Smoked by a mini

[Mark_T]

Perhaps his tires were much better than yours, or perhaps he was just a better driver, but I don't think a Mini handles better than a Boxster, all things being equal.

[keysguy]

Don't under estimate the Mini. My wife has one and I LOVE to drive it. It's like a little go cart. Out of the factory they are little rocket ships and only get better with some tuning. There are tons of fairly inexpensive upgrades you can do to them, so it all depends what he has done to it. There is one in the local sports car club that is super fast and regularly beats the guys with boxsters.

Keysguy

[pharaohjb]

Several friends have the JCW version of the Mini... and they're certainly as quick as the early 2.5 986's out there (including my '99) in a straight line. They handle well, and with a few upgrades like PSS-9's, they'll certainly give the 2.5 Boxster a run for it's money in the twisties.

That said, they won't hold a candle to an "S" of any vintage, or any of the 987 base models, IMO.

Cheers,
Jason

[Perfectlap]

Originally Posted by pharaohjb

They handle well, and with a few upgrades like PSS-9's, they'll certainly give the 2.5 Boxster a run for it's money in the twisties.

That said, they won't hold a candle to an "S" of any vintage

If you look at autocross classifications, the 986S has never really had a class of its own. Way too fast to be lumped in with the S2000 (or Mini S) but 50 HP short of going to the next class up.
But still...fairly close to standard 3.4 996 Carrera and BMW E46 M3s, particularly with a slow driver behind one of those.