i joined the MINI club!

[pwhitt]

i'm surprised to see a MINI sub here!

it doesn't seem all that active - but hey, better than nothing.

we bought my wife a near mint '06 cooper S with 25k miles on it. at the same time, we got the kid another '06 (auto) cooper S.

they are both damn fine cars and i couldn't be happier with them. this brings the current collection of cars to a jeep JKU, the z3, 740iL and the two MINIs.

anyone want a 740?

[TJC1]

Congrats!

We're giving some very serious thought to the MINI's also.

It looks as if you picked a manual as well as an automatic MINI. What comparrisons can you draw between the two? Does the auto have paddle shift and if so how well does it work?

[pwhitt]

hi! sorry it's been a couple days - i've been neglecting the forums.

here's what i think - if the kid knew how to drive a stick, we'd have gotten two.

here's what i heard - the autos in non-S minis are unreliable. i'm not sure *how* unreliable, but people talk a lot of trash about them. the reason we bought the supercharged ones is that they are reputed to be more reliable.

the six speed manual is fantastic. that car is practically new, the shifting action is short and certain and the gear ratios are great.

the auto is a paddle (all the auto S models have the paddles from what i can ascertain) six speed. it has sport mode, which shifts like a monster and manual, which does just about whatever you tell it to.

i love them both. they suffer from a little more understeer than my z3. both have the early signs of mushrooming strut towers (read about that) but they are both very, very fun to drive. the supercharger builds a lot of torque down at low RPMs - it's a great setup.

if you get one, you won't regret it.