Mini's are awesome!

-westy-

-westy-

-westy-

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went out in a mate's mini last night, and my god! :eek:

they handle so well, i was really really suprised!

this was a 1976 1 litre mini, and it seems like so much fun!

i want one!

anyone else agree?


:D
 
I think the Mini gives the illusion of being really fast and having amazing handling becuase its so small and you are so close to the road.

I reckon if you'd have driven the same road in, say, a BMW 5 Series at twice the speed it'd have felt slower :D
 
true, but can a 5 series handle that well on tyres 4 inches wide?

i loved it, didn't lose grip once, and accelerated quite well for a 28 year old car! :D
 
One of my aims for the next 5 years is to buy and fully restore a mini, as in full strip down, sort out the rust and rebuild making sure everything is in perfect condition...

Gonna be hard and test my skills, but i'm doing it for two reasons, firstly i love mini's, the looks, the illusion of speed even if you aren't travelling *that* fast, and the handling...
 
They're a bit like marmite. Some people love them, personally I think they could outhandle an elise, but they'd still be little rusting coffins with wheels I wouldn't be seen dead in :)
 
I rather have a bigger car in a crash though, at 30mph it messed my Pug 306 up, god knows what a mini would have been like. I was never allowed one when I was younger as one of my sister friends was nearly killed in a crash in one, and i wouldn't put my self in that danger now (getting old)
 
Sold my Mini today - was a hoot but nowhere near fast enough.

With regards to accidents they grip and handle so well you can usually get out the way in plenty of time.
 
My mate has a mini cooper, nice car but no way i'd spend any length of time in it with him, he's a liability where crashing is concearned, and I wont be wanting to have crash in one! Nice cars all the same though, but I'd rather have something safe.
 
i'm tempted to get an old mini and SORN it for the summer, and do some major work on it, engine included.

how old cars have to be for classic insurance?
 
My mates is P reg, so its a bit new for classic insurance, got it for 650quid though so a bit of a bargain I guess?
 
I just remember at Digny Speedway watching the Cooper S's go up against the Mustangs.

The Mustangs had it in the straightaways because of thier massive torque and bullish horsepower, but the Mini's would eat them alive in the turns!!

It was funny to hear the Mini's come over the hill sounding like a pack of angry bumble bees with the Mustangs right on thier arses sounding like a bunch of grumbling bears!!

REEEEEEER, REEEEEER, REEEEEER

BROOOOM, BROOOOOM, BROOOOM

Then hearing all that rubber being chewed up as they all tried to better the others!! :p

I've always liked the old school Mini's. Mind you, if I was to get one now, it would be one of those Z-cars versions!! :D
 
yer, in the last btcc meeting at brands hatch they had some classic car race, there was a mini then and it was versus astons and mustangs etc, astons ate it alive but i believe it kept up with mustangs until it broke down, i can remember the name of the driver (according to the window sticker) was DEATH, there are a few pics on www.adamstreeter.fotopic.net i took, here are a couple


 
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[TW]Fox said:
I think the Mini gives the illusion of being really fast and having amazing handling becuase its so small and you are so close to the road.

I reckon if you'd have driven the same road in, say, a BMW 5 Series at twice the speed it'd have felt slower
Click to expand...

Some minis are quite fast, some are not but most do have superb handling for the reasons you mention.They are superb fun!
As for mentioning a 5 series in the same thread, you may aswell be suggesting using a jumbo jet to travel instead of a rollerskate.
Chalk and cheese, well more like chalk and custard or something.

I always appreciate and respect minis when they drive by i have to admit.I can't show the same respect to the 5 series though i'm afraid.They normaly just make me chuckle due to the fact you can pick one up for 6K and have it look like one that cost 20K thus the owners drive around with some laughable air of superiority look about them.
 
Cos i'm old it all comes down to when i have kids would i let them drive one, not on your nelly. but then buy the time i have kids the latest cars will be classics :p
 
MInis = win win win!
I had 9 in a row back in the day...my fave was my clubman estate, hi-lo's and 12" copper minilites with falken rubber, 1098 engine with fast cam and k & n filter and solid subframe to body mounts and a bucket seat for me...ouch my spine!
No body roll what-so-ever and it cornered flat as a pancake, ok lots of cars beat it in straight lines but I could drive round the corners at the same speed as the straights e.g no braking required, best moment was coming off M25 into Egham round the long loop pas the RAC building(wasnt there at the time, 1994/5 ish) which most cars couldnt take at 50, so scooting round at 60 and pushing on what comes round the out side of me and slows up(dual carriage way btw)? A T5 M-way police car!!!, gave me a thumbs up and indicated I should pull over...pulled over and he vouchsafed I was fairly moving a tad which in his words "shouldnt be possible in that!". I explained what mods were done and turns out he was a Mini man himself but not a tuner-upper but he was more surprised as the T5 he was in was near its limit on that stretch as well!!!

Mini wins!
 
-westy- said:
went out in a mate's mini last night, and my god! :eek:

they handle so well, i was really really suprised!

this was a 1976 1 litre mini, and it seems like so much fun!

i want one!

anyone else agree?


:D
Click to expand...

My feelings on this are that it felt like it handled well because you were in all likelyhood going very slowly. A friend of mine was looking closely at mini coopers but the performance as std is just woeful in on them, we actually test drove the 1.3i cooper and all we could do is scream at the thing for the sheer lack of any power whatsoever. It took longer to hit 60 than my car would do 100 in, and if you dared to actually get any momentum up (which was neigh on impossible), its "amazing handling" would go out the window all of a sudden and you were left with a woeful little tin which couldnt grip nor corner.

As std, no thanks. Maybe with a metro turbo conversion or something. For me, and him, the fun seemed irrelavent when he got a 1.9GTi 205 instead. Much better car all round which would run rings around a std mini.
 
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