[Paul]

7.3 seconds is what I hear...

Do you think that\'s quick enough?

:)

[MichaelK]

nope, which is why I\'ve gone for the Cooper S works B)

[Mini Magnum]

Paul,
My guess (with the torque it develops) would be slightly faster than that. A lot depends on the gearing and if you will have to shift to third to hit 60.
Most manufactures don\'t really make hard starts to get their figures, and they are also really timing to 100km (62mph)... Lets hope that figure is a little on the high side like Porsche and Audi rate theirs.

[OnlyS4me]

4 weeks and we will all know (I hope). The \'S\' must have it\'s figures right, to cope with the Honda Civic type R (200 hp), the new Toyota Corolla T-sport (190 hp) and not to forget the all new Fiat Stilo Abarth (170 hp).

[gazzaman28]

I don\'t see what BMW have got to worry about... The Civic looks like a giant wedge of (albeit very fast) cheese, the Stilo Abarth is apparently quick but not very engaging, and the Corolla is...well a Corolla!

At the end of the day, MINI has got a market all of it\'s own, for enthusiasts who appreciate a top-quality handling car with a sense of style and fun. There\'s more than enough punters around to snap up all the Cooper S\'s for the next few years without worrying about stealing sales from the souped-up hot-hatch market. The less wideboys who get behind the wheel of a MINI the better in my opinion.

[MINIMiller]

Are you going to drag race yours or take it out on the curves where it belongs. It will be quick enough for me.

[RickB]

What about the 1/4 mile time? I was reading a road test on a car that redlined at 58mph in second gear, so a shift had to be done right before 60, resulting in a 0-60 time about a half-second slower than another car that had virtually identical acceleration figures to all other speeds. From looking at other cars with similar power-to-weight, I\'d say the S should do \"the quarter\" in about 15.2 - 15.4. That is very close to the VW GTi, Acura RSX, Toyota Celica GTS, Civic Si, etc.; close enough that there is probably as great a difference between individual examples of a given car as among the various different cars. It\'s quicker than the Porsche 911s and Corvettes of my driving youth.

[jfunkhouse]

I think the S will be fast enough. The place it will really shine is at the track. It will be nice to see if post all these amazing lap times. Hey if I can\'t beat someone in a straight line, I could call someone a name or something and out run them trying to get away. hehe. I think anything around 7 seconds sounds fast enough for me.

J

[Jazzy Jase]

7.3 is fast enough for me. It should handle like a dream and it has more torque than most of its rivalls and also six gears. I reckon it will be pretty much untouchable through the twisties.

[Dave Wright]

Are we talking \"official\" times or road-test times? If the standard Cooper is anything to go by, the official times may be conservative (because they quote 0-62?). BMW claim 0-62 in 9.2 seconds in the brochure. Most road tests came out at 8.5 sec for 0-60.

[LMB]

Quote:

On 24-09-2001 11:16 Paul_Mullett wrote:
7.3 seconds is what I hear...

Do you think that\'s quick enough?

:)

0-60 in 7.3secs; I recon that’s fast enough for a 1.6 litre engine. If they tuned the engine any more, the cars respectable fuel economy would suffer badly.

In that sense I feel they have made a compromise; which I think was the right decision. Don\'t forget petrol prices will rise sharply should the US go to war; and it is looking more likely as each day passes. This war is also going to last years; so unless you have pockets as deep as the Grand Canyon you are going to feel the pinch.

The only thing that would be of concern me is the price of the car. It is going to have to be competitively priced for me to buy one. Lets not forget the standard Cooper is a sublime car to drive, for not allot of money.


;)

[Andrewfuzzy]

OKAY OKAY OKAY !!!!

O-60 yes all very well i like to outrun people off the lights every now and then as much as the next man..er.. woman...er person......BUT its the torque thatl really make it shine if it aint got a good 50-70 time then me overtakin days are over... i currently drive a Merc A Class A160 and the 0-60 is okay 8.5 or something but when its out on the B Roads 2 maybe 3 cars can be overtaken...now throw in a Supercharger under the bonnet and shell go like a scalded cat !!! 8D

[OnlyS4me]

Quote:

On 24-09-2001 16:28 gazzaman28 wrote:
I don\'t see what BMW have got to worry about... The Civic looks like a giant wedge of (albeit very fast) cheese, the Stilo Abarth is apparently quick but not very engaging, and the Corolla is...well a Corolla!

At the end of the day, MINI has got a market all of it\'s own, for enthusiasts who appreciate a top-quality handling car with a sense of style and fun. There\'s more than enough punters around to snap up all the Cooper S\'s for the next few years without worrying about stealing sales from the souped-up hot-hatch market. The less wideboys who get behind the wheel of a MINI the better in my opinion.

Don\'t get me wrong, Gazzaman. There\'s nothing in the world to compare with the MINI. Like my avatar says, I don\'t want anything else. I\'m totaly in love with the car and I\'m months on the waiting list for the \'S\' now (1st on my dealer\'s list).

[Alex]

7.3 sounds pretty good to me and remember BMWs figures are generally pretty conservative, as someone has mentioned the Coopers 0-60 time already. Also it seems the more powerful the cars are the more conservative the figures seem.. I have seen figures for a 330i in Evo magazine which were about 1.5 seconds faster than BMWs figures!

[RedShift42]

Quote:

On 24-09-2001 11:16 Paul_Mullett wrote:
7.3 seconds is what I hear...
Do you think that\'s quick enough?

Nope.
An official 0-60 time in the 7\'s is not good. In today\'s market that\'s pretty sorry for a car positioning itself in the performance category. Especially an unknown entering a crowding hot-compact market.
Fair or not, 0-60 is a critical identifier in many enthusiasts\' minds of a car\'s performance offering-- such a decidedly mediocre showing gives the MINI an immediate handicap in the market, meaning the car will have to be judged on its more sublime assets.

