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
I am clearly biased but vote MINI. That supercharger whine is intoxicating while you row through the gears with the windows down and full pano moon roof open.
Yes, it rides on rails and has the suspension to match. Also, I can’t say the seats are particularly comfortable for long drives.
I felt like I was nuts when I bought mine in 2019 as I’m normally pretty reasoned and logical, but I was looking for something much like you are and this had so much character, and the MINI community is pretty great.
I had my 06 R53 for 5 trouble-free years, though I was the beneficiary of some pretty doting previous owners, I suspect. I paid it forward accordingly.
Mine had about 72K miles when purchased and I probably only put about 5K miles on it during my ownership. I only sold it because I wasn’t driving it enough and realized I didn’t want to own it forever. Also yes, I thought it best to get out with a clear conscience before something inevitably did need some serious coin to resolve.
Tl;dr – choose the R53 for fun!
An R53 is on my possible future list of cars, so I vote that. We can be twinsies!
Edit: also, NEVER give them a “neither” button. The cowards will take it every time.
There’s a difference between common sense and being a coward Mark…
Some of us took sports car seriously.
Two-time Mini owner here. They’re so much fun and 58k miles on the Mini will give another 15-20k miles before things prob go awry. Don’t make it your daily driver and it’ll be fine.
You make some of the worst automotive decisions I’ve ever seen, which is fine. All in the name of journalism! But then you try to justify them, which makes it so much worse. Selling that one i3 for a much worse i3 (plus another small, crappy German car for some reason?) is objectively dumb. Don’t tell us why, just do it.
Jason has a bunch of stupid cars too, but nobody cares because he’s like “Yeah, I own unreliable crap, what of it?”
“They used to be just a couple of grand, and now a halfway-decent one seems to be about $6-7 thousand”
That’s because all of the cheap (ie, un-maintained) ones have had their timing belts fail and grenade the engines.
Even so, TT in a heartbeat.
I guess you have to decide how much you want to be wrenching. With a new family you may have less time to do that.
I had my MGB when I wanted something to wrench on. It did the job and got that out of my system. Now the Miata allows me optional wrenching. If I want to change something out or swap something, I can, but it’s not a sense of urgency and I can plan my wrenching.
Neither of these seem like they offer the dependability that I would want, but if the goal is to have something to wrench on, either seems like a great choice. I’d do a convertible though, but that’s just me. The Mini never looks like a fun car to wrench on, with it’s tight spaces and compact engine bay.
I own a 2002 VW product, so I kind of know what I’m getting into with the Audi. It gets my vote.
If it has the 1.8 turbo motor, a 2001 should have a timing belt, not a chain. The belts are pretty easy to do, from what I’ve heard (I’m too old for that crap). I have a good mechanic that specializes in Audi/VW, so I’m not worried about repair (although my wallet would probably complain).
Voting for the Audi. With 160K miles, it will reach its proper end-of-life much sooner than the Mini, thus putting David out of his repair miseries.
Mini Cooper: All of the headaches of owning a BMW and none of the prestige.
-told to me by a Mini Cooper owner. 🙂
I think I’d rather have the TT.
Audi TT + Smart #2 = perfect 2 car solution.
TT is the way, in my opinion. Just ask our contributor form the land of Dingos and Didgeridoos. I think Zoe still has the drop top Audi?
2020 David: Back for a visit again, future David?
2026 David: Yeah. I sold a couple more of my Jeeps and my fanciest BMW and now I can’t decide what to buy next.
2020 David: You what?
2026 David: I just need you to help me decide between a Mini Cooper S and an Audi TT.
2020 David: (Drops wrench from dirty hand. It lands in a pile of rust making a noticeable CLANK and sending bits of rust flying everywhere)
2026 David: I just feel like I should live a little and carve the streets of LA in something fun and somewhat economical in between taking care of the kid and attending black tie events.
