-
and lets not get started on Fiat or BMW Mini .
Regular Fiat 500 (idk about Arbarth) does feel budget on the inside, but I wouldn't say it's that bad - just a small city car, and looks better than other cars on its platform like the Ka.
But I'm surprised you say that about the BMW Mini though. Other than the stock speakers, even the One (which I used to have) had a rock solid, quality interior. And a mate had a Cooper with all the extras and the interior of that was lovely place to be. If I still lived in London, and space and money weren't an issue I'd get a tuned convertible Cooper in a heartbeat (R56/7 not the new ones).
I'd still go back to the point about test driving them in your real world conditions. Where are you going to be driving it fast and how fast? On a UK motorway >99mph and you loose your license (
and barely arrive faster than had you driven at 60mph). I'd relate it to motorbikes, and say on the whole it's better to have something that feels fast than is actually super fast.
hugo7-
Perhaps i need to revisit the mini interior - i felt it plastic'y and gimmicky...but im not a fan of the "new" mini in general anyway, its effin massive these days!
-
I agree about the mini, I've just bought a R55 clubman cooper s and its very nice place to sit - my other cars are a T5 van and a mx5 so maybe not a great comparison?
anthonyj
pryally
TBH i've not looked at the "hot hatch" market for decades and just assumed the (VAG range) GTi / R / 4motion / Cupra etc was the nuts for speed - but they aint when compared to big german estates i was looking at - but i dont want to drive around in something that feels tacky inside (which i've found on almost all hatch rentals apart from Golf/Audi) , and to be brutally honest i feel Ford are like that - and lets not get started on Fiat or BMW Mini .
so from the above i can take BMWs slightly smaller space if i can get epic performance and solid nice interior.....
saying that i've just been sent the Topgear BMW v GOLF video link where the BMW 1 almost killed Clarkson when driving in a straight line on a wet airfield - sobering viewing.
Perhaps i should go retro and look to the 80's/90's jap hatch turbo market - I used to own an EP71 turbo when living in NZ.....