Keep the mini and buy a Z. The days you feel liek power drive the Z, the days you feel like eating corners drive the Mini. Not to say the Z cant do it, but there is a niec sensation to driving a light nimble car. And there is a sensation to driving a RWD power tank.

 

Hey, Thanks so much for all the replies. It definitly helped me out! I guess basicly the only problem I ever had with my MINI was the FWD... it's just frustrating to put the power down sometimes. I also do miss the power sliding with a rear wheel drive I have alot of thinking to do still.. I have a hard time with the idea of getting rid of my lil mini. But.. when I hear that stainless steel Fujitsubo exhaust system that you have on sound clips here... the Z sounds like a tempting choice to go foward with. Maybe in the next month I will be a new Z owner.

 

My rule is one car at a time until I have my own house one day to garage my toys.

Great idea though!!

 

My mom has the same mini as you but not the S. When house sitting for her the other weekend I took it out and got after it pretty good. The handling is so go-cart in the mini I felt like I was playing mariokart live or something, so light and whippable. The bigger wheels and rear wheel drive on the Z will more than make up for the difference in handling imo though.

Yours of course had more power with the supercharger, but the power differences in general are night and day. And not to hate, because the mini looks good, but you'll get much better looks from the ladies in the Z too, its just sexy, the mini, well, i dunno, my mom has one.

 

Fwd vs. Rwd are totaly diffrent worlds and require diffrent driving skill.

+1 F-bodies handle like crap and need extensive mods to the subframe and suspension to go fast even in a straight line.

 

When I lived in England I had several Clio 172's/182's which are similar to the mini. I have also driven Minis extensively. These cars do handle well in the twistys but I think FWD really limits you. Torque steer is really annoying. The RWD 350 Z is a whold different ball game. Loads more torque and power from the rear is much more fun in my opinion. Then there is the sound......

 

I've owned both an S2000 and now a Z.

If you are looking for a go kart feel with rear drive go with the S2000. Not that the Z doesn't handle well but you can feel the weight and it's definitly not go kart feel. I have a track model as well.

 

+1 my bro has an SS..... It has PLENTY of power and doesn't handle bad at all.. but you can't compare it to a Z

 

the Z is one of the best handeling cars in its category

 

I feel as thought the Z is a much more deliberate car. The steering is very direct and accurate, and there is plenty of feedback from the wheel. However the steering is not super quick. When going into a turn, understeer happens gradually. As someone said previously, you dont get a lot of surprises when driving the Z. Drive smoothly and precisely and you will be rewarded. The car feels great while doing this.

 

I know its hard for you brain washed nippon car lovers to understand that the LS1 Fbody can actually handle pretty good for its size, but the reality is it can hold its own in auto- X , and with a few simple suspension mods it would be murder. Ill have to find the website again but I found that a 2000 camaro SS had better track times than the honda S2000 stock for stock.

 

Sorry but I'm raising the flag.

 

I didn't like the M-coopers at first, but have grown to like them lately. I can see where they'd be fun to drive with outstanding manuvarability(sp?). This would be extremely handy in a big city such as Houston. You'll enjoy the Z if you purchase one. Have fun and welcome to the forum

 

The thing about auto X is that the driver makes such a big difference. I'm sure that F body could beat an s2000 provided there is a big enough gap in driver skill. I'm not convinced it handles better though. Especially not stock.

Look nothing against the F body, but it was built to give drivers the most striaghtline speed per dollar. just about everything else was secondary.

 

An oval track?

 

It was a professional driving course

 

Damn dude get over it already. You're out of your mind if you think Fbodies handle well. That wasn't the point of the car at all. It was built for affordable straight line speed, not handling. If anyone is brainwashed, it would have to be you.

 

yah I agree, with EXTENSIVE suspension mods then the fbody might but untill you produce that video, I'm with everyone else on the BS flag!

 

Well, so far looking today at different inventory... I came across three Z's. ALL of them metallic. I would definitly want a white or black Z. I didn't think there would be so few to choose from. I guess that's a good thing in one respect...

Question...I was looking at the tirerack for some options on BBS rims. They don't seam to have the LM's, yet I have seen a couple pictures with Z's using them. What's the deal with that? I think the RS-GT's look damn nice though. Nice deep lip.

 

All depends on the track, but you are compairing apples and oranges.