Today's (Fri, 12/16) Sacramento Bee's Auto section's feature article is called "Rapid Transit," the fourth and final part of a series called "The Bee's Best Bets." It's by the Bee's Auto Editor, Mark Glover. The intro says, "Today's installment of The Bee's 14th annual Best Bets series looks at 2006 sports cars and other high-performance vehicles... Best Bets do not necessarily reflect the best vehicles in the world, but typically are chosen for the enjoyment, reliability and value they provide to Northern Californians."

The list:

Acura RSX
Bently Continental GT
BMW 6 Series/M6
Chevrolet Corvette
Dodge Viper
Ford GT
Ford Mustang
Lexus SC 430
Mazda MX-5 (that's the Miata)
Mercedes-Benz SLK-Class
Mini Cooper (oops - he didn't capitalize MINI!)
Mitsubishi Eclipse
Nissan 350Z
Pontiac Solstice
Porsche 911 Carrera

More quotes: "As for cars that made this year's cut, high emphasis was placed on engine strength [I assume he means performance, rather than durability?], suspension tuning, chassis rigidity, best use of high-tech features, interior appointments, standard features, available options, driver comfort, safety devices, and, yes, cost."

He admits that these are his favorites. He also notes that there are a lot of other cars that might have made the list, but he hasn't driven them. One he mentions in particular is the VW GTI. (I wonder if he's subtly saying, hey, VW, you might have made this list if you had let me test drive one of your cars!)

He doesn't say a whole lot specifically about the MINI. (Note the capitalization, Mark.) One short paragraph: "More discount-priced sports equipment [the previous paragraphs were about the MX-5 and Solstice] is available with the Mini Cooper. The S version in convertible form is about as much fun as you can get for $25,000 and change (), but please note that production numbers are relatively limited."

There's a table that gives base HP, EPA city/highway fuel economy, and base/fully-equipped price range. The MINI comes in, respectively, as lowest in base hp (115 hp), highest/highest in fuel economy (28/36 mpg), and lowest/4th lowest ($16k/$27k) in base price/fully-equipped price.


Couldn't find a link on the Bee's web site, so I thought I share...

 

Well, as long as U don't buy one from Niello you're doing fine Jimbo

 

Local?

Nice thing about Niello is the way they're keeping used MINI prices way up around here!

 

bad thing aboot Niello is their general snotty attitude, as well as their goofy mandatory accessory mark-ups. I actually steered a friend of mine who lives in Folsom over to East Bay MINI in Pleasonton, and her experience was top-notch! jimbo

 

and dont let Niello put on your JCW brakes either

 

I don't think Mitsubishi Eclipse qualify any 'Good Looking' and 'Sporty / High Performance'
That suprise me with that car on the list... I would rather they have the EVO VIII the list.