Cheers.

 

2nd gen RX7 also shared pretty much a 50/50 weight distrubution!

My previous ride was a killer RX7

 

Ask yourself this, when was the last time you drove down the road in say, an RX7 or entry BMW and had people pointing at you and waving with a smile ? or pulled into a parking lot and get bombarded with questions about your ride ? Seems to happen quite often to me in the MINI.

There will always be better performing cars (at least on my wallet) and certainly better engineered cars. But there is something about that MINI and its quirky personality that other brands have failed to capture. If it were perfect then I would believe all of those comments of it being German. As it turns out, it really is British after all.....

Love is blind.......

 

The day that I care if people ask me about my car, or wave at me, will be a very sad one. I've chosen my cars by how I feel when I drive them not how others may (or may not) react to them. But hey, that's just me.

 

I could think of a million defensive things to say........However, I'm not looking for a flame thrower session.

My post was not intended to offend, merely to point out the uniqueness of the MINI when compared to other cars.

If you don't care, that's fine too......

Peace......

 

No offense taken, really. I am totally cool with your take. But for me, caring about what other folks think about my car is like me caring what other people think about my girlfriend. It's just not something that's on my radar. Sorry if I seemed offended. Far from it. Peace, bro.

 

My list of dislikes:
- the way windshield sprayer sprays in 2 streams rather than a "mist" type of spray.
- the fact that in order to spray your windshield you have to waste a lot of fluid before the wipers go on.
- the bonnet release latch on passenger side
- the way A pillar is placed obscuring view while turning
- the lack of proper sunroof shades as a standard
- the lack of delay adjustment for windshield wipers
- the "fly by wire" thorttle
- the fact that you have to make your speedo inoperable to turn off all of the stability systems.
- the way water from the windshield flows all the way on the side windows once is wiped off by the wipers
- lack of 6 speed manual on 02-06 coopers
- lack of adjustment of fan speed for windshield defroster - therefore I hardly ever use it.

 

Every car has an A pillar and they all obscure view somewhere. I find the MINI's easy enough to just move my head to the side a little to see around it when needed. Overall, I think MINI's have excellent visibility. (not including Cabrio's )
They're speed sensitive at the delay setting. With enough RainX I don't really ever need to use them at that slow of a speed.

Not sure what you mean by this...

Do you have the auto climate control? I don't have it on mine, but the fan speed works the same as any other setting going from gentle breeze to leaf blower fan.

What about your list of likes?

 

Mini's A pillar is so far to the front that i find it more obscuring than in other cars
they are but sometimes the delay is too fast and i end up turning them on and off on my own specially now in winter with salt and everything else on the road.
in order to disable all of the stability systems you have to pull out both of the ABS fuses (Big and small one) pulling the small one completely disables teh ABS sensors in the wheels and stops your speedo from working in the process, you also get a galore of lights on the tach and speedo
Yes i have climate controll and maybe that's the case.
Everyting else I like about this car, particularly that you can take the "looping" on-ramps at 60mph :D

 

Glad to hear you have had good experience with Bob smith. Ive had nothing but problems with them.

 

lol all of my cars have had premium gas ( no way id use less in any euro car, why would you WANT to???? ) also the bonnet pull has always been on the right side for me. Have you had american cars or something? lol

 

Ok having read through this whole thread, a lot of of the posters are comparing their MCS's to the OP's auto MC. That's what I gather from his posts. The MCS comes configured differently than the stock MC, even with the Sport Package, the rear swaybar is thinner. I had an '03 MC and currently have an '05 MCS and they are both great cars with very different potential. The MC with lightweight wheels, stiffer swaybar, Konis FSDs, ultra high performance rubber, aftermarket exhaust and intake will make for peppier performance and handling. The rest of the comments..well, you're comparing a $16K base car......

Btw, the AC robs power on the MC when you want the best performance, so I ran with it off most of the time. If you don't like the ledge with the seats folded down, remove them..takes all of 5 minutes and easily go back in..you will save 50 pounds back there. Change the wheels to 15inchers for best performance.

Richard

 

And the flip side of OctaneGuy's point... the OP's 318ti was not the base suspension ti.

Having driven a 318ti without the BMW Sport / M package, I can tell you it was a huge letdown. Body roll galore, vague steering feel, a huge diameter steering wheel, and middling-at-best engine power (albeit very smooth revving and nice sounding). Now I will always love 318ti's despite all that (love the look, perfect size, great interior despite the plastics) but it was clear to me based on that drive (and drives of other bimmers over the years) that for a BMW to handle the way a driver used to sports cars expects, you need to spec the upgraded Sport Pack / M suspensions or go equivalent aftermarket. The vaunted "ultimate driving machine" moniker has no place on stock suspension bimmers in my experience.

Regardless, sounds like a few affordable suspension tweaks to the OP's R50 will bring the handling to where he wants it based on the good handling cars he has enjoyed in the past. It will never be RWD, so the feel will always be different (I also drive a modded miata, so I can vouch for great RWD feel!), but it can handle incredibly well and put a grin on your face like few other cars.