Culture|Garage

18 Responses to “2008 JCW Mini Cooper S and Clubman revealed”

1. 

   A. Raza Choudhury Says:
   February 23rd, 2008 at 11:44 pm

   If you can get over the fact that it uses a fake hood scoop (I don’t think I can) and the fact that it’s a mere 11bhp more powerful than the GTI, and the fact that it’s less practical than the GTI, and the fact it’s more expensive than the GTI, it almost seems like a good deal.

   Running through Mini USA’s website, I built up a standard Cooper (which has something like 12 or 13 horsepower, barely more than a child’s pedal car) to a price exceeding the price of a GTI with the Autobahn package. I want to love this car, but I just can’t.

2. 

   Bart Says:
   February 24th, 2008 at 12:40 am

   I totally agree, I love the MINI S, but the way I would configure it the price is really high, the MKV GTI is a much better deal, another car I like too. Plus I’m a big guy and getting in/out of a Mini just looks funny.

3. 

   kansei Says:
   February 24th, 2008 at 10:01 am

   Hmmm I can actually tolerate the new gen mini in JCW guise.

   I bet the interior still gives me seizures. I’d go with the GTI as well if it didn’t come with suspect VW reliability.

   but wow is that the world’s most compact turbo manifold??

4. 

   blix Says:
   February 24th, 2008 at 11:43 am

   aesthetically though i think the clubman is more appealing than the GTI. i see the GTI everywhere. it’s not a bad looking car by any means, and it def has the right specs. but if originality and appearance is a priority, the clubman isn’t hard to look at.

5. 

   Raza Says:
   February 24th, 2008 at 7:51 pm

   No offense, but how can a car so egregiously retro be considered original?

6. 

   blix Says:
   February 24th, 2008 at 9:19 pm

   it’s different. you have a point, it’s not original. maybe one could say it’s got an iconic look. the newer mini owners i know primarily bought their cars based on appearance. i think appearance has a lot to do with the mini’s appeal. maybe overseas when the morris minor and the original mini were popular these cars weren’t original, but to younger US drivers in the 2000s, these are original and different looking cars.

7. 

   Raza Says:
   February 24th, 2008 at 11:11 pm

   I’m not so sure we should set our standards so low as to accommodate the average young driver.

8. 

   iamchris Says:
   February 25th, 2008 at 2:34 am

   Yeah, standards set so low that the Minis sell like nuts, even at their price. Let’s instead set our standards high and model it after an Oldsmobile so Raza can enjoy it.

9. 

   pelicaneng Says:
   February 25th, 2008 at 2:19 pm

   Still not sure about the clubman…

10. 

    bryan Says:
    February 25th, 2008 at 4:22 pm

    sure Raza, only 11bhp moar power, but its also around 400 lbs lighter than the GTI. hmmm…marginally more power, but less weight…wonder which one corners better, accelerates better, stops quicker, and gets better mileage? Mini has been more reliable, too. VW = FAIL.

    face it, the Mini might be a little less practical, but its loads more fun to drive. if cargo space is your concern, why would you even be looking at either of these cars?

    the clubman….hm. jury’s still out on that one.

11. 

    Raza Says:
    February 25th, 2008 at 5:21 pm

    Who said anything about Oldsmobile?

    Minis sell. Camrys sell more. Do you want every car to be a Camry?

    Sales are an indication of business success; not the success of a car. As an enthusiast, I like to look beyond simply sales success.

12. 

    Raza Says:
    February 25th, 2008 at 5:30 pm

    Bryan-
    Are you saying you don’t buy a hatchback for practicality? The hot hatch was designed so you could have a fun car that’s also practical; or depending on how you look at it, a practical car that’s also fun.

    As intelligent as “VW = FAIL” sounds, I think you’re fairly mistaken. I’ve never met a first generation Cooper owner that hasn’t had major problems with it. In the past, Volkswagen’s strategy for quality control was indeed awful. But now each car is built at a world center. The Golfs built in Germany are sold everywhere; just like Jettas in Mexico. I just don’t see reliability as an issue.

    Auto, Motor, and Sport magazine found the first generation Mini Cooper to not handle as well as the MkV GTI. And while I’m not entirely sure I could agree with that, the news media has pretty much unanimously declared that the new Mini Cooper does not handle as well as the old Mini Cooper.

    So, in the end, you’re paying much more money for a car that is at best marginally more fun and noticeably less practical. It doesn’t make sense to me.

    Hell, I even like the car, but I think the Mini’s been put on a pedestal on which it may not deserve to be.

13. 

    Ryan Says:
    February 25th, 2008 at 8:41 pm

    :popcorn:

14. 

    blix Says:
    February 26th, 2008 at 9:15 am

    people have differences in opinion. b/c you don’t like it for your reasons doesn’t mean that other people shouldn’t like the car. wrangling over personal preferences is pointless so i’m done with this thread.

15. 

    bryan Says:
    February 26th, 2008 at 12:30 pm

    nostalgia weighs in pretty heavily when someone reviews a car, especially someone who has driven one of the originals. Now, for clarity, are you referring to the base Mini or the Cooper S mini? I’ve spent a fair amount of seat time in a family member’s 1st gen (well, the modern 1st gen) Cooper S, and driven it much, much more aggressively than I would my own car :biggrin:…something I admittedly haven’t done in a GTI or Golf, outside of a few lengthy salesperson-less test drives on some back roads. I have some friends with recent Golfs and GTIs, both of whom have made more than a few trips to the dealer to fix heaters, windows, locks, and this annoying rattle from a heat shield somewhere (GTI). My family member’s Cooper S? Been in for scheduled oil changes and a 30k tune up, no other problems. What did they drive before? A VW that was nothing but one problem after another. The joke was that maybe Lucas moved their offices to Germany.

    Yes, this is a narrow scope of opinion, but I can speak for how much more fun the Cooper S is for me to drive than the Golfs or GTIs were, though I’m not an automotive writer, I am a consumer - and after all its the consumer’s impressions that count the most when you’re selling cars. I’m in premium product sales, and I also happen to know how easily the media can be manipulated by one manufacturer or another - I’d go drive one to find out myself before I’d take some magazine’s word for it.

    Why would I consider that VW missed the mark? with all the engineering know-how, they’ve still been bulking up those models for a while, without making the performance gains that one would expect. BMW releases a nostalgia model, keeps the weight down, and sells a LOT of them.

    And like blix says - this is personal opinion. I just happen to disagree.

16. 

    Charley Says:
    February 26th, 2008 at 2:35 pm

    Someone should drop a 350 in a Mini.

17. 

    Bart Says:
    February 26th, 2008 at 10:41 pm

    How would you like yours Ryan? Butter?

18. 

    Jim Says:
    February 27th, 2008 at 2:36 am

    I’ll get the red vines.

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