Mini Cooper S vs 318is: Which should I get?

[Julien]

Don't forget that the 318is has a tendency to grenade @ roughly 200k miles and that most examples you will find will have roughly that many miles. If you can live with a car that has problems from time to time, the e30 is a great candidate. I just got fed up with e30s while daily driving my swapped touring in Brussels. a non-stop fucking headache. Of course the mcs isn't the best car known to man, but I must say it impressed me when I test drove it in terms of performance, but a huge smile on my face.
We had a mini non-s in the family, and it wasn't bad at all, the torque from the SOHC motor made it a great dd candidate.

Basically what I am getting to is look what you need the car to do on a daily basis, and your decision should be easy.

Julien

[kishg]

LOL
Can't handle the truth? The MINI has a Chrysler engine.
Designed by Chrysler, built by Chrysler in a Chrysler factory with Chrysler parts etc. Rover did little more than sign a contract and BMW inherited the deal. The engine went into 2 cars The MINI and the NEON.

Deal with it. Cry if you have to. The pain will pass eventually.

who cares if chrysler built it? so what? why would i cry anyways? i don't even own a mini nor do i intend to.. like i said before (but then again you don't read so good so I will repeat), i think it looks like a car for my wife, not me.

[Emre]

There is plenty wrong with the SOHC Chrysler engine used in the MINI.

So, tell us what's wrong with it.

P.S.: I thought the Neon had a 2.0L DOHC engine

[tjts1]

LOL
Can't handle the truth? The MINI has a Chrysler engine.
Designed by Chrysler, built by Chrysler in a Chrysler factory with Chrysler parts etc. Rover did little more than sign a contract and BMW inherited the deal. The engine went into 2 cars The MINI and the NEON.

Deal with it. Cry if you have to. The pain will pass eventually.

[kishg]

Just because you wrote it doesn't mean its correct. Keep the name calling to your 5th grade lunch break please.

same goes for your inane statements.. no need to believe me, go do some basic research before you bring your 3rd grade mentality here.

[tjts1]

And there's nothing wrong with that twin-cam Chrysler engine. It's fine for what it is.

There is plenty wrong with the SOHC Chrysler engine used in the MINI.

great.. another retard with no reading comprehension.

Just because you wrote it doesn't mean its correct. Keep the name calling to your 5th grade lunch break please.


Somebody should sell a 'Powered by Chrysler' windshield banner for the MINI.

[TDE30]

careful what you ask for, he just might be taller than you ;)

Joke.
Your head.

It's cool though, I was simply referring to how tall Julien is in hopes of quelling the difference in opinions between him and Emre about E30's and MCS'.

[kishg]

Its a neon engine. It was designed by Chrysler, assembled by Chrysler and sent off to go into 1 of 2 cars: A neon or a Mini. End of story.

great.. another retard with no reading comprehension.

[Emre]

Might as well get this thread back on topic after all the my-dick-is-bigger-than-yours malarkey I just engaged in with Julien :p

Undeaneath all the MINI marketing BS beats the crapastic heart of a dodge NEON.

In fairness, the Mini handles pretty damned well for a FWD econobox. You can actually get it to rotate without having to do too much work. The damping is particularly impressive. There isn't enough power to run into significant torque steer or wheelspin until you get into modified Cooper S territory...and by then most folks would have an LSD in place. And there's nothing wrong with that twin-cam Chrysler/Rover engine. It's fine for what it is.

[tjts1]

blah blah blah

Its a neon engine. It was designed by Chrysler, assembled by Chrysler and sent off to go into 1 of 2 cars: A neon or a Mini. End of story.

[kishg]

Undeaneath all the MINI marketing BS beats the crapastic heart of a dodge NEON.
All they had to do was change a couple of sticker and suddenly you have a euro hatch with pedigree. Such BS.

slightly more complicated than that.. the engine was developed by Tritec which was a Chrysler/Rover joint venture. BMW ended up owning rover for a short period and inherited the Mini brand along with this motor. It's quite common for manufacturers to use jointly developed powerplants and other tech in modern cars. btw, this motor was only used in first gen mini's the 2nd gen uses a bmw/peugeot co-developed engine. just because something is developed by chrysler does not make it junk btw.

[Julien]

Talk about a straw man argument. I specifically said that the E30 won't hold up well in stock form but that, after mods, it will out-handle an awful lot of cars...including a stock Mini Cooper. The fact that a used Mini Cooper costs $10grand more than a used E30 is the salient feature you seemed to have missed. That's a lot of cash to play with if a fun track car is the goal.

We've all got our personal experiences. I've been driving E30s since they were new and tracking them for over 10 years. In that time, I've tracked several other cars, including E36's and Evos. I keep coming back to the E30 because I love the handling. Enough people seem to agree that these cars have developed a cult following, even among people like me (a medical doctor in his 30s) who can afford to run pretty much anything we want...short of a GT3, perhaps :(

And does a stock Mini qualify as the "be the end all be all in handling?" I'd prefer to track a J-Stock E30 rather than a stock Mini Cooper. I strongly suspect you'd do the same, otherwise you probably wouldn't be on these forums.

Never said an e30 wouldn't be more fun on track.. just that it isn't the best "handling" car available (even with jstock suspension..)but guess what? I've stopped caring. ;)

[tjts1]

Undeaneath all the MINI marketing BS beats the crapastic heart of a dodge NEON.



All they had to do was change a couple of sticker and suddenly you have a euro hatch with pedigree. Such BS.

[Emre]

The argument holds that stock for stock and e30 doesn't match up to newer "sporty" cars. Your argument that a J-stock e30 will outhandle just about anything is ridiculous.

Talk about a straw man argument. I specifically said that the E30 won't hold up well in stock form but that, after mods, it will out-handle an awful lot of cars...including a stock Mini Cooper. The fact that a used Mini Cooper costs $10grand more than a used E30 is the salient feature you seemed to have missed. That's a lot of cash to play with if a fun track car is the goal.

I've owned 15+ e30s and have had a great deal of fun with them, and shit when I was at my prime time of e30 ownership I thought the same crap you are regurgitating on this thread.

We've all got our personal experiences. I've been driving E30s since they were new and tracking them for over 10 years. In that time, I've tracked several other cars, including E36's and Evos. I keep coming back to the E30 because I love the handling. Enough people seem to agree that these cars have developed a cult following, even among people like me (a medical doctor in his 30s) who can afford to run pretty much anything we want...short of a GT3, perhaps :(

To repeat myself, the e30 is a fun nimble, light, toss able chassis, but it's not and never will be the end all be all in handling.

And does a stock Mini qualify as the "be the end all be all in handling?" I'd prefer to track a J-Stock E30 rather than a stock Mini Cooper. I strongly suspect you'd do the same, otherwise you probably wouldn't be on these forums.

[kishg]

Come out to the Tall People Convention and joo will show you what tall people are capable of.

:D

careful what you ask for, he just might be taller than you ;)