THSCC Forums

you're not helping . Yeah, I've already starting looking at suspension kits. Right now I'm leaning towards the Roush stage 2 set up.

BTW, I went and sat in a Honda S2K, or at least tried to. Knees hit the dash and head hit the top, so that one's off the list and Karl can stop bugging me

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Rodney

'08 Bullitt mustang, CAM 7
Autox VP '09-'10, President '11-'12, interim President 2nd half of ‘14
proud recipient of the Bowie Grey service award '12
Now just a guy driving a mustang....

Well I'm jumping in late here and will only try to add new comments.

I've had my MINI 7+ years and 100,600+ miles now.
The only real problem I've had (that I didn't induce myself) was a power steering pump went out around 50K miles (during NCAC of all places)

The right rear suspension link broke in Laurinburg on a hard left turn. After some research it was likely due to me putting stress fractures in the link after using that as a tie down during a transport. Live and learn. The adjustable after-market links are great.

As for mileage. On average I get high 20's during spirited daily driving and 35+ when gas is $4.00/gal and I am in conservative mode.

There aren't too many cars that make a great economical daily driver and a fun car to play with on the weekend and the MINI is surely one.

My only issue is the reduction pulley I added early in the car's life on the supercharger which puts me in SM class. I know that is the rules, but I would not have the car any other way. It adds 15-20hp at the peak.

I can't imagine people not loving that supercharger whine.
Maria can't have that supercharger whine with a turbo so she makes some off comment about it. I think she is jealous.

Do not get a sunroof if you plan to AutoX. You are as tall as I and I can not sit as upright I would like with a helmet on. The sunroof take 1 or 2" of clearance.

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"Ruttin' is racing"

Chris Suich
Apex, NC
AutoX 2012 Nissan Leaf (Quietly changing the world)
AutoX 2003 Mini Cooper S (on sabbatical)
RallyX 1993 Nissan Sentra - "Le Tigre"
FunX 1970 Camaro LT1 ('95)

The Roush trak pak coilovers look pretty nice, and you'd shed some weight going to the smaller 2.5" springs.

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In need of car.

Is the Cooper S your only choice? IIRC, the Cooper S will be DS, and DS + hatchback also = WRX, Mazdaspeed3 and VW R32 (probably a few others)...I've had nothing but a pleasant experience with my WRX (except for the lack of soft touch-style interior components), and there's plenty of headroom.

Of course, Subaru may not be to your liking but I thought I'd throw it out there. 28mpg highway, 21 mixed city.

edit: woops. sorry i missed like 2 pages of comments. Plus, James calling me out like that--game on, boyo!

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Steve Carter
1972 Datsun 240Z-- resto pics at http://picasaweb.google.com/srcartermd
2007 GPW Honda S2000-- STR 86

I think you probably just unsold Rodney on a Mini. Only girls want cars that purr like kittens But you're welcome to drive mine if you want to see what a turbo is like with adjusted suspension.

On the rare occasions Maria lets me driver her car I don't play the radio so as to hear the lovely sound of the engine.

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"Build a man a fire and he'll stay warm for a day. Set a man on fire and he'll stay warm the rest of his life."
'93 Subaru Legacy DIRTBOMB
'98 BMW M3
2013 Rallyx Co-VP

Good news is there's now a mini dealer in raleigh, so no more drives to Winston Salem. . .

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2012 MX-5 Sport SUV

There is one more car that you should test drive. It’s an angry little thing when the electronic nanny’s are turned off. I bought one just because I fit in it and it doesn’t come with a sun roof. I know that Rodney likes smokey burn outs. I guarantee that this car will out smoke tires with the best of them. On a good burnout, one can only see the front third of the car. I have only autox’d it once and that was at Triad. Won tire class. I don’t know that it would be a great autox car because I have not tried to set it up. The only problem with the car is that the engine and the brakes over power the tires, 215’s. (11.9 LBS/HP, same as your mustang) From 30 to 155, a mustang can’t keep up with it and also can’t stop nearly as well. Word of warning, keep both hands on the wheel. Everyone made has limited slip. Brice and Martin can tell you that they handle well in their more toned down form. They are much cheaper than Mini’s because the dealers will negotiate. I drive the crap out of it and get 24mpg. Lastly, you don’t need a list a mile long to know what to look for that could break. If you haven’t guessed already, it’s a Mazda Speed 3, first gen. Don’t get me wrong, I like mustangs.

