxury is nice, stereo is pretty good. Big and lacking in the sportiness dept
2015 Acura ILX 2.4 manual - little more luxury on a civic with a fun engine. Decent platform to possibly upgrade

If I throw in 2 seat fun my list would probably include
C5 or C6 Corvette
370Z
Miata RF if I could manage to fit

 

With absolutely no intention of being rude, you’re kind of all over the place with car selection 😂 The cars you’ve listed are all SO different. I think you should decide whether or not you want an automatic or manual and that will help narrow your choices, because finding a manual in many of those used vehicles will be difficult. Also, I think you need to work on what you want to prioritize for your vehicle. Fun? Luxury? Practicality? Not all of the vehicles you’ve included are the same in all of those categories. My personal favorite of the vehicles you’ve listed would be the BMW 2-series, because you can’t go wrong with the manual or the automatic (though I suspect a manual will be hard to find)…and rear-wheel drive. But also, not all the vehicles you’ve listed offer all the things you’ve stated you desire (e.g., adjustable suspension). If they don’t have that, then there’s a VERY good chance sport mode (if offered) is really just less steering assist and more aggressive throttle pedal calibration (and more aggressive transmission shifting, if it has an automatic). Honestly, sport mode in all of the vehicles you’ve included is really just a gimmick if they don’t offer an adjustable suspension.

As for a new MINI, the JCW will be what you remember your old one to be, but more refined. But a JCW will still be very stiff in everyday driving, very “raucous” 😂 The Cooper S will be a bit more of a two-personality-type vehicle between normal
mode and sport mode. And yes, rev hang is very much a thing in almost all modern manual transmission vehicles, including MINIs and BMWs. You can thank emissions standards for that (Engineering Explained has a great video about it). MINI switched to a DCT for the automatic in non-JCW models in I think 2020 or 2021, so the newer Cooper/Cooper S have an responsive and fast-shifting automatic if that’s the route you want to go.

 

LOL I get that all the time. Problem is I've owned over 55 cars so far. I always wanted the super fast car and then when I cranked my Projekt 1 (Special 135i you can google if your bored) up to 500HP I quickly realized all the power I had dreamed of for so many decades results in tickets and then driving it like a Prius cause you too scared to get pulled over again. Looking back in younger days I had more fun in my MR2's, CRX's and engine swapped civics and corollas than most cars. Probably I'm also older now 46 and like the nicer things in life like a proper suspension that handles properly without riding like a log wagon. I also like my stereo, doesn't have to be magnificent but play similar to most high end stereo system in some of the cars. And with having so many cars, I'm tired of losing so much money on cars, which limits some of the choices. Unfortunately most of the enthusiast cars that run a 1/4 between 13.5 to 15.2ish are cars that started life as a cheap car Civic SI, Jetta GLI, GTI, Mazdaspeed3, WRX, Evo etc are cheap. Other cars that are the typical answer Miata, S2000 my long legs aren't very comfortable. I don't like convertibles anyway and the hope that they possible fixed all the creaks and rattls in the BRZ/GR86 cars is unlikely. I would prefer a manual but I know most newer cars in manual suck, either rev hang or the ridiculously long 1st gears. All this is what has led me to pretty much not even liking new cars but I'm also not wanting to deal with the headaches of a 10-15 year old car. And that is how I got to the stupid list that I'm always open to suggestions on.
The Mini always keeps coming up as I always had fun in mine and my wife's and seeing how the newer ones have more fit/finish than the older I'm hoping that is a strong possibility. I want something fun on the curvy roads here in western NC but also comfortable enough for road trips in case I can talk her into. I've had Mazda3's in the past the 1st and 2st gens that were decent daily's with a little bit of sport but a little on the slow side. I've heard good things handling wise about the 228/230's and read that they are a little more refined that the 1 series I had so there is that. I loved the G70 I drove, stereo was really good and driving dynamics. I really don't need that much power which led me to looking at the G80. Going either of those would probably be detuning the G70 a bit or playing with the suspension of the G80. ILX leads me back to my high revving Honda days but I'm guessing it's not realistic as I'd be doing the same things of suspension work and possibly a little engine upgrading. And the Corvette is always on my plan B, said if for years screw these cars I'm going to just go buy a 17k corvette and when i get done with it sell it for what I bought it for.

 

Personally, I'm skeptical of anything out of the Hyundai/Kia line for longevity (meaning the Genesis options). Seen WAY too many stories, along with hands-on working on a friend's vehicle, about traditional GDI issues (among other things I haven't nailed down) pretty much nuking the engine at some point. Heck, there's a shop I see in my TikTok feed that is counting their Hyundai/Kia engine replacements right now. And that's to say nothing of the Genesis of another friend -- that otherwise impressed me at first, but went electrical buhbye out of nowhere several years back (in fairness this was pre-COVID, so may not apply to current models).

Not trying to slam the line, I was impressed by some of their stuff, but I keep hearing stories and between that and the hands-on unless something has changed I think the costs of the cool factors of the line are paid for by things that add up to "expect an an expiration date."

 

Unfortunately I think it's a gamble on most newer cars. I grew up in a die hard Toyota fan family and I've never had more major issues than a Toyota. MR2 auto trans went at 55K miles, then the engine went at 62k unfortunately I bought it with 54k miles on it. Tundra trans started slipping with about 60k miles on it. Corolla engine broke a piston ring with 130k. RAV4 with rear main seal and timing chain cover leaks at 120K ($3.5k service requires pulling the engine). Been on the side of the road by a Toyota 3 times in my life only other times was a $400 87 Chevy Cavalier resale car and a Mercedes ML320 Diesel, either one of those could be expected. So I've got that kind of luck when it comes to what should and shouldn't be reliable. Honestly only car that I put 100k miles on and never had a single problem other than the oil light coming on was a mid 90's Saturn coupe.
As for the Kia reliability it's one of those things like most cars I've seen some never have any problems and others swear they are the worst cars. But I can say most "cheaper" perceived cars are typically not cared for. I've known people that had known bad cars like a Cavalier and Neon drive them for 150k miles with no issues at all. Buddies dad has several Chevy and Ford pickups that he's put over 300k miles on and barely even changes the oil properly then other people that have to dumb money into them all the time. I work on most of my own stuff so most cars in the past haven't been too bad but haven't had any cars that suddenly grenade the engine like a lot of newer cars can.