My company just hired a new employee for the Japan office. I was hosting him tonight. We went to dinner and after a few zippy turns and some "brisk" acceleration, he said he wanted a Mini instead of his Type-R. He also said the Mini was very expensive in Japan..... Bummer.

Makes ya think!

 

MINIs are also quite expensive in Australia (AU$40,000 for a Cooper).

I thought pretty much everything was very expensive in Japan?

 

I think he needs to compare with a Teg-R.

 

Honda motors don't really make torque... you gotta drive an integra type R (RSX-R) like you stole it... same with my 600 RR honda motors just seem to need running near redline which might be why he found the cooper more fun. personally I don't like either car but I love my honda bike... go figure, oh and I looked at the prices for minis on the japan site... wow the S starts at like 26k or so. I'm not sure what the convertion rate is right now so I might be off.

 

Minis have had a seemingly steady following in Japan for many, many years. The new MINI is a status car in the streets of Tokio. Japanese MINI buyers also seem to get the coolest accessories of all world markets:


http://www.mini.jp/mini.html?jsessio...11109887531995

Just recently, MINI started selling cars in South Korea.

 

Hmmm, I just noticed that the old 2 spoke steering wheel is still being sold in Japan market new Minis.