1st place: 2005 Mini Cooper S
"More juice and better gearing propel this year's super Cooper S to the front of this fun pack."

"And that veteran is the subtly revised Mini Cooper S. Yeah, there are lots of them around these days. But it's still on max-chill in the style department, looking just as at home on the boulevards of Beverly Hills as on the streets of London. And its supercharged driveline, strong brakes, sharp steering, and tied-down suspension are so beautifully matched and maximized that grin-inducing fun is just around the first corner... the Mini Cooper S is quite simply the most fun for the money you can have sitting down."

Word.

 

What an upbeat, thoughtful, and insightful offering. These people are truly among the enlightened!!!! Superbly written in every way.

 

"And, finally, there's the Mini Cooper S. It's the most expensive of this bunch and seemingly the least changed--you'll have to look hard to spot the revised head- and taillights, three-slat grille, new interior lighting, cupholders, and door-pocket storage. Or you could just stand on the throttle and feel the biggest change. A mere five-horsepower increase has been mechanically exploited with revised gear ratios to feel more like 45. Still cool? Or oh-so last year?

The scrappy Mini Cooper S drove into our hearts on the first impromptu rally stage: "Have you driven this car on that road yet? Holy guacamole!" With a test-topping 105-horsepower per liter on tap and a comparo-commanding 15.8 pounds of car to haul around for each supercharged horse, the revised-for-2005 Cooper S literally ran away from the rest of the field--then disappeared around a corner--and was finally seen again refueling at the gas station. The last time we tested a Cooper S, it ran to 60 mph in 7.2 seconds. This time, we were shocked when the computer recorded just 6.4 yee-haw seconds."

I believe it The new '05 MCS bone stock with the 6-speed manual and 16" V-spoke wheels, out of the box, feels soooo much faster than the similary equipped '04 MCS I used to have. The new car is absolutely wicked fast !

The shorter gearing ratios (12% shorter for 1st gear) and the additional 5 HP (Which when all is said and done feel more like another 45-50HP) made a tremendous difference in improving the performance and character of the car, IMO.

The stock '05 MCS manual, feels as strong off the line as the '02-'04 MCS with the 200HP JCW engine upgrade.

 

Putting the cooper s in a comparison with those other cars was a bit of a stretch. The standard might have been more appropriate.

 

At last some LOVE!

 

When Porsche and M3 drivers frequently pick up a Cooper S for its pure driving fun, are we supposed to be suprised that the S outdrives the Focus, Lancer, and Scion????

And is Allen Iverson a better basketball player than, say, Andre Agassi?

 

Two things . . .

1. The revised gearing (and the LSD), for me, is everything. Also, it just feels tighter than the '04. These things made me pull the trigger.

2. BMW's ad execs were probably given bigger checkbooks this year.

 

Did Motor Trend test it with or without LSD?

 

Unfortunately this is all the US car magazines compare the Mini Cooper too. Just a bunch of economy cars. I have almost never seen the Cooper against a bunch of sportier cars. It seems it is either against the likes of Toyota Matrixs or PT Cruisers, or base Ford Focus'. I just don't get it. And then the reviews are always the car trounces all over the other cars in all performance categories. No duuuuh! The car isn't a freakin Focus. Add onto that the JCW 210 on top of an '05 and the car is haulin. At least into the very low 6's. Why is it that the European magazines compare the MCS and/or JCW cars against much quicker Focus ST's and Seat Cupra's.... Much more performance oriented cars.

 

Tester was a bone stock MCS, no options and no LSD.

 

Maybe because the Mini is an economy car? The Cooper is priced right in the middle of the other cars in this test and the S is just a tick higher than the priciest. Mini's are pretty good deals, actually.

 

Cool Motor Trend finally got it right, MINI's are #1

Was always at 1st from 2002 to 2005 on my book

 

The comparison was with an S not a base Cooper for this article. My opinion is that a car that is $24k-$25k, does 0-60 in the low 6's, outhandles a Porsche 911 on a slalom, and is built by BMW, does not classify itself as an economy car, and definitely not with the likes of a Ford Focus or a Scion.

 

true, but how many people know that .. most of the people think of it as another cheap hatchback like the rest of them.

 

I don't think comparing the MCS against a 911, Elise, Ferrari and what not is a fair and balanced comparison. The MCS is capable of playing along with cars costing 3 times as much but that doesn't make it a fair comparison.

