With my newfound riches, I’m debating buying my very first sports car. Yes, I’ve been a car journalist for over a decade, and the sportiest car I’ve ever owned is a BMW i3. This must change. And right now, two cars are really pulling me in: The OG Audi TT and the OG Mini Cooper S.
It’s become clear to me that these two vehicles are future classics, and given that they’re reasonably small and efficient, they fit into my new suburban LA lifestyle better than would, say, another 4×4. More importantly: Right now, they’re cheap for what they are. I’d say that, on a soul-per-dollar basis, it’s hard to beat the Audi TT and the R53 Mini Cooper S.
I mean, just look at these two.
The ‘Italian Job’ Mini Cooper S Is Luring Me In
Right now, decent R53 Mini Coopers are selling between $3000 and $8000. That’s insanely cheap for a quick, fun, manual transmission car with this much soul.
And I know, you’re heading to the comments right now to write: “DUDE THESE THINGS ARE STEAMING HEEPS.” They have problems. That supercharger will need to be rebuilt, the engines themselves aren’t amazing, the front suspension tends to need love, and they take premium fuel.
But live a little! It’s a supercharged hot hatch that is sure to be a future classic. Spin a few wrenches, say a few cursewords, and then enjoy days on the canyons. I don’t know that I’ll be able to resist the R53 Mini Cooper S much longer. As long as I can find a red one with stripes for under 4 big ones, I’m probably onboard. (The one above on Cars & Bids hasn’t hammered yet; I’ll guess it’ll go for $8-ish, but we shall see).
My wife isn’t sold yet, but I’m working on it.
My First Love: The Audi TT
Is it just me or are Audi TTs on the rise? That’s not to say they’re pricey, but they used to be just a couple of grand, and now a halfway-decent one seems to be about $6-7 thousand here in LA.
Regardless, they deserve the love, as their rounded design is truly timeless. You get a 6-speed manual, all-wheel drive, a great little turbo motor (I’m told the 1.8 is the one to get), and style inside and out.
Yes, like the Mini, there are concerns about a 25 year-old German car potentially ruining one’s life. Will I be replacing a timing chain? Is the water pump going to go out on me? Do I have time to deal with a Piech-era VW product given that I have a baby at home? They are good questions.
I’m personally leaning towards the mini, since I think I can get a decent one for $3500. But people keep telling me horror stories…
Topshot: FB and Cars & Bids
Wheels are wrong on the TT. I think that on such a design masterpiece it’s gotta be the absolutely correct ones. So demand some kind of discount, so there’s room for finding the right ones.
“Colour” is perfect. OG TTs looks best in silver.
Mini isn’t a sports car, it’s a hot hatch. That’s something else..
It’s a little hard to tell from the single photo, but it looks like a “Fat Five” 17″ wheel that was stock on a lot of TTs from that period. Not all of them came with Avus-style wheels.
Might be the case. Mose EU spec TTs had the flat 6-spoke, so I’ve gotten used to those, and they should be on my own TT 😉 (also considering one)
Those fat fives are the correct stock wheels for the US 225 TT.
Arguably, neither is a sports car, but setting that aside: neither.
I test drove a 1st gen new MINI and was really underwhelmed after hearing so much about how great a driver it was and that was before the lack of reliability reputation was known. However, that so many seemed to be traded in with low miles and nearly new and the seats on the demonstrator I sat in at Lime Rock already looked like it had a hard 250k miles on it had me suspicious. Bought a Mazda3 instead because it rode better, was cheaper, got halfway decent mileage, the clutch didn’t suck, it was a lot more practical in terms of space, and wasn’t that much worse to drive, but was also really underwhelming in that role. Yawn.
The TT is a Golf in a less practical, if cool looking, package. Never drove one, but was unimpressed by the Golf and there’s VW reliability, of which I have far more experience dealing with in that era than I would like. Plastic fell apart in a couple years from new, now add decades of aging to that and the mechanicals.
It’s CA, there has to be far better and more interesting sports/sport-ish cars there in that price range.
