How much should one be expected to pay for a Mini?

Just my take... Don't go jap unless you have loads of spare cash. When you cometo modifying the car for more performace it costs a fortune. Nickxx on here has an e36 318iS coupe which is amazing fun on the track and super cheap to modify and maintain. Also what about something like a Clio valver ?
 
Minis will always hold their value stupidly. get something stupidly cheap and reliable. This usually means Jap or French. the latter being a darn sight more modern and rust-proof :p

saxo vts/xsara vts two good shouts. harder to find the former in decent nick though.

besides, RWD is for pussys who watch too much Fast n Furious :p

cheap reliable and fun? you need to go french.
 
I'm more than open to suggestions Gareth. It's still early days yet but something I can deffo see happening this year :)

Wasn't necessairly going to modify it for performance. Get something thats half quick as standard then just strip it out stick a decent seat in it maybe mod the handling then go have some fun :D - If it dies it dies. It's a few hundred spent on having damn good fun :)
 
I wouldn't go for a Supra. Huge bills if anything remotely serious goes wrong and the 7M engine is a real weak link. They aren't that much fun to lob about either.

What's your rough budget and how "prepared" (cage/seats etc) would you like it to be for that money?
 
Am I the only one who thinks classic Minis are severely over rated for their abilities? I can understand the scene and the following can be a good experience but they're actually quite crap cars. My mate fully restored an original Mini Cooper which I think had a 1.3 engine in it. I had heard people rant and rave about how surprisingly quick these were and how well they handled. It was slow, unresponsive and whilst the handling wasn't bad, it wasn't great either. The novelty of driving a shoebox with skateboard wheels on the road was fun for all of 15 minutes. My experience was also soured from requiring a tetnis injection after getting out of the car.
 
Lopéz said:
What's your rough budget and how "prepared" (cage/seats etc) would you like it to be for that money?
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No more than a grand. Going to go halfs with a mate so spending £500 each.

And if it's standard then fine, we'll split the costs on everything else. I'm handy with a mig welder so could build a cage myself :p

I just want it to be fun to drive and reliable. I'd prefer RWD...neither of us have driven RWD properly before, we are both what I would consider competent (him moreso) drivers. I'd rather get used to and learn to have fun in RWD on a track than anywhere else tbh.
 
Okay

BMW E30 325
BMW E36 328
Mazda MX-5
Honda CR-X 16v
Peugeot 205 GTI
Toyota MR-2 Mk1
Vauxhall Nova 2.0 16v
Renault Clio 16v
VW Golf GTI Mk2

Anything on that list will be great fun, even more so when you have removed the interior (trust me, even relatively refined cars are raucous when you take out all the carpets and interior fittings)

The BMW's are quite softly sprung as standard and will need a bit of bolstering to make them properly fun (soft RWD cars don't slide, they sort of bounce)

Manta could be a good outside bet but again on standard suspension they lean and wallow all over the place. You'll pick up a serviceable GTE for £500-£800, bombproof CIH boat anchor engine and it leaves you a few hundred to get it on some stiff Spax adjustables.

Sierra is always a cheap slidey option, get a late model 2.0 DOHC or a late XR4i, get it on the deck and as stiff as you can and it WILL slide. But they are not rocketships and are a bit cumbersome at times. Wealth of Cossie tuning bits, and LSD's etc available s/h which is a bonus.

Not a huge fan of the way the MR-2 drives for a RWD car (they never FEEL particularly RWD in my opinion) and so you might find it a little disappointing if getting the back end out and catching it again is one of your aims.

205 and Golf are both safe FWD bets, plenty out there to choose from, I think the 8v Golf is a bit dull compared to the 205 but some disagree. Golf is virtually nuke-proof. Clio is an outsider as they can be terminally unreliable but I think it's luck of the draw.

CRX is well worth a punt. No it isn't RWD but it's very raucous and very nimble and the engine is a peach. In fact I'd be tempted to choose this if you can cope with it being FWD.

MX-5 will likely be a rough old 1.6 at this end of the scale and whilst its one of the best chassis on the list, a knackered MX-5 will be nowhear near as nice as a half tidy 205 or CRX, RWD or not!

