Hi Carl,
Sean O'Boyle and I had a chance to drive a Cooper at Mini of Mt. View last
week. They are neat little cars, and pretty much everything you've heard
about the handling is true so far- very responsive steering and a solid
chassis. We felt the Cooper was a bit underpowered, especially in the low
end. Granted we had 3 people in the car, but pulling away from normal
right-turn-on-green speed in 2nd gear resulted in... bog. Our conclusion
was that for the street you might be better off with the S, although they
are not giving out test drives in them yet.
Autox is a different story. I still believe after driving the car that the
base Cooper will be the car to have for HS. I've heard weight figures
closer to 23xx pounds for the base Cooper. With the optional Sport
Suspension Plus, the car will have much stiffer springs than anything in its
class. The Cooper is not available with 17" wheels as a factory option, but
comes standard with 15s and has optional 16x6.5 rims. Shod those with the
current 205 Kumhos or the new 215/40/16 Hoosiers and you have a wheel tire
package superior to anything in GS, let alone HS. An additional bonus is
that the rubber band Hoosiers will dramatically shorten the gearing, which
is something the car desperately needs.
The Cooper S will be a big unknown for DS until someone sets one up and
tries it. The chassis has great potential, but that class is already full
of very strong cars like the Integra Type R and the IS300.
I really wanted to love the base Cooper, because I've always had good luck
with the lesser of two models (Z3 2.8 Coupe vs. the ///M and my non-turbo
MR2). It's sort of like a modern day CRX, light and nimble but without a
lot of power. Also while the MSRP spread of the 2 models isn't that large,
it will be much harder/more expensive to buy a Cooper S for the next year at
least. Having driven just the Cooper, I'd have to say that the S has more
fun potential for day to day driving though. The Cooper may be a better bet
for stock class autox, but then again if it is too good I can see that car
getting bumped to GS before year's end.
Peter
-----Original Message-----
From: Carl Merritt [mailto:CMerritt@luminous.com]
Sent: Sunday, April 07, 2002 9:50 PM
To: 'ba-autox@autox.team.net'
Subject: Let's Talk Minis...
So I'm seriously thinking about selling my Golf TDI for a new Mini. Anybody
have one yet or have one on order? Anybody seen any come out to play at an
Autocross yet? Any guesses on weather the NA or S version will be more
competitive in their respective classes?
For reference, the normally aspirated Mini has a 115HP/110ft-lb motor and
weighs 2500lbs, and according to MiniUSA does a 0-60 in 8.5 seconds. The S
is 163HP/155ft-lbs and 2700lbs, and goes to 60 in 6.9 seconds. They both
have the same wheel options available (17x7 being the largest), same sport
suspension and seat options, but the S has a 6-speed. The S is in D-Stock,
the NA is in H-Stock.
More food for thought here: http://www.miniusa.com/
Anybody?
-Carl
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