Mini's are awesome!

[TheDome]

im going for 13x6 on mine with proper sportspack arches but ive upgraded the suspension ready for them, gaz shocks all round, hi-lows, and full adjustable tie rods and bottom arms

Mine is a sportspack with the 13" on it......Just beware in the wet and any other sort of bad weather.

I agree with what people say, that the mini handles best on 12"........although if its bone dry the 13" are certainly good.....but only if is bone dry.

 

[D4VE]

No, but neither is a Deawoo Matiz. You can't use that to say regular ones are fast though

True mr fox true.
They only represent a go kart project for me, Id never want one as an only car and it certainly wouldnt have an old 1 litre engine if I had one

 

[D4VE]

V6 must be a lot heavier :S

The fact that a golf gti mk1 couldnt keep up with my little 1litre through the bends (I'm no race driver and he was definately trying ), I'd put rest to the claim that they dont handle.

I'm fed up of this - When I have a decent one with decent BHP/ton - we should all go out on a trackday.

Cant wait to race a 5series

Indeed, even if a 5 series driver was young enough to try it on, he'd be spinning off before he got close.
Minis do handle very very well.
Yes they "feel" fast even when they are going slowly, but if you do go fast then they will handle quite nicely

Saw a Lotus Carlton spin off trying to follow a Mini at Castle combe, made me laugh

 

[vanpeebles]

a standard 1.3 is around 0 to 60 12 seconds, which isnt that slow really a mk1 corsa 1 litre takes 20 seconds. and the 1.4 8v is around 12. the way u lot went on you would think it was steam driven.

 

[Dolph]

Indeed, even if a 5 series driver was young enough to try it on, he'd be spinning off before he got close.
Minis do handle very very well.
Yes they "feel" fast even when they are going slowly, but if you do go fast then they will handle quite nicely

Saw a Lotus Carlton spin off trying to follow a Mini at Castle combe, made me laugh

See, now it's comments like this that make me laugh.... You are forgetting that mini's don't go fast at all unless heavily modified (12 seconds to 60 and a top speed barely in 3 figures is not fast by any stretch of the imagination)

A 5 series would destroy a stock mini in pretty much all conditions, even the slow 520.

As for a Lotus carlton spinning trying to keep up with a mini..... Please.

-Dolph

 

[mr jamez]

The HUGE success it has had in motorsport be it rallying, stock car racing, hill climbing etc is also a testament to the fact that they handle well and there is also a lot of room for improvement from stock They still race them today, miglias still beat 355's round silverstone.

For people who are potential mini owners, listen to the people who actualy drive a mini rather than people who have no experience with them what so ever. However the dangerous rustbucket thing is 100% true

 

[D4VE]

What do you mean please?
Are you saying Im lying?

I was talking modified yes.

 

[vanpeebles]

the fastest production na mini was the cooper s i think 0 to 60 about 11 seconds i think the top speed was a ton or 101 or something, the era turbo mini was 0 to 60 7.8 top speed 115

 

[Dolph]

What do you mean please?
Are you saying Im lying?

I was talking modified yes.

I'm saying if you really think that the Lotus spun simply because he was trying to keep up, rather than because of driver error, you're not being very sensible. Unless you're talking a very highly modified mini, and then it's not exactly a fair comparison. Something that simply looks like a mini but is something else entirely underneath in terms of everything else isn't a mini, at least not as a vaguely valid comparison to the rest of them.

And I'll also say that if you're talking modified minis, why not modified other cars? A modified Cossie or skyline would obliterate a modified mini, but you seem to want to compare a modified mini to a stock car of something else.

And yes, I have driven plenty of minis, standard and modified, and my opinion of them has always been consistant. They aren't that quick, they don't handle that well, but they do flatter the driver into thinking they do, which is where people get confused.

-Dolph

 

[commited]

And I'll also say that if you're talking modified minis, why not modified other cars? A modified Cossie or skyline would obliterate a modified mini, but you seem to want to compare a modified mini to a stock car of something else.

PRICE PRICE PRICE

Silly modified turbo A-series - 100% mini Http://www.miniwilliams.co.uk

Far too much power.

However Dan Webster's 163bhp KAD 16v a series is very very very quick and handles very very well. I have a video of it all over the back of a modified STI - but it isnt quite legal

 

[mr jamez]

And a lotus carlton is just another carlton, right? good old caravan towing workhorse

I would say a heavily modded mini is comparable to one.

 

[D4VE]

I haven't driven any, merely watched them on track

Since when was the Skyline the benchmark of handling? Its pretty heavy, ive seen them made look very silly by smaller lighter cars.

Yes it was driver error, I guess he was harassed a little too much by the mini

 

[vanpeebles]

westy if you fancy a mini chat on msn just let me know and also i really wish ppl would try and resisit from spoiling mini posts. i dont go jumping in other threads about cars i dont like, i just keep away. you dont like em dolph fair enough. i dont like land rovers but i just keep away, no need to spoil it for everyone else

 

[cableguy2003]

I'm saying if you really think that the Lotus spun simply because he was trying to keep up, rather than because of driver error, you're not being very sensible. Unless you're talking a very highly modified mini, and then it's not exactly a fair comparison. Something that simply looks like a mini but is something else entirely underneath in terms of everything else isn't a mini, at least not as a vaguely valid comparison to the rest of them.

And I'll also say that if you're talking modified minis, why not modified other cars? A modified Cossie or skyline would obliterate a modified mini, but you seem to want to compare a modified mini to a stock car of something else.

And yes, I have driven plenty of minis, standard and modified, and my opinion of them has always been consistant. They aren't that quick, they don't handle that well, but they do flatter the driver into thinking they do, which is where people get confused.

-Dolph

I think dave made the point that it was laughable purely on cosmetics , i.e its not every day you see a mini pull away from a carlton. Yes its silly comparing modofied cars to stock ones , but the sleeper factor is still there and still rather amusing. If you saw a lotus carlton beat another average looking car off the lights you wouldnt be impressed , for a mini to do so makes you look twice.

 

[D4VE]

Mini's should be modded anyway, its so cheap
A Koni shock is £22 or something

 

[blade007]

I always loved the mini-pickup.

 

[TheDome]

And yes, I have driven plenty of minis, standard and modified, and my opinion of them has always been consistant. They aren't that quick, they don't handle that well, but they do flatter the driver into thinking they do, which is where people get confused.

-Dolph

I agree with most stuff you say Dolph but i deffo disagree here. The mini is a great handling machine. even more so when you take into consideration how old the design is.

The have all the right stuff to make a good handling car so there is no reason why they shouldnt.

Although you are 100% right about being underpowered (as standard) that cannot be argued.....as well as being rust buckets.

 

[vanpeebles]

but what is the 1.3 underpowered compared too? its still in the same bracket for most cars of similar size and engine capacity

 

[Xplode]

Details of my first car Mini 998cc!! was so much fun to drive
here

 

[Jez]

And they are all painfully slow too, i cannot see a single thing going for the mini whatsoever i honestly cant. Ive driven them and also driven 205 GTi's and other little old hotish hatchbacks, and i can safely say id never ever choose the mini over any of them. My best friend really wanted one, until we realised just how slow they actually are. He couldnt bare it, so as said earlier bought a 1.9GTi 205 instead.

And people talking about modified ones being fast, thats irrelavent.