Richard Fairchild ...go drive an Abarth and get back to us!

I have driven both. I like the mini better.

Fiat 500 could compete with Mini....like 6 or 7 years ago. The fact that the 500 is riding on a 11-year old structure is kind of ridiculous, and that's why it falls so flat on modern crash tests. And at least for me, safety in a car is a must, especially for these sporty types of vehicles.

I would, but at 6'4", I can't fit in one, even with the seat all the way down and leaning back. :( I can fit well in a Mini Cooper S though.

The abarth is the only one to own covert

EXACTLY

Sterling Archer hey did you know the funny thing is DeMuro also worked for Jalopnik before mid-2016 when he left and moved to Autotrader Oversteer.

DeMuro was one of the original Jalopniks.

Omg, that's creepy spot on

Who are you talking about?

These cars are fun to people who think beige is daring...

Evil Ash You clearly haven’t driven one 🙄 don’t bother commenting on something you’ve not experienced, simple 😊

Evil Ash youre probably one of those people who think that Miatas are for hairdressers and high school girls.

Dexter, Why do i have to experience one to comment on it? Who appointed you Overlord Tyrant of the Internet? Shawn, no, hairdressers prefer Astras, we all know that.

Exactly. A super charged go kart

not very funny one. So a man goes into a dealer and say I want a mini and drops 100k on the table the gentleman at the counter say sure and proceeds to get a set of M2 keys failing to disclose to the man that he walked into the BMW dealership

I don't get it, Conan. The bearded guy's obvious exaggeration was much funnier.

He’s off by like 1 0 which is ALOT

try singapore! :)

He meant Mexican pesos

IKR

EXACTLY. A fully loaded one is like 45 MAX

He’s joking …… I guess you are German

Casman indeed. Most fun car I've ever driven. R53 is remarkable

/thread

Totally agree. I'll rebuild my R53 from the ground up before I ever buy an R56 or newer. Just a totally different class of car.

No he hasn't. If I ever meet him I'd invite him to drive my R53.

Modded r53 ftw

Richard Fairchild modem bmws aren't fun at all, they're jokes

haha ya i agree too..i was like wtf!!...he prolly had a bad experience with bmw in past..

Mike Ballaban seems incredibly stubborn and unlikable, even when he agreed he rolled his eyes. Something tells me he's a master troll on the internet.

Well that's the image they (BMW) went for. Sure people have fun with them but they have fun with them after they get them off Craigslist.

if you like fun for 2 years before it loses 100hp

Have you had to do any repairs yet?

They have e horrible transmissions and the engine bay is horrendous to work in. The engineering behind the engine is garbage. That’s why you can find a muse mini for under 1800.

@@SomeOne-vy5gv the F chassis have been very reliable. I’ve owned 3 Mini’s not and have not had any issues. Mine were all bought new.

@@SomeOne-vy5gv bc there is one from one brand right - not many different versions over 2 decades with parts from different producers ...

the hard truth comes out

Francisco Ramirez isn't it heavier though? Power to weight they are about the same. Abarth has too high center of gravity to be of any use other than a zippy grocery getter.

my only complaint I can give Fiat is not MNL gearbox. give me a clutch pedal and a stick and I will gladly test drive a Fiat

UnlinealHand so wait which one is the crap car with a cheap interior cuz last I checked both are crap cars with cheep Interiors

Totally agree. I agree that (most) Minis are "bad", but this guy made no good arguments. The interiors of (at least the first gen of) the Minis are creakier and worse than 90's Chevrolet Cavaliers.

The Mini's have a buitiful interoir is the funny part

The interior is spectacular, idk wtf this guy is on

I just traded in am Abarth for a 2021 country man. My Abarth was a fun car but, the interior was falling apart, both armrests had broken, the cars emblems were all fading and the DAY I turned her in the driver side window fell off the track. They still gave me $11,000 for it. It’s a pity that Fiat build quality is so poor because otherwise I loved the car. But my Countryman is far and away better built.

Prius Hunter GT6 Did the same too.

Bmw owns Mini.

That's because bmw Owns mini. And bmw is German.

BlackPalankaa Yes, but think about it! The car is made in Oxford. The car was invented by a british man, Alec Issigonis. It was made by British Motor Company before ir was bought by BMW. What's german about this car!?

Angelo Mastrando Yes, but think about it! The car is made in Oxford. The car was invented by a british man, Alec Issigonis. It was made by British Motor Company before ir was bought by BMW. What's german about this car!?

Jake Dexter But all Mini's are bad so it doesn't matter.

Loved my r53

What makes it better than R56S? Weight difference isn't that much, R56 has a more tunable engine and the chassis are 80% the same. Eps on R56. There is one thing that makes R53 more attractive, but I wonder if you will actually name it. Hint, it's not the supercharger whine.

Shawn P. N. Is it the supercharger whine?

Stuart Marshall only if you appreciate cars skin deep. It's the defeatable stability control. More of a sign of the era the car was made in.

So the 2013 going up are reliable and better cause I'm thinking about getting one

Mid 2010 got an updated engine. The JCW got theirs later. It addresses some common failures. The S versions sometimes have premature turbo failures and other minor problems that can become big. Pay attention to it, and do the maintenance and they seem to hold up fine. Use the dealer recommended intervals only and you're in for a world of hurt, it seems.

