FWIW,

A buddy of mine bought a G35 Coupe, and said that he tried both the automatic and the 6sp and that there was a tremendous difference. He hated the others and almost didn't end up buying the car, until he drove the 6sp.

The G35 is one of the best deals going, as good a value as some of the subies, methinks.

I took Coop into the mountains with some 350z friends and held my own (and passed some on the outside through turns!) It was all pretty casual but I don't recall anyone ever pulling on me. (Really twisty, though.) That, and some cat & mouse with an S2000 were two of my favorite mountain trips.

Jeff

 

I have the SPI twincharge kit. If you go to my gallery you can see the pics of it and the dyno sheets that it put down. The cost is $5850 for the standard kit. On a bone stock S it should be in the 250whp range.

 

...bit$h slapped usually refers to a real beating. Discounting El's Mini, there are still plenty of Minis out there that'll run over a G35 and vise versa. Plenty of good and bad drivers too. Now, if you twin charge a G35...

 

There's almost a full second difference (0-60) with the manual versus automatic. A MCS modified with a 19% pulley especially, and a few other goodies such as an exhaust, GIAC and injectors would definitely out accelerate the auto - no problem. Against the manual G35, the S would lose a 0-60, but a "passing" or at speed run and the MINI would definitely win. I'm pretty sure there isn't a 260hp car out there that could beat me on the highway. I've beaten 260hp Mustang GTs and WRXs with surprising ease - as long as it wasn't from a standstill. And that was BEFORE the ECU and injectors - I just had the 19% then. Now I could probably make them really sweat a 0-60.

I actually did "race" a G35 from a traffic light onto a freeway (2 lane ramp) and I was a half car length ahead until I got it into third...then he couldn't keep up. And he got a jump on me b/c I didn't know he wanted to "go". This too was before ECU and injector mods. So I'm assuming he had the automatic.

 

I just remembered about this thread. Ethereal was actually me before I got the MCS hehe... Well just thought I'd post for all the nay-sayers... My mods are listed below, nothing like I described because well, funds didn't work out.... My friend has a G35C 5AT with cai, test pipes (cat-delete pipes), and a y-pipe. We did a couple of runs at 35mph to 90mph and we stayed DEAD EVEN. I mean I didn't pull on him or him on me one bit. He was using tiptronic so he was in 2nd gear too. Now, we also did a couple of runs in Drive... I pulled pretty nicely on him in just 2 gears (like 3 cars)... He's planning on installing his headers at the end of summer and I'm planning on adding the WMS exhaust at the same time... I'll be sure to post back, hehe...

 

The automatic transmissions that Nissan uses in its cars is total crap. They are unsmooth, very slow revving, and rob gobs of power through the drive train. I say a well modded mini s will pass an auto g35.

Tyler

 

What? How does the IC keep the engine cooler? The G35 is NA and doesn't need an IC. The IC on the mini cools the intake charge after the supercharger... The G35 will be breathing cooler air..

 

I would just like to add, that people who dont think a mini can do well in a straight line either A: dont have many mods, B: Haven't ever been involved in the small displacement racing scene before, or both A&B.

Granted in Stock form the MCS isn't to impressive, but the potential of our drivetrain is really quit amazing. If you add a TC kit you will beat Evo's, 350's and STi's in stock trim, and be about the same price, or a bit under. If you spend the same amount on non TC parts you will still give most of those cars a surprising run for their money, or beat them depending on the drivers.

The Evo 9 weighs 3263/300hp. 600 lbs heavier than us...so 3-4 people.

The STi weighs almost the exact same with the same hp.

The 350 weighs 3339/287hp

The G35 weighs 3485/280hp

I weighed my Mini at 2630/168hp

Try here http://www.fantasycars.com/derek/quartmile.html or http://robrobinette.com/et.htm

Or any other 1/4 mile calculator and you will find that making 250hp will put us in the mid-high 13's with a good launch.

