I drove a Mini Cooper S around as I was debating an extra car to purchase while the VX was at Aamco, and it was really really fun driving that car around!!!!! And my friend who let me borrow it wanted only $13k for it and it was hard to pass up, but the moment I test drove a RX-8 I feel in love with the smoothness of the rotary engine, and it handled far better than the Mini Cooper S (something pretty hard to do). If I had purchased the Cooper S I would've black it out completely (what is the slang term "murdered it") and purchased a body kit for it, maybe something like this:
http://www.bodykits.com/249/286/672/...t-p-26623.html
But I have liked the RX-8 so much that it gets the garage most of the time. I have put maybe 4k miles on it in 8 months.
Any update on your average mpg? Liking the mini still?
"If I had purchased the Cooper S"
Tires stick out a little too far for my taste.
[SIGPIC][/SIGPIC]
Put a smiley after you say that Bub.
Sorry - feeble attempt at humor - it's an 'offset from hell' thing
"Still liking it"?!? I'm liking it more and more every day! There is no turn too tight for that little animal. It is just begging to be autocrossed...
No update on mielage - I didnt zero out the trip odo when I picked it up, and I was on vacay for 10 days, so I am just now finishing up my first measured tank. I will post my results - I'm hoping for 26-28 mpg (about double the VX!).
Update - the "miles left" counter accelerated its downward spiral on my home from work, so I stopped to fill up with 21 miles left to go. I went 319.0 miles on 13.054 gallons = 24.4 mpg. Not bad, but I think I can get better than 25 mpg once I'm done with all of these "demonstration drives" for my buds.
Love the Mini.
I've been trying to get my wife to get one.
Spyder aka Mark Miller
Gas mileage update...
After getting a slightly disappointing 24.4 mpg, I drove the next tank like it was the last gas on earth - shifting 1-4-6 as often as possible, keeping the gears high and the revs low, and got about 26.8 mpg. The average mileage counter suggested it would be over 27 mpg, but the math didn't cooperate when I filled the tank and looked at the pump and odometer.
So - no sense driving like a grandmother for maybe 1-1.5 mpg. I'll just drive it normally and see what happens.
That thing will probably get 30 mpg on conventional gas - can't wait to try a tank!
I am in PRE-research for a small but sporty car with good gas mileage now as well since the Rex is simply too much fun to drive to possibly get the best mileage possible, heh.
I test drove the Saturn Sky Redline about 2 weeks ago and loved it, for what it was worth. No internet research at all, just went. Sadly, thing gets worse mileage than my Rex. The only thing it had over my Rex were numbers, but off the paper, my Rex would chew this thing up. No convertible hardtop option either. The lag was enough to make you think the turbo thrusted 0.000003boost. I wanted so hard to love this car for my needs, but it has a lot of shortfalls for the price they are asking. Low to mid $30's. For that, I could cut a deal on an '08 STi and have the bacon, eggs, and the AWD, heh. But, it came down to me still liking the Sky Redline for what it was and not what it could do for me. I would consider it were I a blue collar family man hitting a midlife crisis.
I am gonna look at Smartcars next. For the hell of it.
Gary Noonan
'01 S/C VX / '18 Forester XT