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Mike Miller
AutoX VP 2016/2017
Just a C Stock Miata DD
Mazda Speed 3 Family Car
Corvette Z06 Toy

Yeah, the list is pretty short:

1. Passenger side engine mount
2. Passenger side engine mount
3. Passenger side engine mount

Good news is they are cheap and easy to replace when they do break, not to mention, that the wife's mini has ALSO had a passenger side engine mount go out on us. . .

The speed3 is an EXCELLENT car for the money (def get the first gen though, the second gen is f'ing hideous).

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2012 MX-5 Sport SUV

shouldda got a 2003 MINI. My motor mounts are still good.

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"Ruttin' is racing"

Chris Suich
Apex, NC
AutoX 2012 Nissan Leaf (Quietly changing the world)
AutoX 2003 Mini Cooper S (on sabbatical)
RallyX 1993 Nissan Sentra - "Le Tigre"
FunX 1970 Camaro LT1 ('95)

The MS3 was the car I was going back and forth between when I was buying my car (1st gen....no clown faces for me). Just to ramble about my considerations:

MS3 had a more refined interior by far compared to the WRX....guess what? I hate cluttered interiors with all sorts of gadgets and crap (+1 WRX). The WRX interior is super cheap, hard touch plastic that creaks already (-1 WRX) The MS3 and the WRX (starting in 09) are pretty dead even in the acceleration category (the MS3 has a tad less lag due to smaller turbo but boost tapers off sooner than WRX). The WRX has much better autox gearing (5spd from Legacy GT....I can get about 70 in second) compared to the MS3s 6 spd. The MS3 would torque steer in 1st, 2nd, and 3rd gear...no torque steer on WRX due to symmetrical longitudinal drivetrain. The MS3's engine bay is RIDICULOUSLY cramped...I do all of the work/maintenance/repair on my car and I cringed at the though of working on that thing. The WRX has tons of space under the hood and the layout is age old (for a flat 4). Pulling a tranny on the WRX for a clutch/pp/fw/tob is cake compared to the MS3. The MS3 comes stock with a bit better suspension (both have f/r sway bars, front strut suspension, rear SLA suspension), but the WRX has nice stiff springs but garbage shocks (Subaru upgraded the ARBs and springs from 08->09 but kept the same shocks, so it is underdamped...about 55% of critical damping). A company in MD is getting Bilstein to do a custom run of Bilsteins struts/shocks for the car which I'm on the list to get...hopefully in a few weeks. This should dramatically improve handling for stock class. I put a 25mm FSB on there and that reduced roll a whole lot too. There is a guy who ran a 12.96 1/4 mile in a bone stock 09 WRX on the stock dunlops .

I don't dislike the MS3 by any means, the WRX just had more pluses for what I was looking for. It was just about as cheap as a MS3 as well.

If you become interested in the WRX, make sure it is 09+ and with a mfg date AFTER November 2008 (just incase there are any of the duds still on the market).

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2011/2012 Autox VP
2013/2014.5 President
2013 Top Gun

2015 Fit

22R-EC => 4G63 => D16Y7 + D16Y8 => EJ255 + K24Z2 => K20Z3 + K24Z2 => K24Z2 + M54 => L15B

well posted, James. My exact sentiments...+1 and all that.

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Steve Carter
1972 Datsun 240Z-- resto pics at http://picasaweb.google.com/srcartermd
2007 GPW Honda S2000-- STR 86

You can get a 2007 Speed3 though, which should be considerably cheaper than an '09+ WRX. . .

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2012 MX-5 Sport SUV

For those with the '08+ WRX, how hard can you launch those things in stock form? In other words, are the tranny's strong enough for the power, can the clutch hold and can you launch them at 5k and spin all 4 without a real issue?

I considered buying an '09+ WRX but moved to an STI for fear of replacing transmission a lot on ProSolo launches. - AB

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'14 Toyota Sequoia Platinum 4WD
Super Westerfield Bros - '93 Integra - LeChump Du Jour
STX 93 - Scion FR-S

Sorry Aaron, I'm honestly not sure because I've been slipping the clutch for 10 feet or so at launch so I haven't even tried an aggressive launch. The 5 speed in the 08+ WRX is from the Legacy GT so the gearing is not only better but it is a stronger gearset (think how much heavier they are). At the zmax autox in December in the rain, I launched a bit harder and got some chirping but that's about it. So, yeah, I have nothing for you .

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2011/2012 Autox VP
2013/2014.5 President
2013 Top Gun

2015 Fit

22R-EC => 4G63 => D16Y7 + D16Y8 => EJ255 + K24Z2 => K20Z3 + K24Z2 => K24Z2 + M54 => L15B