swaussie

I had my butt seriously kicked by a Cooper S in some twisties tonight. I have midly tweaked 02 STi with uprated sway bars, Tein coilovers etc, but this mini seriously showed me who had a faster car in tight 90 degree bends . I was amazed at how rapid it was to say the least...

The Chief

In standard form plenty of magazibe articles say that a clio 182 will batter it on acceleration. However they seem to be easy enough to modify and i would imagine one with 200bhp+ being a nippy little machine.

The Chief

Please excuse my spelling i'm a bit piddled!

swaussie

Not as piddled as I was at the end of the Twisties Chief

v8voodoo

Swaussie,

My last car was a Cooper S (standard) and now I own a MY03 WRX. The MCS would've licked my Scoob around tight twisties in a big way. It would be more even on long sweepers. Roundabouts and the like, the mini would leave my scoob for dead. In a straight line or mild twisties with long bits in between, especially on an undulating road, the scoob wins. Just keep on boost and you can accelerate much earlier than the mini out of the corners, so where he gains going in, you gain coming out. Traction is an issue accelerating out for the MCS. Beware the aftermarket modded minis, 225bhp is commonplace now.

Regards,
Nige.

swaussie

The stretch of road is about 600 meters in total, with 12 bends of 90 degree angle or more and no more than 50 meters or so in between the bends. I have driven it a multitude of times because its on the way to my Girlfriends and I thought I was quick through it, but I dont think that anymore

renno rannes

Mate of mine has one standard at 163bhp then got it brought to 200bhp all under warranty and it is very very quick. We done a track day a while ago and it was wet so i thought he would be a bit screwed on the corners but it was unreal i couldent beleive the grip. But he is still buying a new scooby nxt year.

Renno

swaussie

and to make matters worse I have heard through the grapevine that BMW already have a 4wd 300bhp Mini concept car in testing

Scoob99

iTrader: (1)

In this months Evo Magazine their is a 315 BHP version

mn_angrybeats

Mine has around 210 / 200hp and its pretty nippy...it's not hugly fast on the straights gets to the ton in about 16 secs but it inspires confidence when pushing on...I'm easily faster down some local country roads in my Cooper S than any cars that I have owned, including a 4.2 TVR Cerbera.

Get rid of the run flats, stick on some F1 or Toyo's R's, get some Mintex 1144's and it's a cracking little car... getting rid of mine soon but I have owned it for nearly 3 years and 30k miles and I sure will miss it..

wall

Have one since last year ... not huge straight line speed, even with the Works kit, but great on really twisty roads. Short wheel base, stable and great handling, it's faster (on the right roads) than my past cars (Sti and Elise 111S).

The Elise was better / faster on track, but nowhere as confidence inspiring on normal twisty & bumpy country / alpine roads, and consequently slower.

The Sti was faster in a straight line, and had more grip exiting a turn, but turn-in and size slowed it down on the really twisty stuff.

The MCS is just very communicative, forgiving, chuckable and agile, and has suitable power in both standard and Works versions to make the most of the handling without becoming a wheelspin and understeering nightmare. In fact it's very neutral (with good tires - the first thing to change) pretty much not giving in to under or over steer until gently going into manageable 4 wheel drifts.
Very fun car on the right roads (lately I often spend the weekends cruising the alps), even reasonably manly in all-black : I will keep it for at least one more year in the hope of success of a new business venture = CaymanS

W

Matt Classic

Followed a well tuned one on the way down to Le mans this year. Came past us when we were doing a ton, I accelerated to 145 and still couldnt get past him. A friend in a 350Z finally went past him doing around 160.
The mini was 4 up as well !

ChungsterSTI

i don't quite believe those figures of the BBR converted MCS Turbo.

14.1 secs for the 1/4 mile is a bit slow for a car with 300+bhp and costs over £30k!

mn_angrybeats

Sounds about right to me for FWD, even with the LSD still difficult to launch the car, once it's moving it seems pretty nippy though...just look at the 0-100mph time which is not much off an M5...problem is the car is still a 1200kg lardy

Woody1

I've got an 02 STi UK model and the missus has a cooper S, so I get to compare them regularly. Cooper is good fun with immediate torque. Being lower powered means I can push it harder then my STi without running out of road (and nerve !!) as quick.

The steering on the Cooper is super crisp compared to mine although the difference was reduced when I had the geometry set right.

I agree, on tight twisty roads, the Cooper would be a close match for the simple reason that the STi is just getting going when the road changes direction although on A roads and such, there's no match due to the acceleration qualities of the STi being much faster.

Can't comment on the uprated Cooper S's but should imagine the margins are reduced.

Neil

archie g

My other half had a works S. Not hugely faster than a standard one. Defo faster through a series of tight bends/ roundabout than my 05 STI, but no match on an open road. Great fun car when you're in the mood, but went wrong a lot so she swopped it for a CTR.

Woody1

Looking at swapping ours for a CTR as we have a baby on the way. Need more of a boot !! Had a drive of my mates the other day. Liked it alot despite the lack of torque.

jonm01

I have a new one which has the LSD fitted, really helps to power out of corners. Not that impressed with the straight line speed, and I find it fidgety on the country lanes that my 172 Cup felt great on. I think the runflat tyres are a compromise. The one you raced probably had some mods.

'T'

remember the skoda fabia rs beating the cooper s on top gear, thats a nice thought, a skoda horsing an impreza sti........

ellisg

I thought it was on fifth gear, skoda Fabia vs Standard Cooper not the S, around Anglesey?

furrydice79

i had an 03 coop s before i bought my MY05 sti. one of the reasons i prefer my sti is that it could kick a stndrd coop s all over the shop,tight twisties to straight roads n roundys, scooby kicks its ***.
but to answer SWAUSSIE's question,,, for a tiny little fwd car it is mental and in some strange ways it is just as much fun as my new car,will stick with a 182 in a straight line and will beat it on the bends as i found out first hand,,,,,but dnt get cheeky with a CTR coz it will be embarrasing when he reaches vtec time...

Woody1

People keep raging about the VTec point in a CTR. Had a drive of my mates last week and although a superb car to drive, can't say that the cam change was any way near as exciting as people have commented it to be.. It actually felt dissapointing if barely noticable. Made me appreciate my Scooby.

CTR

I drove a Mini Cooper S last week, and thought the handling was not all that. Understeer, so try LOO, understeer, so try trail braking, understeer. Having said that, I rarely drive FWD cars these days. The acceleration isnt all that, and nor are the brakes. Everytime I braked the ABS was cutting in.

I really cant see why all those magazines raved about it. I would take a classic Impreza over a MCS, and I would definately take a 02(the model before they made it more understeery) CTR over a MCS.

wall

Most MCS handling issues are due to the original fitment tires and/or 17-18" wheels. Go for standard 16" with replacement 205/50 good performance tires and the car is just transformed.

W

CTR

Ah, could be that then. Have no idea what wheels or tyres it was running.

v8voodoo

Wall is totaly right.
Mine had the 16" wheels which gave better handling than the 17's.
Reason for moving mine on was the lack of space for summer driving holidays for two adults and a nipper.... and the rattles and squeaks were driving me nuts...lol
BMW were very good and happy to do loads of stuff under warranty. Just a shame they had to really. I've heard the build quality is better now though (mine was an 02).