Had a few sport/performance cars in my day. Looked at some BMW Z's but never bought one. For the over 6' crowd relative to small light weight cars, IMO the MINI cannot be beat. I really liked my 9k redline Honda S2000s. Between the sound of that engine, the short shifter and the handling they are great cars. The Corvettes had lots of room but for me just did not have the "fun" factor of a smaller car.

Just got back from the Dragon, thinking now would like to have had a S2000 and my MINI there. In my mind, the MINI is more sure footed in the twisties and is a whole lot easier to get into/out of.

Does Killboy still have that tricked out S2000 on the Dragon? That thing passed me like I was standing still when we were there a couple of years ago.

the fact that he lives there and drives it every day had nothing to do with that?

Local knowledge certainly has something to do with it, but that thing certainly looked and moved like it was more than just a paintjob and a tack-on wing.

A waitress asked my friend and I what we were driving and when we said MINI, she said "oh they are so cute, I have a BMW Z3 M Roadster." She also mentioned how she drove her motorcycle on the Dragon. I was nice and did not say what I was thinking; cute car my a__, it would not keep up with us on the Dragon.

Its about the same size inside. Front end is longer on the Z3, the trunk is about the same on the Z3 convertible vs. R59. I had a Z3 vert pass my R58 and i was looking down at it and its seemed smaller in the back end, like a Miata, if it was not for the long front end the Z3 seems smaller.

Oh and the R58 MINI is so much more fun in the corners and gets more looks.