Thinking of buying a Mini

[MikeHsu]

Thinking of selling my daily e34 535i for a mini. I am planning on buying a 09 Mini S. There are so many options and I am trying to keep the price low. Is there any options that I have to get?

I was thinking,

Limited Slip, Chrome Interior pieces inside, and the JCW body parts. I'm trying to limit to a 25k build.

Also, with the new turbo motors, are they very responsive to mods? ECU reflash... etc?

[bholloway]

I'm also considering buying a new mini so maybe my input will help. I don't know if you've test driven them yet, but if you havent I recommend it. I test drove an 09 mini cooper s today and a mini cooper JCW. The mini cooper s was pretty much standard equipped besides the cold weather package. After driving it for about 10 min it was a lot of fun, but a little bit floaty around the sharper corners. There was also a hint of understeer. If you're looking to buy a mini cooper s I would definetly upgrade to the sport suspension and if you can afford it the JCW suspension. After I finished driving the mini cooper s I tried the JCW just to see if it was really that different and if it was worth the extra $5000 or so. I have to say that the JCW is very very different from the mini cooper S. Its a completely different animal. It handles much better, it feels a lot faster, the engine sounds better, and in general its just a much better car. If you can afford to pay an extra few thousand dollars the JCW mini is definetly worth it in my opinion. However if you want to go with the mini cooper s thats under 25000 my advice is to just stick with the JCW suspension and maybe the cold weather package. In my opinion, that all you'll really need.