Found this one over on VWVortex forums. About were I was when I was debating between R32 and MCS :smile: In the end... Well...
http://forums.vwvortex.com/zerothread?id=1935039&page=1

 

Bro, I read the whole thread on other forum. Tell you the truth, it's a really tough match up, both cars are amazing pieces of machinery.

I really dont know which car is better, but I can say this...

I have grown unbelievingly close to my BRG MCS, as if it were my child. I have genuine love for the car. More love than I have given to any of my girlfriends. /hugs Camel.

I have grown closer and closer to the car as each day goes by, and I look at it with passion every single time my eyes see it. Every single time. (And it's been nearly 17 months since delivery).

I never thought a CAR could bring this type of behaviour out of me.

I sincerely doubt the R32 would have done that for me. It would just be another race car, nothing more, nothing less.

The MINI's just ooooze character, as if they were alive.

The feeling of owning my car is one of the nicest feelings, and if owning an MCS will do the same for you, I'd say MCS, MCS all the way.

Edited to add: Didnt realise you and poster on other board were different, feel free to post this there if u have an account. Last thing I need is another forum to spend all my time on.

 

:smile: Camel, I still get as thrilled about my Wanda as the day I took delivery of her, my second MINI Cooper! These little MINIs are like members of our families! The R32 may be a wonderful machine, but that is just the thing: it is more of a "machine" than our MINIs...if that makes sense?!


Clover

 

WHew..thought it was gonna be another "kill" story on the street

From that thread..I've come to the conclusion that the vwvotex forums have a great community that is very mature (judging from their post in MOST cases). It was expected that most of them would vote for the R because of bias but besides that they did give pretty good reasons on whether or not to buy/or not bye each car. I hope I made sense? haha

 

Yeah, yeah, yeah.....LOL!


Clover

 

All i know is i was burnt by an obviously tuned R32 (pipes, but ev.'g else was stealth- blk. helped2)
......That is above 80mph, hey, we were on a relatively long stretch of highway, no twisties ...

Have you ever started a stock R32 indoors-- it is sic!!!

(Had VW's for years and years) Originally i was holding out for a R32--- then i decided Mini----Still take my MCS anyday of the week, tho!

 

I love that. Makes me want to run and give Jason, my MINI, a hug.

 

Ditto that.

 

Wow...Try going over to the technical forums over there sometime. The 1.8T forum is a battlefield. Terrible, terrible stuff. Rediculous levels of immaturity.

For the record, I work for a VW/Audi tuner and have enough seat time tuning an R32 to know that i'd never own one. Regardless of the numbers it feels like a battleship, suspension is scary at high speeds, marginal steering and tranny feel. The platform is basically outdated.

 

Ya' know....

I've owned a lot of sports cars in 39 years of driving; a few were excellent, some were good, many were average. Of my favorites, I have noticed that they all blend excellent mechanical engineering and design with a decidedly strong communictaion of vehicle dynamics. But that alone is not enough.

The truly memorable cars have the above characteristics and........wait for it......SOUL. Now I realize SOUL is a concept that is very subjective, but I am talking about those unique things that make the experience of driving the car somehow different from the rest. SOUL provides and rewards the driver with a value that is greater than the sum of all other elements; certainly beyond that with the "specifications" might suggest.

I loved my MBG-GT, but my XKE had SOUL. I loved my 911SC but my old 914/6 had SOUL. My Fiat 124 Sport Coupe (Yes, FIAT!) had SOUL. There were only one or two others, but most lacked that elusive level of driving pleasure that defines SOUL.

My current E46, is fantastic. It is my third BMW after owning two other 5-Series models. They are all excellently engineered and manufactured and provide a truly enjoyable driving experience...but...they all lack SOUL.

And now I am a MINI owner. By the numbers, it may not be the most impressive vehicle on the market. It might fall a little short of its competition in HP, may not quite be able to hold four adults comfortably, and its suspension may be a little harsh on the road. But I have no doubt that everyone will understand my definition of SOUL after driving it.