 

$25k!? You could probably get a new JCW S for $25k with some good negotiating skills. The base MCS, which they tested for this piece, comes in under $21k list. Again, this is definitely at the top end of the range for this group, but not off the charts. My guess is that a comparably equipped Tc would not be too not far off this price. This kind of "comparo" article is built around price tiers, not performance strata. The S is a cheap (inexpensive) performance car. That's Ok. In fact, it's great.

 

That is my point. Not sure why in the US the car is an economy car, and in Europe it is a performance car. Same exact car, but the editors understand the car in Europe. In the US they keep dumbing down the car, marking points against it because it can't haul a lot of groceries, or the ride is bumpy...

 

A typical MCS with a few of the packages cost in the $24k range. Configure one up on MiniUSA. I wasn't talking base, since no one really buys a base car anymore. The Scion (which you can't get comparable equipped to a MCS all the way) is under the price quite a bit, but again doesn't have all the features of the BMW.

Again, I am not trying to compare it to a 911, because it isn't, but how many people purchasing a Mini Cooper S are looking and really debating against this car and the Lancer. I have never met anyone. Unfortunately the US car magazines are entirely about price point and model categories than how a lot of people shop. Granted a lot of people do shop price point, but even more so, a lot of people shop in a lot of different categories. I know a lot of people looking at the 330i and the MCS. A lot of people on this board were struggling with purchasing an MCS and a Mitsubishi EVO VIII or an R32, cars way out of the MCS price range, and one you never see compared to in magazine articles, but if you puruse both the VW boards, the EVO boards and this board a topic that repeatedly comes up and one that a lot of people are looking at. I haven't seen a single person or post struggle with the base Focus or the base Dodge Neon and the MCS. Maybe the Focus SVT and the Neon SRT-4, but I have almost never seen those comparos in the magaizines (once but long time ago), and never with a JCW with suspension and brake kit.

I said all that to say I am glad the MCS won, but come on, the competition is pretty weak in my book, and unfortunately with articles like this, the MCS will continue to be treated as an economy retro car.

 

Is this a great country or what! Love it or leave it, baby.

 

Full agreement with dgszweda1. It is embarrassing to see my car (mine is an '04 MCS) compared to such crappy cars when it would fare very well against more performance-oriented cars.

I read somewhere, either on this site or mini2.com, that MINI is about to change its marketing approach to emphasize performance rather than cuteness or humour or whatever. I never understood why they didn't do that from the start. Do all the MINI owners on this site talk about how cute and funny their car is? No - we talk about performance. Maybe the change in marketing approach will change the image of the MINI in the minds of US car mags. As far as the general public goes, I am noticing more and more that guys who ask me about my car tend to know about the performance aspects, like knowing it has a supercharger, it's made by BMW, it handles well, etc. I just wish the car mags and MINI's marketing (or are those two the same thing - duh...) would hurry up and get with it.

 

Not sure if this relevant but at the local scca autocross a Tc was running in the HS class. I am not sure if that's the right classification or not but that's what was on the side of the car. That's the class of the Mini Cooper and not the MCS.

 

most of the people I talk to (they don't know I have a MCS) think that MINI is a clown car and for should leave it for the girl.
One time my idiot coworker asked me how much did I paid for MINI (he saw me got in the car the other day). I told him 27K out the door, actually I paid 33K out the door but I didn't wanna show off. He was in shocked .. "YOU PAID 27K FOR MINI?" he said .. "For that much money you could have gotten the Accord .. probably EX"

I just and leave.

 

You should have told him that you didn't want to contribute to the over-worked, under-paid Asian slave labor market... heheheheheheh

 

But don't they make Accords in the U.S.?

 

I understand the price-point argument, but at the same time, there ARE cars in the same price range that are also targeted to the same demographic.

Were I pesonally doing the comparison, my list might be:

- Mazda 3 5-door
- Toyota Celica GT-S (although I know it's going away and Toyota would prefer you use the Scion)
- VW GTI
- VW Beetle turbo
- Acura RSX type-S
- Saturn ION Redline
- Chevrolet Cobalt SS
- etc.

Then again, my personal comparison would be for people who would never consider buying a non-S cooper.

A "fully loaded" cooper S tends to move into a bracket of its own where the pricetag/bodystyle/performance combination can't accurately be compared to anything else out there.