that's my favorite thing to blow the doors of cars like that...

 

Yeah...it will "Feel" fast because MINI smoke both of the cars you mentioned in AutoCross.

In fact, I've seen MINIS smoke both of the cars you mention on a circuit (race track) also.

It's also funny how some people have no idea what kind of car they have on their hands. Then again it's probably just the hands.

 

An engine rebuild every 500 miles

 

"Quick", "fast", what do you mean?

To me here's my definitions

fast: is top speed.
quick: is how soon (or quickly) it gets there to speed ( could also be called accelleration )
quick: could also be related to handling...as in the car transitions quickly to either left or right inputs of the steering wheel.

So at 136 MPH top speed of the stock MINI MCS, I suppose it's fast compared to other sub-compacts (MINI is a sub-compact, right?).

So, back to the original poster. Please clarify what you mean by quick. Thanks!

 

haha, Mines fast! twincharger, mmmmm...... now i have to control my right pedal that propels the vehicle and not go through another set of summer tires until next summer... I currently have Kumho Ecstas MX's almost destroyed, oh did i say flat spotted too? I am now looking for something with just as good dry traction and a lot more wet traction, so I have found the Toyo Proxes ST1R.. I will give them a try when I order and have them put on. With all the rain us Michiganders are getting, we need wet traction..


Oh, you mean engine rebuild at the end of every race?

 

There's a lot of Mini owners here who are closer to 50 than they would like, including me. That said, I've been in everything you've listed including 996, 911 Turbo, and the Testarosa. They are amongst the supercar class and very fast but would be totally tied up at the Dragon where the Mini is truely "fast". It is NOT true that a Mini can't be "fast" in straight line. Just ask the guys with Twincharged or Nitroused Minis. We may not be able to beat them to 180 but we could give them a heart attack up to 130 :smile:

 

Its not about HP, I had a motorbike that had all of 50 hp but it will sure spank these 300hp cars and 150hp bikes in twisties.


Being fast and/or quick is relative. I've had people tell me their vehicles were fast until the rode in my 11 second SVT Lightning..

Bottom line is, enjoy what you have, bigger isnt better, keep on motoring.

 

Dittos with that:smile:

 

co worker with fairly new corvette tried to leave me in the dust in Harold Parker State Forest (VERY twisty) and was amazed that he couldn't even come close to losing me.Near the end of the road he pulled over to the side with his blinkers on and when I pulled up beside him he said" I am IMPRESSED!" "Scott" , I said , "I could have gone a lot faster , but you were in the way" LOL In a straight line his 450 ft lbs of torque would have spread me all over the road, but the curves now,...................................Fast? You be the judge.It's all relative. Jock

 

The Mini is quite quick. It goes 0-60 in 6.4 seconds according to Motor Trend. The car is only half a second slower in 5-60 compared to an EVO VIII. And if you guys want to see something fun. Take a stock MCS and a stock EVO VIII MR. Put both of them in 6th gear at 30mph and see who gets to 60 in top gear. The results will amaze you!

 

RS 125 Maybe? Yeah! Now we're talking!

Ok! Sold! LOL. (honestly, I agree about the 200hp thing )

Hahahaha. Z06 is pretty quick for 4 wheels. But if you want fast, try my 2004 Yamaha R1 (not stock.) 160+hp in a 425lb package. Yes, it is fast. Makes 993/911/Z06 real snoozers. It's really fun WOT in 4th gear at 145mph with the front wheel lifting off the ground - and two more gears to go. A Z06 becomes rather mundane in comparison. But I never tire of the Mini on the backroads. It is just a hoot.

 

That's what it's all about. Gobs of horsepower are useless if you can't manage them, and get 'em out of the motor when you want 'em.

The MINI is a much more balanced piece of work than most cars in its price class -- weight, power, and handling are spot-on. Plenty of the cars my buddies drool over are great in a straight line, but white-knuckle city if you need to avoid another driver or brake unexpectedly.

