Newsflash, new Mini Cooper S makes the A3 and the VW GTI look pretty plain
04-24-2007, 05:40 PM
#41
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GTI is a better car than the old new Mini, by quite a bit
What's so surprising is how good the new new Mini is. No question you made the right choice last year. The GTI is a pretty fine car but if you push really hard I think you'll find its limitations to be fairly scary. At 9/10 ths the GTI is hard to beat. At 10/10 ths I think you might find it a bit much to handle. Depends what you like.
I assume you didn't go for the DSG option. I thought DSG was the holy grail of semi automatic gearboxes, but, sadly, it is not. Eventually, the technology will be there but not yet.
I assume you didn't go for the DSG option. I thought DSG was the holy grail of semi automatic gearboxes, but, sadly, it is not. Eventually, the technology will be there but not yet.
04-24-2007, 05:44 PM
#42
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Come on Carmenski, don't disappoint me.
There is no perfect but a GTI is better than a Hyundai anything. Even an A3 is better than something. Value for money is not an Audi strong suit.
Question is: why would anyone buy an A3 over a GTI? If the R32 was available in Canada (or the even more delicious R36 expected soon) who in their right mind would buy an A3, an A4, a TT or any Audi short of the stupendous S4 or the mindblowing RS4? Money counts and the new new Mini is a bargain for what it delivers.
Question is: why would anyone buy an A3 over a GTI? If the R32 was available in Canada (or the even more delicious R36 expected soon) who in their right mind would buy an A3, an A4, a TT or any Audi short of the stupendous S4 or the mindblowing RS4? Money counts and the new new Mini is a bargain for what it delivers.
04-24-2007, 05:46 PM
#43
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I am readily accepted in many of the car World's fori, if you actually paid
attention to what I wrote and tried really, really hard to understand it your auto life would be immeasurably better. you would be so grateful you could be my other friend.
04-24-2007, 05:49 PM
#44
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Yaris is actually a pretty good car, and active safety is so much more important
than passive safety. The Yaris shares the Mini's virtue of being hard to hit as well as hard to catch in a corner. The Euro version of this car is much better chassis wise. It ought to be possible to bring the NA Yaris up to proper handling standards with decent struts and shocks.
04-24-2007, 05:51 PM
#45
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Real men aren't troubled by appearances, the S4 is a meat axe
to the Mini's scalpel. On a tight track the Mini would soon be up the bumper of any S4.... you'd be sliced diced fricasseed and broiled before the S4 could get out of the way. Stage 3 or stage 99, the S4 is a handling pig.
04-24-2007, 05:56 PM
#46
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The new new Mini makes the old new Mini a has been, it's that good
It's as if the German bean counters at BMW that deprived the original new Mini of its handling finesse (and required those god awful seats) were so surprised at the financial success of the Mini that they finally let the British suspension engineers (and seat designers... no one does seats and suspension better than the British, even the Swedes take a back seat to the British in those departments) do what they always intended to do with the Mini before the Germans got involved and started talking about spring rates and damper rates that make nonsense and seats that feel hard when you first sit down and just get worse from there.
Make no mistake, the new new Mini is a barn burner and comfortable to boot.
Make no mistake, the new new Mini is a barn burner and comfortable to boot.
04-24-2007, 06:01 PM
#47
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But you'd be wrong to do so. The GTI oversteers very abruptly at the limit
which is a clear sign that the suspension guys didn't know what they were doing. Germans don't do suspension, they do cart springs.
Push a Mini as hard as you like and the handling remains exactly the same, neutral to mild understeer. Total control at all times is what the new new Mini delivers and with a silky smooth ride....absolute heaven which gets you past the funky looks and the dumbo speedometer (does anyone on this board actually use a speedometer...why?)
Push a GTI too hard and you get a complete mess. If you aren't like me and aren't fazed by poor handling the GTI is just a joke. For most drivers it is adult diaper time.
Push a Mini as hard as you like and the handling remains exactly the same, neutral to mild understeer. Total control at all times is what the new new Mini delivers and with a silky smooth ride....absolute heaven which gets you past the funky looks and the dumbo speedometer (does anyone on this board actually use a speedometer...why?)
Push a GTI too hard and you get a complete mess. If you aren't like me and aren't fazed by poor handling the GTI is just a joke. For most drivers it is adult diaper time.
04-24-2007, 08:53 PM
#49
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Re: Can you give us a quick'n'dirty on the diff b/w 8P and 8L please?
8P is the new one and in NA, we get the 3.2 and 2.0T engine. Sorta like the Golf Mark V, R32 and GTi. The 8L was never available in NA. Basically a Golf Mark IV.
