[trackbird]

My wife has been looking at Mini Cooper's lately. Unfortunately, the Mini dealer didn't want her VW very badly (50% depreciation in 1.5 years and 25k miles?).

It was wet out and I kept the test drive short, but I really liked it (Cooper S). Actually, I liked it more than I thought I really would. It could use a bit more power, but it wasn't a pig (it's not a Camaro either). The handling was reasonably crisp and it was a bit go cart like. I found myself thinking that I could possibly live with one of those as a daily driver. And, tires and such for autocross will be considerably cheaper than my current ride. I'm really thinking that I should take another look at these. It's small, and really rather fun to drive.

She won't be buying one for a while, but....I could probably sell the Z at this point..... :leaving:

[sgarnett]

I think there's a big difference between a mini/cobalt/civic/whatever and a miata/solstice though... And its called "seating for four". :-)

For me, for a daily driver I want a car with four doors first. That dq's the mini, the civic si, and (I think) the cobalt right there. We don't have kids or anything like that, its just that having four doors makes groceries, hauling friends or the dog or whatever so much easier.

That's exactly why I'm driving a Camaro instead of a Vette. No, it isn't the right vehicle for a long road trip with 4 adults, but 2+2 does work for short trips and children.

I despise four-doors other than the new crop of suicide door options (like the RX8). The extra door just gets in my way, since I can't normally reach anything in the back seat through the front door. I LOVE shuffling doors in a downpour or a tight parking space while extracting whatever I need from the back.

I admit that I looked at a lot of child seats before I found one that would fit, and I didn't find any good options for a rear-facing infant seat, but my two-year-old daughter fits quite happily in the back of "daddy's car".

Like Sam said, the fbody is a pain to park, and that's really the biggest drawback to me (other then the self-induced headache from lowering it).

Heck, take a few inches out of the door thickness on the fbody, trim the front overhang a bit, and leave it at stock height and it's close to my ideal commuter.