I would imagine that a mid 13 would be considered "quick" by most people. I just don't understand why people think the MCS can't be quick in a straight line...

 

Before you let yourself get too caught up in modifications galore.
After watching many many many stock and modified cars at track and autocross for the last 3 years I have to say that above all else, driver skill plays a major role in one's overall performance. Much more so than which car you are driving. Sticky tires and light weight rims come in a close second.

The MINI is just excellent on tight track courses with limited straightaways and is excellent in autocross where speeds are kept to 60 mph or less.

At a recent autocross in my area here are some results (100+ drivers):

B-stock class
Stock G35 4 door 63.78 sec 54th overall PAX (Novice)
Stock G35 4 door 69.09 sec 87th overall PAX (Novice)
Stock G35C 74.98 sec 97th overall PAX

H-stock class
Stock MC with Holey rims/Avon Tech R tires 59.09 sec 3rd overall PAX
Stock MC/ Helix exhaust/ Holey rims/ Falken Azenis 63.82 sec 27th PAX

G-stock class
Stock MCS with 17" rims/runflats 63.26 sec 25th overall PAX
Stock MCS with 16" rims/runflats 65.11 sec 39th overall PAX

B-Street performance class
(Five G35 coupes with various mods- not novices, all male)
Best time 66.14 73th overall PAX
Worst time 71.96 sec 95th overall PAX

Street Mod class
MCS 19% pulley/CAI/coilovers/Miltek Header-exhaust/ Kosei 15" rims
Kumho V710 tires 56.39 sec 8th overall PAX

Street Mod 2 class
G35 with supercharger about 5 seconds faster than the other G35 drivers and about 2 seconds slower than the SM class MCS drivers.

PAX times are with handicap for the mods legal in the respective classes.
The times listed are by no means unusual or fast and we have many examples with similar and sometimes even better results.

One of our MINI owners has an MCS (his third) and a modified supercharged G35C used for the track (His track time is about 1 second faster in the G35C than in a comparitively fast MCS -with another driver- 39.9 sec vs 41 sec per lap). He calls his G35 "the boat" and always drives his MCS for autocross with very strong results every month.

Moral of the story- develop your skill first. Find a safe place to do head to head comparisons at the track. Don't forget the sticky tires. A stock 06 MCS with LSD and manual transmission with light rims and R compound tires would be very tough to beat (and half the cost of it's competitors).

 

I mean straightline racing... I'm pretty confident that my skill as a driver is pretty good for not taking any driver courses (which I plan on doing once I'm 18 and step down to the 15% or maybe 17% pulley). I dont plan on autocrossing, but maybe going to the track every two months or so I hope..

 

I have raced my friend's AUTO G35 Coupe (CAI only), and I lose everytime from a stop. From a roll though, say at 50mph, I would always pull ahead. I would pull ahead in the begining and then would would be about even for the rest of the time. Mods were as listed in sig....15%, CAI, Exhaust. G35's are fast cars

 

For straightline racing the MINI isn't the best choice, unless you do quite a bit to modify it for that role. You're better off with something that has all wheel drive, lots of power, is very light, has sticky wide tires, and low drag coefficient. A lotus elise would be nice.


With all the stoplights around and speed limits most urban areas aren't friendly to muscle cars that are suited for straightline racing. If you have a motorspeedway with 1/8 and 1/4 mile straights then that's the place to go.

When we autocross our MINIs we see lots of other cars with gobs of power but they don't handle that well. Worse, all that power needs to be controlled or it will bite back and often force the driver to loose control. The MINI is easily controlled and tossed around with the right blend of just enough power with balance through turns. It's really not a muscle car like feel, more a go kart like ride.

On the practical side when I am away from the track my MINI gets along with the high prices of gas very nicely on a highway commute. 1.6 liters and still enough power when I want it. Ask any G35 owner how is their mpg.
They'd rather talk about something else.