I came awful close to buying a new Mini Cooper S last year. Was gonna order it black with a red interior. I had driven an 05 with the Works package and was very impressed with how raw and fun it was. After I rang up the options, it would have been $29,500 or so. I ended up buying a 2005 Cadillac CTS-V with 18,000 miles on it for a couple grand less. It sounds fantastic, is comfortable, handles great, and is a lot of fun to drive. With gas prices being what they are, the Mini entered my thoughts again (even though I drive an old school Beetle daily which gets very good mileage, the CTS-V gets used maybe once a week). Well last week I happened to drive a friend's 08 S and I'm wondering what the hell happened? Either the Cooper isn't as fun as I remembered, or BMW managed to totally ruin the car. From the gigantic fishbowl sized speedo, the whimisical dash, the fake sounding turn signals, the heavy and slow steering, and the keyless key that requires you to still use a, er,key, I can't get over how happy I am that I DIDN'T buy one. Both my old Beetle and CTS-V offer more driving feel, seem to be of higher quality in terms of materials and assembly, I can't even begin to see why someone would buy one over a new GTI. What happened? Its been a while since I've driven the first gen-are the second gens that much more removed from a real, fun driving experience, or are there others out there who aren't as smitten as they once were?

 

Yea right lol....so you would buy a car without driving it.. I will wait till i am 70 before i buy any caddy....

 

Good. Enjoy your Beetle and CTS-V and armchair marketing type trolling tactics.

The rest will be enjoying their Mini's.

Not all cars are for everyone. If everyone loved the same car, we'd all be driving the same thing.

Have fun trolling for arguments.

 

The CTS-V is no old mans car....it will spank most cars and do it in style.

But my 04 GTO was more of a bargain....price for performance was hard to beat, and the best seats ever fitted to a stock car, PERIOD!

 

There's a reason why both the R53 and R56 fell behind the new MKV GTI and Mazdaspeed3 in nearly every automotive magazine I read (Car and Driver, Road & Track, etc...) For everyday normal driving, I wish I would have kept my MKV GTI, it was a better car. For backroads and spirited fun, MINI all the way.

 

I know that but its still a old persons car when I am 70 maybe, speed is not everything , I prefer style....the caddy is not for me test drove one and find it boring.....

 

 

Yup, the GTI was the other car on my list when looking at the MINI's...The MINI just seemed like more fun and better actual gas mileage figures. I also get a lot of comments on the car, people seem to love them. But I will admit this car is more a gokart than it is a daily driver, you have to live with its quirks, and there are many!

 

 

Should I buy a JCW MINI or a Caddy STS ? They're so similar in so many ways !!



In the words of this immortal guy....



WHAT A MAROON !!

 

Not that I would buy a Cadillac.. but the phrase to each his own comes to mind here. Im very happy with my 06 MCS and the 08 MC. I bought the 06 without ever having been in one.. walked into the dealership.. and said I want this car.. ordered to my specs.. waited two months and drove away for the very first time a very happy motoring enthusiast.. In germany they simply do not stock them like they do at the dealerships in the states, so in truth there was no mini for me to test drive or even see... Would I do it again.. only if it were a mini..
Good luck with that Cadillac. 17/25 mpg.. I will stick with my beloved mini.. I can afford to fill it each week.. That Cadillac.. well out of my range, even if it costs a few thousand less then the mini.. to me the mini will more then make up for that with the gas mileage..
Motor on!

 

It's not about his decision. It's about his need to come here and put down the MINI. And even worse, just how he said it.

Bad karma. I'm betting that STS breaks down in the next 10,000 miles.

 

I often go to forums for other car makes and take the time to register a user name just to say "Boy, I'm glad I don't drive a ____. I like my car better."

 

Dodged a bullet?? Not in Cadillac you won't The only reason he posted on here is it's past everyones bed time on the Cadillac forum!

 

Hahahaha.

 

I came close to buying a 2008 R32. Dealers at the end were offering $5500 - $6000 off MSRP, and this is in Southern CA.

A reason???

The GTI is that good. Chip it. And you have a capable, fuel efficient, fun car. The R32's biggest competitor was probably it's little brother.

