Occasionally I miss my R53 and it's supercharged driving enjoyment, but after driving the FR-S, there's not much of a comparison. The FR-S is much more hunkered down feeling and more confident in the corners with better at the limit behavior. While the MINI feels much larger overall (and certainly is inside) the FR-S feels more like a glove that's driven from the correct wheels with such good communication with the driver.

If I were taking a weekend trip down the highway to the beach, I'd probably take the MINI with it's more open (large sunroof helps a lot here) and spacious cabin. If I were heading to the mountains instead, I'd take the FR-S and enjoy the backroads. Don't get me wrong though, the MINI is incredibly fun in the mountains and twisties, but I've seen too many MINIs almost wrecked on group rally drives in the mountains due mainly to the shorter wheelbase and the inherent issues with bumps and corners and overall balance. The FR-S is more friendly for this enviroment I'd say.

When I test drove the '09 JCW, it was a blast. The handling was super sharp. And like I said, the exhaust was just awesome. One quirk I didn't like: driving position and view. The interior is spacious even though it looks small outside. I just didn't get good visibility all around. I didn't feel snug, which is what a sports coupe should be, IMO. The gear lever position seemed low.

I'll have to wait for the test drive on the BRZ to see if it's any better.

I did test drive Mini Cooper S, i think it was MY'06. I loved interior and exterior design! It was red with white top and quite sporty and supportive leather seats. Very beautiful.. Driving position was mediocre, it wasn't perfectly there but it wasn't bad either. Engine was strong enough for me, good torque in low rpms. But i like to rev, and i was little disappointed that it wasn't that rev happy. Exhaust tone was also little mild, but that's easy to fix. So engine was ok for a modern econobox turbo.

I loved handling and turning! It was precise, sharp and it changed direction very fast. Steering feel was quite heavy, but it was also very informative and honest. Ride was very firm, and i believe that it can loose grip in bad roads with lots of bumbs... I can live with it :burnrubber:

Biggest drawback was manual transmission. It was very heavy, quite clumsy and slow. It feels like you have to push the gear in. Changing for bigger gear was ok (if you didn't change too fast), but downshifting was bad. I tried to heel 'n toe, but it didn't help that much. I don't know is it just this car, or is every Mini like this?

Overall, i liked very much. I think it can't match driving dynamics from 7th gen 190hp Celica, but it was close. I'm not yet sure, but i think Mini is in my short list... :eyebulge:

Very true... Ill tell you first hand... if you dont plan to tune/mod your mini and only expect to lease it for a while, go for it, amazingly fun cars. Just sold my 2003 Mini Cooper (w/ S Swap). Was sad to see her go but man im happy she isnt diggin her dirty little hands in my pockets... They can get expensive really fast... TOYOBARU = UBER RELIABILITY :)

Yeah, reliability is what got me. At least for any Euorpean cars. I was even thinking of a used Boxster S, but that's for another thread.

Anyways, I want reliability to be a non-issue. And since the service parts are both Toyota and Subaru, maintenance will be easy with the combined numbers of Toyota and Subaru dealers/independent repair shops.

Price = Win
Fun = Win
Easy bolt on upgrades = Win
Reliability = super win!

I agree, would probably lease a Mini JCW for 3 yrs max. This would at least cover the 3 yr free maintenance by every BMW car.

Check out www.northamericanmotoring.com By far, the best Mini board out there.

I've got an '06 R53 (my 2nd), and my wife also has an '06 R53. She runs the biggest MINI event in the Northeast, MINIsOnTop, and we met through the MINIs. :) I've put 85,000 miles on mine. We drove from Boston to California and back on our honeymoon. Took it to the Bonneville Salt Flats in Utah and tried to break into the 130 club. We're going back with her car this year. Both broke 130 at the Loring Land Speed Races in Maine last year. I've done the occasional autocross and a bunch of track days with mine. I've taken it to Northern Quebec in the middle of February. Twice. It's a hoot to drive. The only problems I've had with it have been a couple of motor mounts, a bum slave cylinder, and now the flywheel is getting noisy. It's been basically gas-n-go for six years. We love our MINIs and after some hemming and hawing decided to keep mine as the "dog car" instead of something practical like a Cherokee or Volvo wagon; we're rather attached to the little bugger.

I've been racing in the 24 Hours of LeMons for about 5 years in an '87 325is. I really enjoyed the RWD aspect of that car, so I bought a '91 318is in 2010. It proved to be more upkeep than I wanted, so I plotted the move to something newer. I'm still waiting for my dealer to get their act together on my BRZ (so I can test drive it), but based on the power and torque numbers, it should be pretty similar to my R53 (168hp, 162 lb-ft), and I've never felt the need for more power on the street. I do love the whine and shove from the supercharger, however, and if one comes along for the BRZ that's not absurdly expensive, I may consider it…