2020 David: I ate spaghetti in the shower last night and got trench foot working an FC Jeep that was so rusted I had to use a prybar for a throttle.
2026 David: Mini Cooper it is, then.
Audi TT!!!
DT article 2 years from now: Replacing timing belts is much easier and cheaper than engines every 60K miles
I saw the “neither” at the last minute, but still chose MINI. You seem pretty keen on getting one, and I want you to have that experience. For good or bad, you’ll never know until you give it a shot. I took a chance on a nice 944 Turbo and learned it wasn’t for me. Now I know and can ignore them from now on.
I only know Audi has a rep for notorious maintenance issues. And my former coworker’s Ssomething showed me first hand.
That said, any other cheaper/maint friendly options float your boat?
go with the TT, either the 1.8T or 3.2 VR6 are fine and have good aftermarket support. They’re more or less a re-skinned, better looking Golf/A3 so you should do fine. But it has to have the baseball glove interior to be timeless and sought after for years to come.
What’s your actual use case for this? If you’re looking for a sporty daily driver, don’t buy either. Or, if you’re hell-bent on the idea, get the Mini as it’s a more practical form factor. If you’re looking for an occasional-use sports car, the TT fits that bill a whole lot better.
I’ve owned two Minis and a TT. Both the Minis disintegrated like the Bluesmobile, while the TT snapped an engine mount while I was driving it to the next unfortunate owner.
I vote Mini.
Neither of these are sports cars in my opinion. They are both fun little run abouts, and the higher spec TTs are definitely sports cars, but if you’re going sports car, talk to Griffin about a Vette, or get a Miata, a Z3 could work with your German desires… Lots of options that will get you a proper RWD manual setup like a sports car should have.
Came to say this as well. TT would be the best bet between these two though.
I think I would go mini of these choices, but a Boxster would take the win over either.
I think at this point we need to figure out what happened in David’s life that makes him hate himself so much. I thought he was punishing himself with the rusty Jeeps, but it was only a theory. This I’m afraid, is proof. A BMW based Mini that’s notoriously unreliable? An Audi that’s an Audi? Come on, what are you thinking?
You’re a good guy David. You don’t have to do this to yourself.
David has wisely found options that are even more challenging than simply an old Audi or BMW. That Audi is really a tuned VW GTI with inherent high-speed instability issues squashed together with an early Haldex unit while the Mini is a Rover powered by a Brazilian Rover-Chrysler engine that even BMW didn’t want to use.
The 1st gen Audi TT is the prettiest one they made, IMO. I’d look for the 225 quattro, which this one is, so you’re getting the best version of TT, IMO.
My dad used to own one of these in red when I was a kid. Smooth as silk at 140 mph. His did have the post-recall spoiler and electronic stability management. It was a joy to drive. Unfortunately, he bought way more car than he could afford, having poor impulse control, and it eventually got repo’d.
I never driven a MINI and suspect i’d like the experience, but it’s the infinite circles of the interior that is a dealbreaker for me… I drove a 1.8T for 9 years and it was fine (tho not 25yo) and I think a TT is a timeless design and still a good [enough] drive, hence my vote. [sidebar: Cerberus is correct; they’re not sports cars]
Is a first gen RX-7 out now due to that being a desire when you were a single man and it won’t quite work with a wife and child now?
Anyway, I voted TT, because I happen to love those too. They have a je ne sais quoi that makes me really smitten. I love my rotaries so my FC is never going anywhere and I still enjoy the RX-8 as my daily. But eventually, I’d love to have a third car that rotates between a whole bunch of things that are “on the list” that I would love to experience for a year or two each.
I bought an R53 06 Cooper S. It’s fun. It’s also in the shop for oxygen sensors which I could do but I don’t have a garage and I don’t feel like wrenching in the grass.
The plan is to keep it as the ‘fun’ car. We’ll see how that goes.
Fiesta ST is kinda German right? Just putting that out there.
I forgot about the Fiesta. Those are great cars to drive, and much better than these options.