Spent some time at Mini Cooper and Fiat today. Tried the 500 sport and Mini Cooper S. First the S.

The british racing green is gorgeous. Love that color. I test drove a different color since they only had a few autos. Since it's been about 15 years since I learned on a stick I've driven only auto, so while I may go for manual when I buy, I wanted to test on an auto. The interior of the Mini seemed better laid out than most of the small cars I've tried. Only the GTI seemed better. The unnecessary large center speedo is keeping with history, but rather blingy, imo. Controls were well placed and the audio system was one of the upgraded models and sounded pretty nice (for a car stereo..). Some of the interior bits seemed a bit flimsy, but overall not bad. GTI wins the interior, IMO. Driving was smooth and relatively quiet for such a light car (2600 lbs) compared to my 4400 lb monster. Took a 20mph off ramp at about 40mph and it just stuck there. Really nice and stable. Power was quick with almost no turbo lag, but when letting off the gas there's this instantaneous drop in speed like the car can't coast, it's either gaining quickly or losing quickly. Kind of odd. Looking at the Mini website, the customization is practically endless. Neat. I'd say I like this almost as much as the GTI as a car itself, the customization is almost nothing on the GTI though, so it's an odd comparison. The weight difference is pretty significant with the Mini at 2600 lbs and the GTI at 3200 lbs.

The 500 sport is not quite what I expected, and what I expected at the same time. It drives stronger than I expected, but the interior is cheap cheap. The seats however are extremely comfortable. I could not get the seat and steering wheel combo in a comfortable position, though, even messing with it for like 5 minutes solid. The Bose audio was decent, but not especially good. Road noise was there, but quieter than expected. The ride was very bumpy, jarringly so on poorly repaired roads and a train track we crossed on the test drive. Like the Mini it stuck the 20 mph off ramp at 40mph without much body roll. The 500 weighs in at about 3300 lbs, so it's smaller than the GTI, but just as heavy, and about 1/4 heavier than the Mini. The guy showed me the Abarth they had in the show room which was pretty nice, but not $28,000 nice (loaded). I would expect just as bumpy or even more so a ride from the Abarth. Not interested.

Right now I'm looking at this pecking order, accounting for price:

VW GTI $25k = Mini Cooper S $24-26k (so many options I need to go through)
Honda CR-Z EX $21k
...
...
Chevy Sonic Turbo $18k
Fiat 500 Sport $20k
Kia Rio 5 door SX $17k

Still left to look at:
Scion FR-S/Subaru BRZ
Ford Focus ST (though I find it rather ugly, saw a regular Focus today and it's just.. ugh...)

Edit:

Add Hyundai Genesis Coupe $25k to the must see list... 274hp RWD 4cyl 30mpg city 37 hwy. Check out this video of the older model V6 306hp on Nurburgring:

More like a Korean BRZ but already has the turbo. I'd love to see a Mustang take Nurburgring like that straight off the showroom floor.

The Mini's transmission was fine. The weight is kinda funny on it, but it feels ok since it's so light already. Miata is out, I'm not 50 years old.

WRX is ugly and expensive, and insurance is higher by a lot.

Weight ratio is almost same as BRZ which is one of the points everyone always talks about. Add a turbo to the BRZ to get power like the GC and the weight will get closer. Power to weight ratio is almost the same as well. 13:1 and 12:1 in favor of the GC. Also the BRZ is barebones with no creature comforts at all.

Not sure how you could think the GC was slow on the track. He's doing well over 200kph on straights, over 150kph while turning and barely squealing the tires. Completely stock doing ~8:20 on Nurburgring. Medium quality street tires, etc. What is the Boss 302's time on that track?

Btw, the Boss 302 Laguna Seca is a $47,000 car. Why is that even being brought up here?

Stock mustang is about 3500 lbs. Stock GC is about 3200lbs. Closer to mustang for sure, but still a good ways away. BRZ is about 2650 lbs so it's 550 lbs to GC then 300 to Mustang. The stock Mustang V6 gets 305hp/280lb/f and 19/29 mpg at $23,000 with the GC with 2.0T gets 274hp/275lb/f and 30/39 mpg at $24,500, but also has real handling.

8:28 is the listing for that car driven by that person in the video according to your wiki link. Every car ahead of it is more expensive. This was also the automatic model mind you.

The WRX STI driven by Tommi Makinen, a truly professional race driver, was 7:55, a $35,000 car. This is the closest priced car that is listed with a faster time than the GC. It also gets 17mpg city and 23 hwy compared to 30/37 for the 2.0T 274hp/275lb GC.

I really don't mean to sound like a sudden GC fanboy, but I'm just looking at facts here.

Point is a $26,000 car (as equipped in that video, which was the older model with only 310hp, not 354 like it is now, which is $28,000) is doing the best times for it's price range, period.

Also, the warranty on the GC is almost double the mileage and length of the Mustang. It's a pretty thorough bashing, honestly.

We'll see when I get to actually drive both of these in a couple days.

indeed: unless they let you test-drive on a track, all this Nürburgring talk is not directly relevant - one of the problems with automotive journalism is that it suggests we should be able to drift and race in our quotidian transport... that said, I did have fun with launch control today at a red light on the way to dim sum brunch ;-)