Me, I just flick the wheel. Don't scrub speed if you don't have to..:-)

Cheers,
Matthew Z.

 

Well my MC has ECU, intake, exhaust, and misc. other stuff, and it's fast for a Cooper. Couple that with a lead foot, and high rpm driving, it feels quick!! I make sure DSC is off so I don't spin my tires, and AC is off when I need the power.

Case in point---merging on to the freeway yesterday--going on one of those 180 degree curvy ramps. First car I passed was an SUV that was trying to go up the uphill portion of the ramp, and I quickly squeezed between another SUV that was slowing down for the first part of the curve, while I sped up, and caught up to a large pickup truck further down the curve--his brake lights are on, and I'm continuing to accelerate--look in my rear view mirror and all those big cars are just specks and all this while I haven't even merged yet. Don't need a ton of horsepower to feel quick!

Of course, later on I had a slow VW that wouldn't let me pass him on another 2 lane on ramp, my rpms were at 6,000 and it felt sluggish, and thats when I glanced down and realized my AC was on--my goof! Didn't help to have my windows down either! It's not always fast but it's fast enough most of the time!

 

Having been a passenger several times in OctaneGuy's MC, I can tell you that he makes lil octane GO FAST!!! Very spirited driver......and loads of fun to drive with!


Clover

 

When I think of quick...I think acceleration. When I think of fast... that's the long haul and going the distance. Being the first guy at the finish line or the first guy to the next stop light for that matter.

When I first test drove a Mini it was a stock MC. There was not a MCS tester at the time. I remember commenting to the MA that the MC seemed to be lacking power and speed. Don't get me wrong.. I think the MC's are great. But he assured me that the MCS had more acceleration and was much faster. Since I’d already heard others talking about the fast speeds of Minis I totally believed it. So, I really was expecting to be able to be able to ‘dust’ other cars no problem. Solely on the track of course .

Gosh.. After seeing all these great posts it seems I’ll probably just have to accept the fact that at least a couple of mods may be needed. I must admit that I do want to at least know that Mini will have the necessary speed available if and when needed. It’s not that I’m just ‘biting at the bits’ to show off . But nobody wants to feel a 1980 Ford Taurus will be 1st between the two of us to merge onto the freeway onramp. Especially if we each decided we wanted to be first .

 

Hahaha MINIClo thanks!!!

Bluezone, the MC and MCS are very different cars when it comes to power. The MC requires more work on the gear shifter to keep it in the power band. When I test drove the MC, I didn't realize I wasn't driving it like it was meant to, that is I shifted at 2,500 and 3,000 rpm, which was about right when I had my Acura Integra. Acceleration was decent, but not quick.

These days, I shift at 6,700 rpm when I want to move fast, or from day to day driving, between 4,000- 6,000 rpm. I like to cruise at 4,500-5,000 rpm on the freeway in 3rd gear because stepping on the gas makes the MINI accelerate quickly!

The last time I drove with a bunch of MINIs, I kept up with the MCS's by downshifting a lot---when they punched the accelerator and took off, I downshifted and shifted late to maximize HP. So while it was less effort for the MCS's to go fast, I hung tight on their tails in my MC. This would be true even without any mods, but the intake and exhaust make it purr, and the ECU mod was probably the biggest bang for the buck.

 

Well, not really. If we're talking stock Camaro Z28 or 993 vs. a stock Mini Cooper or Cooper S, it's not the case. The Cooper is in THE slowest stock SCCA autocross class. The Cooper S is in the 2nd slowest class. The Z28 is in F-Stock, which is a considerably faster class than G-Stock, where the Cooper S plays. I think the normally aspirated 993 currently runs in A-Stock, which is faster yet than F-Stock.

Having said that, autocross is really all about the driver. In my lowly 115HP Mini, I often beat Camaros, 911's, and many other cars that I shouldn't. However, it's because I've been autocrossing for many years, not because the Mini is some uber-car.