I drove a couple R32's and a couple GTI's. Plus the DSG, definitely neat stuff.

Gas mileage sucks on the R32. AWD is heavy and sucks gas, but would be a lot of fun in the right conditions, or adverse road conditions.

I decided a wanted a lighter car. So, I am pretty much planning to buy a manual supercharged R53, just waiting for the seller to clear the title...

 

Cars are completely subjective. Different aspects appeal to different people. Like it was said earlier in the thread, "to each their own".

 

What he is saying about the R56 (08 MCS) compared to the R53 (05 MCS) is no different than what several R53 owners say about their experiences with the new R56. Not sure why this guy is getting bashed... Did some people miss the point where he said he loved the 05 MCS, but simply does NOT like the 08 MCS?

As for the CTS-V (it's NOT an STS), I think it's a great performance sedan that just happens to be a Cadillac. With either the 400 hp LS6 or LS2 motor from the Corvette along with a 6 speed manual trans and RWD, and you have a working man's M5. The rear-ends are "finicky" when launching hard from a dead stop, but otherwise they would make many enthusiasts grin for a long time. Please don't compare it to a regular old-man's Caddy... A CTS-V is to an STS as a Corvette is to a Monte Carlo. If you don't know the difference, then you should do some research before commenting.

And some might say the "trolls" are really the R56 owners coming in this section at the slightest hint of negativity towards their beloved new generation Mini. Hmmm....

 

Dan00Hawk - Woohoo! Another car freak (and not just another MINI freak).

 

"Slightest hint of negativity"....is that what you call comments like:

"I can't even begin to see why someone would buy one over a new GTI", or "...the second gens that much more removed from a real, fun driving experience" ?

As far as I can tell you're showing just as much parity of judgment about the R56 as the OP. An opinion is an opinion, but those comments are just plain brutal, there's nothing "slight" about 'em!

 

On most vehicle specific message boards, I've found that there are "enthusiasts" and "brand loyalists". Enthusiasts are those who enjoy and appreciate a wide variety of performance vehicles. And then there are the brand loyalists who take great offense whenever someone dares breathe a whisper of negativity about their own car, yet they are astonishingly quick to condemn nearly any other vehicle for any number of silly reasons. Makes for good entertainment sometimes, though... Thankfully, I've found NAM to be more full of true enthusiasts. With a few exceptions, of course... .

I have no problem with owners of other vehicles participating here to discuss both the charms and the faults of the MINI vehicles. We can help educate them, along with perhaps learning something ourselves. And now enough Dr. Phil...

 

Agreed. The OP was just being ugly and trollish. He deserves whatever verbal abuse he gets.

 

Hello R56 owner! I guess you missed the part where he said he was impressed with how raw and fun the 2005 was, or perhaps you were just magnetically drawn to the comments that weren't "upbeat and positive" about your R56. I haven't given my opinion of the R56, but yet you felt compelled to lump me into the same category as the OP. Interesting... One might suggest you are taking the comments about a car waaaaay too personally and far too seriously. And if you think his comments were "brutal", you really shouldn't search for any threads that discuss comparisons about the R56 and R53 from Mini owners themselves (gasp!) as I just don't think you'd be able to sleep peacefully for the next few nights after reading them... Cheers!

 

Aren't you the one that is confusing a CTS-V with an STS twice already in this thread? I can't determine if that's your clever way of making an insult, or if you truly don't know the difference. Perhaps calling it a Fleetwood Brougham would have been a more effective way of bringing up Cadillac's past history of general blandness, mediocrity and tendency towards blue-haired owners. Weee! It's so fun to join the insult parade and "verbal abuse" train!

 

Nah, not taking them personally/seriously at all, I couldn't care less about what OP, you or anyone else thinks about my car. We all have our preferences, and I'm certainly not losing any sleep over the fact that I love my R56 .

I just don't think you can expect R56 owners to read something like the OP's post and not get a response. After all, R56 owners spent their hard earned $$$$ on something which the OP completely ripped apart. Granted, the responses to OP may not have been the most well thought out, but I think you can at least appreciate why they responded the way they did.

Anyway, enjoy your ride, whatever it may be, and have a good night