So what happened here? This large teutonic icon like BMW suddenly decided to infuse their product with SOUL? Well, IMHO, yes and no.

With the MINI, BMW had, as one of its goals, to capture the performance characteristics present in British sports car heritage. They had a model of a car with plenty of SOUL: the original Mini. And, being some of the most capable engineers in the world, they used the Mini's template of pre-established SOUL "characteristics" and designed a new MINI that would exhibit these same traits. Could their decidedly excellent, but clinical, approach to vehicle engineering and design have given SOUL a natural birth in a car like the MINI? I'm not sure, but I dont think so. I think they NEEDED the characteristics of the original Mini as an example to be able to inject SOUL (albeit, in a teutonic fashion) into their design.

I'm not bashing BMW here, in fact I'm praising their new vision for the MINI and am simply awed by their engineering capability. But what I am getting at is that SOUL may not come naturally to some German engineering goals; reliability, performance and refinement - YES, but SOUL - no.

The R32 has all of the above: performance, reliability and refinement. But its engineers did not set out to emulate an original car that defined SOUL, like BMW has done. Therefore, IMHO, that element is lacking in its overall experience.

But we got lucky. BMW chose the right car to emulate.

No flames, please.

Theo

 

What is funny to me is that a lot of magazines in the US really downplay the MCS compared to other cars. In magazines such as Motor Trend and the such, the R32 is a real performance car, with the likes of an EVO (obviously not as good), and the MCS is always thrown into the PTCruiser crowd as a retro "fun" car. But very few magazines really understand the performance of these cars. Now in Europe the magazines are almost opposite, but we don't live in Europe (you can't even get a real full JCW review here in the States). I won't knock the R32, it is a great car in many respects and really a good thing that VW did. And the exhaust sounds great. But I agree with many of the comments above, it doesn't feel as in tune as the Mini. The more and more I drive the Mini compared with all the other cars out there, the more I get the feeling that this is a true drivers car. The stability, feel and balance all working together is unbelievable, and I am not sure why car magazines in the US don't pick up on this. The Mini is not very good at throwing out a single number that exceeds all others (and unfortunately the American market is all about numbers), but it is the combination of everything. I have driven EVOs, STis, and all kinds of cars that will trounce the Mini in some numbers, but none of them have that complete feel the Mini has. None of them let me drive with the same confidence of the Mini.

 

I've owned over 20 VW's. I was very close to buying an R32 as well. After my extended test drive in the R32...well the best way I can say it is that I didn't have a 'connection' with it. I ordered my MCS the next day. Haven't looked back.

 

Yeah... I frequent the Vortex from time to time and have seen this thread... it's a rare one, to say the least...

 

Theo, that is how I feel about MINI, too: it has SOUL! BTW, my 1972 Fiat 128 wagon (taxi cab yellow with black racing stripes and roofrack) definitely had SOUL, too!

I have to admit that my dad's 1971 Mercedes 250 had SOUL, as well! He love it so much that he drove it for more than 25 years, and when he got a new vehicle (an Acura), he couldn't bare to trade in the Merc and gave her to me.

Clover

 

Granted most of here own a MINI but I also came really close to buying an R32. I loved the concept and I though VW did a nice job with the car but it wasn't me. To much of a GT car whereas I wanted something that felt a little sportier if you know what i mean. The R was heavy and always seemed composed whereas I wanted light weight, nimbleness and character. Both are great cars but the R wasn't for me.

I'm Mike@triplezoom over there on vwvortex and the thing to keep in mind is the car lounge isn't hosted by vwvortex servers anymore. The guys that own vwvortex actually own a few other sites as well. One of them being thecarlounge.net which is just for automotive discussion in general. Most of us that post there are just that car enthusiasts, so to find brand loyalists is rare.
Mike