this was newly mailed to me from the people of Auto Express. Hope you enjoy the read.














Only 444 British buyers will be lucky enough to sample this last guise of MINI’s supercharged engine. And such is the demand, some are already said to have sold their undelivered cars for nearly £28,000!

 

 

It is an interesting read, and an interesting car.

Don't keep up with current exchange rates, but 22K British Pounds is well into the $30K range, right?

Of course this isn't an actual test of the car, so no performance numbers are given. Just subjective statements such as "immense grip" and the like.

But as this car gets into the mid $30K range, it just doesn't have the umph to compete in terms of raw speed and balance handling with cars such as the WRX STi or EVO.

The Mini is a great car, but even the 'hi performance' versions are still a tick behind the competition. They need to get hp up well over 215 to get it to where it should be.

My opinion of course, yours may vary...

 

22k GBP is about 40k USD, right?

 

In my opinion both of those cars have regressed in the past few years. The WRX now weighs in at approximately 3350 lb and many people surmise the reason why the US-spec WRX STi does not handle as well as a Spec C is because the EJ257's extra weight and the slower steering rack hampers the feel and balance of the car.
The EVO is at something like 3300 lb as well but seems to have maintained it's handling characteristics thru the iterations but has become more bloated weight wise.

Now the GP is in the range of 2600 lb so my math tells me that the GP has an almost equal power to weight ratio than either of those two cars. So for the money the Mini is a pretty good deal at 31150 plus destination charge.

Given the limited nature of the GP, the price is going to look good in a few years time.

 

I hear what you're saying about power to weight, and I agree. I own an Elise as well, so I understand the weight issue.

Even so, the current EVO is probably the best performance value for the dollar. A recent comparo in R & T with the Cayman S, a TRACK comparison with actual performance numbers re skidpad, slalom, acceleration, braking, and the real test...track times on a closed course with the same, experienced driver, had the Evo equalling or beating the Cayman in nearly every performance category, and set a significantly quicker lap time.

At $36K for the EVO, and after exchange about the same or more for this Mini version, if one is really looking for a performance car there is no comparison.

NOT bashing the Mini, I use mine as my daily driver and it serves that purpose very well. I'm just saying that when Mini tries to put out an actual performance oriented (and limited) version of the car...clearly aiming at those for whom performance is a major criteria, it still is a mid-pack kind of car in its segment.

It does have a lot of other stuff going for it: quirky personality, almost unlimited options to personalize the car when ordering, etc.

When I bought the Mini this Spring, I wanted something fun to drive to and from work, that also fit my budget. The Mini fits that to a T. Had money been a bit less of an issue, the Evo would've been the daily driver.

 

+1

 

I opened this thread thinking that MINI was going to make some incredible machine to really push the performance limits of the MINI as they finished production of the current generation platform, but these cars look like they are just GP's.

 

That is much more like it.

22,000.00 GBP United Kingdom Pounds =40,379.78 USD
United States Dollars 1 GBP = 1.83544 USD 1 USD = 0.544827 GBP

 

I like those wheels and aero kit.

 

Plenty to read over @ Motoringfile on the GP
http://www.motoringfile.com/index.php?s=jcw+gp