Having driven both, my advice is MINI. The TT is nice, but there are two things that would send me to the MINI side:
Conceptually I like TTs, but I have never liked the “squished Beetle” look of them. Minis are where it’s at, easily my choice today.
There are only so many warnings people can give you. My advice: listen to your wife. She put up with the WWII Jeep build, but she wasn’t happy about it. If she genuinely wants you to buy a sporty car, do it. If she goes along with it because she loves you, give a little back and refrain. FYI, my wife’s still mad at me for the Ford Fusion I bought new in 2014 after she told me to buy it if I really wanted to.
Neither. You should instead go back and look up that shitbox Rolls and leave a note under the wiper saying you want to buy it. In fact, you should be contractually obligated to do so.
I may be a bit biased, but while the R53 will requite some degree of wrenching, it is a great choice. I bought mine for $3500 and I am smitten. Even though I’ve had a few things go wrong, it still hasn’t required a tow. Here’s the best part: Nearly every issue is documented. If you see something odd, just look it up and you’ll find the answer on how to fix it. Even my New England 160k mile model doesn’t have a ton of rust, so you’ll easily find a good example in CA. Given the projects you’ve had in the past, an R53 would be so easy, especially a rust free one.
I’m sold!
As someone who has owned (or spouse did) both an 04 GTI and an 09 Clubman, both of these are interesting vehicles that are likely to be a fun way to get rid of some of the cash burning a whole in your pocket. For some reason, neither of these 2 vehicles seem to fit the pattern of what I think a David Tracy sports car should be. Maybe it is because you work on your brothers classic Mustang but I feel like you need something different, very possibly a Mustang, as your sports car of choice. You also need to use some of that pocket burning cash to sell the YJ and get an LJ as your 2 door off-roader of choice with a little extra room for Delmar. I love spending other peoples money.
M.I.A.T.A.
Or a Frsbrz. Or a Mustang.
At first I was going to recommend Miata but he has a kid which I’m guessing is still in a car seat (how many years do they need those?) which might make that difficult. My BRZ had the mandated car seat anchors on the
rear shelfback seat but I’d love to see how anyone could get a seat and toddler back in there.My old WRX wagon would have been perfect for hauling little monsters around but now we’re getting even further away from being a true sports car.
That is fair. I do have doubts about the FR-S myself regarding child seats, since I own one and know just how little room there is, but even if you can get access back there, those “seats” are pretty deeply sculpted. They put my nephew in a booster in the front of my car once and that didn’t fit at all…
On the other hand, the only of the two he’s looking at which doesn’t have a small, cramped backseat with poor access is probably the Mini. The Mustang is a fairly big car, and I guess there’s also Camaro and Challenger if you want to go deeper into ‘murican muscle, but if this is just for date night, something with two, practical seats should be fine. If baby makes three…ehhhhh…
Rear seat loading access is much easier if he simply buys a convertible.
I wouldn’t consider either of these “sportscars”, more like “sporty” cars.
I don’t really like either, but if it was the only way I could get home, I’d choose the Mini. The Audi just looks tired, and the styling is so dated. Plus, it’s such a boring color, at least the Mini is a real color and looks the part.
And regarding prices, I think it’s less that they’re appreciating, and more than money isn’t worth anything anymore.
In 2012 I got 1,400 bucks for my 97ZJ, in 2026 one in worse condition is 2-3X that amount.
Some else mentioned the BMW Z3/4, I’d agree with that. Heck, even a Saturn Sky or Pontiac Solstice twin. I think those are based on an Opel platfom, with is kind of German, right?
If you really want to scratch the sports car itch and don’t need it to be super practical, $8,000 can get you a higher mileage but decent Miata. I’d feel safer buying a NB or NC Miata that is pushing 200,000 miles than I would buying a German sports/sporty car with half the mileage.
Or if you need a little more space you could look for the least roached Boostang that $8,000 can get you. In that price range though I would definitely expect it to have some issues.
Neither. Give the money to ENHRN and task her to be the responsible one to put it in D’sNHRN college fund.
…and 3 days later she pulls up in a old Mini Cooper S.
“See what that feels like, Horace (not his real name)?!?”
This IS THE CORRECT ANSWER HERE!