But marketing talk aside, that\'s just too darn slow for me. Fifteen years ago my \'86 Omni GLH Turbo was rated at 0-60 in 7.5. Heck, the new Ford Ranger V6 is posting about an 8-second 0-60! So if we wring it out we\'ll be able to beat a pickup truck.
0-60 in 7.3 is just not keeping pace with today\'s performance cars.

I do apologize for sounding so cynical, its just my frustration with the MINI\'s engine again. I dearly love everything else about the car, am on this site daily, and counting the months until my S arrives, but everytime the powerplant subject comes up I get sour. A car like this should have a little jewel of an engine w/ an inspiring output that makes enthusiasts sit up and take notice, not an iron block oddball requiring a blower to achieve the same power as anything out of Japan.
Compounding this is the likelihood that no Works packages will be available in the US, so anything Works-like that we do will ultimately depreciate the value of the car and void the warranty.

If anything I say here is offbase, please challenge it-- hopefully things are better than I believe and I\'m just cranky from too much caffeine and fluorescent lighting today.
It sure as heck makes a guy loquacious...

[MINIAC]

Quote:

On 27-09-2001 21:03 RedShift42 wrote:
An official 0-60 time in the 7\'s is not good. In today\'s market that\'s pretty sorry for a car positioning itself in the performance category. Especially an unknown entering a crowding hot-compact market.
Fair or not, 0-60 is a critical identifier in many enthusiasts\' minds of a car\'s performance offering-- such a decidedly mediocre showing gives the MINI an immediate handicap in the market, meaning the car will have to be judged on its more sublime assets.

But marketing talk aside, that\'s just too darn slow for me. Fifteen years ago my \'86 Omni GLH Turbo was rated at 0-60 in 7.5. Heck, the new Ford Ranger V6 is posting about an 8-second 0-60! So if we wring it out we\'ll be able to beat a pickup truck.
0-60 in 7.3 is just not keeping pace with today\'s performance cars.

I just looked up the 180 hp FWD Audi TT 0-60 time at Audi USA ... 7.6 seconds.

Those hot-compact cars of which you speak have to be driven at high-revs all the time to realize their power.

If you want to beat trucks and rice rockets in a straight line, maybe you should be looking at something else besides a MINI.

Would I like a 200 hp \'S\' ... YES ... but I think the 163 hp version will still be a kick to drive in the twisties.

[RickB]

I don\'t pay much attention to 0-60, anymore. Not that acceleration doesn\'t interest me, just that 0-60 isn\'t much of an indicator. I\'ve seen some cars that do 0-60 a full second faster than another car that has a matching 1/4 mile time. You can do stuff with gearing to mask a lack of power, and it doesn\'t show until you get up into the higher speed ranges. In the mid-\'70\'s, when the U.S. speed limit was 55mph, a lot of car makers went to advertising their cars\' 0-55 times. You\'d look at them and think, \"Gee, the older car went 0-60 in 7, and this new one goes 0-55 in 7.5, so it\'s not much different\". Well, they geared the cars so 55 came up at redline in second gear, then there was a huge gap to third so they could get decent cruising economy with a four-speed. 0-55 might come up in 7.5, but 60 took 9. I suspect a large proportion of the vehicles on the road today do 0-60 in 7-8 seconds, but how fast do they get to 100? With the S\'s power-to-weight, and assuming well-spaced gearing, I suspect the S is a pretty quick trip to 100 - and more importantly, in the 60-80 used in passing maneuvers. The S will have it easier in the U.S than elsewhere, as the Civic Si will make only 160hp, and the faster cars are much more expensive. The Focus SVT, priced at $18,000, will be the real competition.

[jfunkhouse]

The way I think of it is this. For the amount of room in the car they had to work with getting fast out of something that size is quite an achievment. Sure there are other hot little hatches but not many in this size range have the power we all want. Sure theres that focus. The car is big enough you could probably fit a nice big V6 or something in there. Try that with a mini. Its not like I am going to be racing people at every street light. I just want something that would help me in times where I need power. Such as overtaking and pulling around people. With the mini being smaller I am sure there will be plenty of power to let me do these type of things. Handling like it does is not to shabby either.

When I think of cars in the price range of the mini I think of the VW GTI, and the new honda si but their 0 - 60 times are not far from 7 anyways. What are you comparing it to? WRX\'s and other larger cars?

[LMB]

I have to admit I am extremely disappointed that the Mini does not possess a BMW engine. It is one of the things I love most about their cars and I feel is the most important element of a car. I keep hoping BMW are going to announce that the cooper S will be powered by BMW engineering, but so far nothing.

I know they could not afford to sell the Mini at the price they are if they had developed an engine for it. But I personally would not mind paying a bit extra.

So come on BMW sort it out. We want BMW power...

;)

[mr.bill]

As I understand it, the MINI engine was designed by BMW and built by Chrysler with the intention of offering the supercharged version in the PT Cruiser. BMW doesn\'t make FWD vehicles, but Chrysler has been building them for a number of years. After the deal was made, Daimler bought Chrysler and we all know there is no love lost between Daimler and BMW. That meant the PT wouldn\'t have a version of the engine, so Daimler is looking for a small V6 to replace it. Even though the engine is made in Brazil, Daimler has their reputation riding on it, as well as BMW, so the quality should be okay. I suspect Daimler would like to tell BMW to get stuffed, so perhaps there will be a BMW-made engine once their contract with Daimler expires. It will probably be a few years before that happens. It takes a lot of money to design and build a new engine and doubtless BMW was trying to keep the costs down so the MINI\'s MSRP would be in line with the New Beetle.