Marce Z I feel the coupe was aimed at the current mini owners. Now that that thing is out of production, I begin to like it. It makes a neat hipster car.

I have to disagree, I see Minis everywhere. Not so much with the Abarth

Omg yeah the coupe is hideous. I heard it'll be a collectors item now that productions over. Not worth it. It looks like a regular mini got stepped on by a giant

Leticia Heron I heard that Lamborghinis look like regular cars stepped on by a giant lol. But yeah, if you never owned a Mini I don't expect you to get that car.

Shawn P. N. I've only ever owned a mini. Learned to drive in an 02 r53 s, and once the thing dies, I'm planning I'm planning on buying a new clubman, keep it in the family I guess lol. I'd drive any of them but the coupe lol

Yeah, I don't know where he's getting that number...

I'd sell him my Cooper S for $75000... Bargin!

J K he's rounding down.

Koala Man A lot of people here do not get hyperbole for comedic purposes. How old are you? 80?

a mini in my country does cost 100 to 200 thousand dollars thou

Hellooo! Anyone home? It was what educated people call a "joke."

Did you really take that literally? Smh

it is, in singapore

That's crazy talk the new mini cost around like 24k to 25k but if you buy a use one around less then $18,000 dont buy a older mini from 2000 to 2006 the new ones gotten bigger better and stronger

I own a 16 Clubman and I love it. What do you find bad about it?

mundotaku the fact that it's bigger than '01 Honda Accord

I owned an R53 before my Clubman and so far I like my Clubman more :)

Ryan Haught how peculiar that we all have individual tastes.

Richard Fairchild i dont mind them, id rather have a S, but i still like them

They do exist, check out david drown cars limited, they remaster the originals

snake1300 For 70 000$ they do

never gonna happen new maxi is shit

Well that was quick: www.designboom.com/technology/classic-mini-electric-new-york-international-auto-show-03-27-2018/

They had a concept called the Rocketman that has dubious chances of seeing production Edit: here's an article www.autocar.co.uk/car-news/new-cars/mini-rocketman-and-superleggera-radical-cars-could-make-production

FutureGadgets R56 with a naturally aspirated engine is quite "reliable," there are examples with over 200k miles and they got there with not a lot of issues. But apparently that's not an "enthusiast car" whatever it means.

I have a British Racing Green 2011 R56 Base (not an S) with a manual transmission and I LOVE it. I got it from the MINI dealer as a CPO lease return in 2013. It had 15672 miles when I bought it. It now has over 100K. I too had to have the VANOS solenoid replaced, but it was covered under warranty. My MINI is a blast to drive. Did I say I love my MINI? Yes, yes I did.

Stephen St. Romain most of the reliability problems happen on the S.

@@cptcaveman221069 even the new ones? I know the first couple generations were with reliability issues but never really heard andy reliability issues with the newer ones

He's too fat for them, so he resents them. He's pathetic and ignorant. What does he drive?

JJNews13 Mine is built in the Netherlands, and I highly doubt even one Brit contributed to the design, but I can guarantee that a lot of German was spoken at the time.

The British were heavily involved in the design and things such as the leather stitching and the quirkiness of the controls, and the wonderful styling that pays homage to the original without compromising space efficiency for real sized people, in other words the British did the pretty parts and the Germans took care of the engineering and what you end up with is a surprisingly roomie, and unsurprisingly fun-to-drive since that is what most people know them for vehicle that will last you many years without any troubles. Mine is 10 years old, never been garaged, has only been to the shop to have dents taken out from people jumping on the hood, I guess jealous, but everything mechanical has worked flawlessly even though I haven't been the best at keeping up with the service intervals. It's now got way over a hundred thousand miles and still starts on the first click, the convertible top still works flawlessly and the fabric doesn't even need to be replaced even though it's black and it's set out in mini hot summers, these cars are BMW quality and yes they were more expensive than other small cars when they were new, but particularly those early Generations were built like tanks. The door is almost as thick as my Caprice. And it has the Chrome accent package for the interior and two tone Leather So the impression is more of a mini Bentley rather than a small BMW because of the Chrome Grille and all the attention to details that generation had. Later when they move the speedometer and started putting computer screens everywhere in them they lost some of the analog charm that kind of was the whole point of making a retro vehicle.

Yup English design, AMERICAN MOTOR. the people at Chrysler design the motor. American/English car paid for by Germans baby

My 2016 cooper s is german built😬

Abarth and rental Pops are in a different league.

A regular 500 sucks, the abarths are giggle machines

Karnegis You say that, but the people I know who buy newer mustangs don't really care a massive amount about the history, they just want a badass car. In fact, basically all the cars you mentioned are better now than ever before, objectively that is. So although the name sells, the fact that the cars are also great now and better than ever before and will continue to improve, is a big selling point for alot if people. American cars used to be poorly built, ugly cars that couldn't turn, but that's not the case anymore.

Karnegis Mini on the other hand has gotten worse, they're less reliable than they used to be, they're uglier, they handle worse, they're not mini anymore etc.

Mine cost me, Brand new off the lot with 5 miles on it with the Harmon Kardon speaker upgrade, 24,000 in 2011.

classics will always be better though

Jack Anderson r53 2004 and onward is probably the best Mini you can buy. By then they fixed most of the reliability issues.

Init bruh