Avoid 200SX/turbo nutter things, they get tedious on track and can be expensive to put right.
 
Scuzi said:
Am I the only one who thinks classic Minis are severely over rated for their abilities? I can understand the scene and the following can be a good experience but they're actually quite crap cars. My mate fully restored an original Mini Cooper which I think had a 1.3 engine in it. I had heard people rant and rave about how surprisingly quick these were and how well they handled. It was slow, unresponsive and whilst the handling wasn't bad, it wasn't great either. The novelty of driving a shoebox with skateboard wheels on the road was fun for all of 15 minutes. My experience was also soured from requiring a tetnis injection after getting out of the car.
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They are surprisingly quick on a track though. When I used to race Mini Se7ens it would always surprise me the kind of cars I was being held up by in free practice test sessions especially considering that a Mini Se7en is basically a 'standard' 1000cc Mini apart from a mad diff ratio and a few other restricted mods. Most other saloons from other club race series' didn't stand a chance against the Mini, especially at tracks like Cadwell or Brands.

I'd certainly not have liked to drive it on the road though. ;)
 
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Lopez has already mentioned it but I'd get a mk1 MR2 for that money (bit biased as I've got one and love it :p)

I do agree with Lopez in some respects though, it can understeer far more than any rwd car should do, but it can be prompted to switch from understeer to oversteer fairly easily. I've also heard getting a thicker front arb and the TRD geometry pretty much completely eliminates the understeer...

It's also got a lovely 1.6 engine that loves to be revved, and they're fairly reliable as well, but they are 20 years old now so things do go wrong, and rust is a problem as well.

If you get the bug they can be tuned nicely as well, mainly via engine swaps:
you've got the 4a-gze (1.6 supercharged) which is 145hp stock, 180-200 is fairly easy via a pulley mod,
the 3s-gte (2l turbo from the mk2) which is ~220 stock iirc, 300+ possible
then you've got 2 different 3l V6's both ~220 ish, harder to get to 300 though.
 
Minis are damn expensive to buy and own tbh, bodywork might not be a concern but actual rot should be on them, they rot so badly and you dont want a rotten car on track! Not a car to own unless you are handy with the tools, although you say you are so you will be ok in that respect. Cool cars to own for sure, my wife has one and its a hoot to drive. It cost £3200 to buy a year ago and has since had £2000 spent on it. This is all parts, no labour as I do the work myself. Its had a full front subframe rebuild and a engine refresh, and some performance upgrades. In the year we have had it its gone from mint looking to needing rust sorting on one sill, both a panels and both front wings.

Its a 1995 Cooper btw.

Imho total moneypits for a trackcar, I like a budget car for that thou. I have a zetec fiesta xr2i for that, would be tempted by saxos for the money they make now.
 
The MK1 MR2 doesnt go sideways much it has to much grip and not enough power.

Of course you can get it to go but you have to be trying as mine was always planted.
 
L0rdMike said:
The MK1 MR2 doesnt go sideways much it has to much grip and not enough power.

Of course you can get it to go but you have to be trying as mine was always planted.
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Yep, even in horrendously wet conditions (Phil will testify!) Kaiowas' sprint prepped MR2 really didn't want to let go. Driven in exactly the same fashion, the Manta would have been on the lockstops.

Depends what you look for in a car. If going fast is the objective something like the MR2 is better, I prefer to have maximum fun at minimum speed so that if it all goes pear shaped I have a higher chance of recovery with minimal car damage.

Phate, it isn't so easy to do this these days with older cars but ideally what you want to do is drive a few examples of each, hard. If not then passenger rides are the next best thing.
 
I'm sure once we are used to it providing it stays reliable the pulley mod mentioned above to get it around 200bhp will probably occur :p
 
Lopéz said:
You'll need to find yourself a supercharged engine to put in it first ;)
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Ah.

Now that, I didn't know.

Ah well, spanners at the ready! :D

I know what you mean about driving each one very hard...gonna be difficult to do that, unfortunately. I'll try and atleast get a passenger ride in each though. I've been in a 205 - that was hilairious :D - I'm not looking at going fast, I'm looking at having fun.
 
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