I have run in events with a past F-Stock National Champion. Trust me when I say, I, nor anyone else in a stock Mini, is going to beat him in his glorious 1LE Z28.

For example, at the 2003 Nationals, Brian Goodner (the guy I was talking about - but not the fastest Camaro that year), ran a 111.436. Brit Laughlin, the fastest stock MCS that year, ran a 115.186. These guys are amazing drivers folks.

At the 2004 Nationals, Mike Johnson (the fastest stock camaro that year) ran a 100.774. Ian Baker, the fastest stock MCS that year ran a 108.369 (I think Ian and the rest of G-STock may have been rained on, while F-stock may not have been, so there is probably a little extra skew here).

I think people think that I'm ripping on the Mini - but I'm not. But if you think the Mini is "fast", all I can say is enjoy your dillusion But if you want a dose of reality, basically every time you've seen a Mini beat a faster car, it's because the Mini driver out-drove the driver of the faster car.

What do I think of the Mini? I think it's the most desireable new car available for it's price (espeically the Cooper! the S has some stiffer competition). I think it's one of the most enjoyable cars to drive available today, regardless of how "fast" it is.

 

It's more about "fun" than "fast" for me.

I had my Cooper out on a track last weekend. That was so much more fun than I was expecting. Yes, I as one of the slowest things at the track that weekend (most of the other cars were heavily modded - stripped interiors and roll cages), but I had a blast!

A base Cooper is very easy to drive. Not a lot of torque, so you don't have to be as careful with the throttle as you do in other "fast" cars. I was pretty much even all weekend with my friend who was the other track newbie in his early 90s 1.6 liter Miata.

 

Is a squirrel fast? Dogs and cats are faster, humans faster still, but did you ever try to catch one?

On a more objective level, the stock MCS by most measures does 0-60 in something less than 7 seconds, thats quicker than most cars, quicker than most stock Honda Civics and VW Jettas and Golfs (JCW beats the GTI and V32) and is about the same as the Toyota Celica GTS. Mod it and all bets are off.

 

accually let's see hubies got some 25k + miles on his...yeeeaahhh....now if it was a 600 HP mini maybe..but the 400 WHP is reliable...motors today are not what they were 10 yrs ago...they last...

 

I disagree. I race with the PCA (Porsche Club of America) in autocross. At the last autocross, there was a prepped Mini S from Habberstad BMW. There was a 'pro' driver behind the wheel. He was unable to beat my times in the autocross (I beat him by about 2 seconds overall). All I have on my car is R-compound tires and sway bars). I am by no means a better driver than him. I would expect the little mini to excel at autocross, but unfortunately, my G35 coupe with a MUCH longer wheelbase (over 10" longer), was able to hold the mini off easily. He ended up about 35 out of 70 drivers. I ended up about 20 out of 70 drivers.

I was very upset since we just ordered a mini and was hoping to have the Mini take over for autocross and use the G35 for track events..... :(

 

You didn't say if the prepped MCS was HIS car - that can make a world of difference. When I autocrossed, there were people that could jump from car to car and turn some good times, and others that were only competitive in one particular class. Maybe the 'pro' driver is used to high-HP RWD cars or AWD or something and the handling of the MCS was in a different realm for him. . .

Of course, if it WAS his car and he wasn't competitive, well, I don't know what to say about that.

 

Just based on my own autocross experience with BMWCCA:

- higher horsepower rear wheel drive cars (like the E46 ///M3's we were class against) did better on courses that had more space between the cones.

- However, MINIs exceled on tighter courses where HP played less of a factor.

 

True enough, that. There were courses I raced on where my little MG-B ate up the D/S and F/S cars - the tight, nimble courses. On wider, smoother, more open tracks, those guys ate up the little B.

Lots of variables - don't write off the MCS as an auto-x machine just yet. . .

 

The '05 MCS 6-speed manual, doesn't need a pulley!

(Pulleys are to make up for the extremely tall 1st gear on the '02-04s)

Drive a '05, you will thank me!