As a current F55 Mini driver (not to be confused with the talented Minnie Driver), I have to support my team. I have the “bloated” 3rd gen that is built on the BMW 1-series platform and it is the most fun I’ve had on public roads. While the first gen had some teething issues, the second gen is to be avoided at all cost from what I’ve read. If you can find a good deal on a third gen, these have actually taken Mini into the top ten of reliability rather than the bottom ten where the 2nd gen landed. Also, the 4-door F55 that I have can actually seat 4 people in reasonable comfort, so it will baby.
Same here. My F55 isn’t perfect but it does an amazing job of managing to be a light, nimble vehicle that acts like a much bigger one. The B48 is great, if a bit quiet without the usual modifications. The extra wheelbase makes for a nice highway drive as well. I considered the electric Mini but the charging speed is just too slow for me to consider it yet. I was even prepared to hate the DCT but I’ve gotten used to it.
My dad has an ’02 R53 and my god is it a pile. It’s broken more often than it isn’t an every time it breaks it’s something new. The electronic-hydraulic power steering is a nightmare and it recently decided it wanted to have low oil pressure at idle because the drainback valve in the filter housing blew apart. Also the button for the power liftgate broke so there’s no way to open the hatch (02s didn’t have a mechanical remote release). Still better than an R56 I guess, he bought one of those that was on its second engine at less than 120,000kms. And that one blew the timing chain guides the day after he bought it.
I feel like you’re trolling us by finding the 2 most unreliable and impossible to maintain cars possible outside something made by British Leyland…
bmw is the answer, 330ci or 335i.
The mini is a hot hatch, not a sports car while the Audi is at least sports car adjacent. Either way neither is certainly the correct choice as both will be money pits and supposedly you got rid of the “perfect condition” i3 and replaced with with a crapped out i3 to put that money in the bank, not blow it on a second crapped out car that needs or will need a lot of love.
Ah, the legendary Neither button. Just in time, too.
Oh, I didn’t hesitate to hit that “neither” button!! My vote a few minutes ago made it 98 votes for “neither” and 95 for the Mini, LOL…
Same here. Better ways to blow the bucks here.
If you want a “sports car”, you need to go rear wheel drive. Get a BMW Z3/Z4.
Neither.
And in this case, for once, Miata isn’t always the answer. No back seat for Delmar.
What is the answer?
Mustang. Convertible Mustang. It’s got a back seat that can accommodate a kid until he’s, oh, probably 10 or so. Parts are cheap and plentiful. And you can pick your poison! V8 fun or V6 for (marginally) better fuel economy. Stick? Heck yeah! Auto because LA traffic? You can find those, too!
Is it a sports car? Eeeeeehhhh… Close enough. And with enough $$$ and some weekend wrenching, it could be made to handle well.
He already has a 60’s Mustang! Why isn’t he driving that around for fun?
Isn’t that his brother’s? And I thought he sold it.
At this point, hasn’t he been keeping it for over a decade? If my brother had me keep something that long through multiple moves, I’d start considering it mine.
If it was sold though, I missed that post.
FWIU it lives on the Galpin property and frankly a Ford dealership that sells itself the way it does needs to have a rough but running early Mustang in the back lot as much as it needs a big blue oval sign out front by the highway.
Cooper. Look at how happy it is in red. Look at how sad the grey little German lump is. Like a cold overcast February day on the Nordsee coast.
I think that Mini will sell for well above $5k and more than the TT. Between these two, I’d have to pick the Mini simply because it’s in much better condition. That hurts to say because I’m a big fan of Audi from that era, I had a B5 A4 with the 1.8T and now own a B5 S4. The Mini, by far will be much more exciting to drive, and much more practical. The $7800 TT will prob require another $3-5K dropped into it to get it up to the condition of the Mini.
I tried to buy an R53 mini. Twice actually. Both times the car was suddenly sold/unavailable when I started scheduling an independent pre-purchase inspection…
Mini solely because it will be easier to have your kid in the back
i, too, have heard the siren call of the cheap, used mini. i haven’t answered it, but i’ve definitely heard it.