Mini JCW or TT SLine?
Discussion
Good afternoon, having only just joined the forum my apologies if my question is out of context or in the wrong section.
My current car (Vauxhall VX220) has recently been unfortunately wrote off and I have narrowed my car shortlist down to either a Mini JCW hatch or Audi TT S Line 2.0 petrol both around a 16 plate.
Could I get anyone's thoughts on which is the better car? And any insight in regards to reliability and other things in general.
Thank you for reading
My current car (Vauxhall VX220) has recently been unfortunately wrote off and I have narrowed my car shortlist down to either a Mini JCW hatch or Audi TT S Line 2.0 petrol both around a 16 plate.
Could I get anyone's thoughts on which is the better car? And any insight in regards to reliability and other things in general.
Thank you for reading
Not sure why no-one has commented on this yet. There must be people on here who have owned these cars.
I'm guessing you're budget is around £15k and that you are wanting a small, quick car with a premium feel?
I like both the mini and the TT but haven't driven either. I think it depends what you need. The rear seats in both will be cramped but maybe the mini slightly better.
Maybe other good choices for that budget?
If you've had a VX220 you could stick with Vauxhall and look at an astra vxr which are good value.
I'm guessing you're budget is around £15k and that you are wanting a small, quick car with a premium feel?
I like both the mini and the TT but haven't driven either. I think it depends what you need. The rear seats in both will be cramped but maybe the mini slightly better.
Maybe other good choices for that budget?
If you've had a VX220 you could stick with Vauxhall and look at an astra vxr which are good value.
I've had a 2012 Mk2 Audi TTS and a 2017 F56 Cooper S. I liked both in terms of their size and weight, but personally the MINI was the most fun for me.
Both have nice interiors(you do have to have a well specced MINI for that though), and both are easy to live with. The Audi TT is the much better looking car to my eyes though.
I think that you will be happy with either of them, but from a driving perspective I'd go with the MINI.
Both have nice interiors(you do have to have a well specced MINI for that though), and both are easy to live with. The Audi TT is the much better looking car to my eyes though.
I think that you will be happy with either of them, but from a driving perspective I'd go with the MINI.
Thanks everyone for your replies.
Spot on with my budget and the kind of car I am looking for Chris.
It was the 2 litre petrol I was looking at I can't seem to get a quattro within my budget unfortunately.
May be a silly question but can anyone offer on guidance on which car will depreciate the least? And are both cars generally quite reliable?
Thanks again
Spot on with my budget and the kind of car I am looking for Chris.
It was the 2 litre petrol I was looking at I can't seem to get a quattro within my budget unfortunately.
May be a silly question but can anyone offer on guidance on which car will depreciate the least? And are both cars generally quite reliable?
Thanks again
Nico05 said:
Thanks everyone for your replies.
Spot on with my budget and the kind of car I am looking for Chris.
It was the 2 litre petrol I was looking at I can't seem to get a quattro within my budget unfortunately.
May be a silly question but can anyone offer on guidance on which car will depreciate the least? And are both cars generally quite reliable?
Thanks again
I just look at the same car but 2 years older to get a feel. So in your case 2014 models. We’ve had lots of minis but supply problems meant we didn’t get a JCW in the end. Great cars. Spot on with my budget and the kind of car I am looking for Chris.
It was the 2 litre petrol I was looking at I can't seem to get a quattro within my budget unfortunately.
May be a silly question but can anyone offer on guidance on which car will depreciate the least? And are both cars generally quite reliable?
Thanks again
I've owned both. TT is significantly better car in my opinion - feels much more special, the interior is miles nicer with the digital dash. TT handles much better and feels much better engineered.
Mini feels a bit mixed in its character. It tries to be fun and young in its styling, but the drives is a bit boring.
Ignore silly comments about Quattro being vastly superior to FWD - it's only 'quattro' by name (it's a haldex reactive system, and not a real 'quattro') and 99.9% of the time the FWD and quattro feel exactly the same.
Mini feels a bit mixed in its character. It tries to be fun and young in its styling, but the drives is a bit boring.
Ignore silly comments about Quattro being vastly superior to FWD - it's only 'quattro' by name (it's a haldex reactive system, and not a real 'quattro') and 99.9% of the time the FWD and quattro feel exactly the same.
Had a 12 plate TTS roadster and sold it for a 19 plate F57 Cooper S
like other replies I prefer the Mini, TTS is quick, but too civilize for me as a convertible weekend toy.
F57 more playful, could have fun without pushing to lose my license but some friends consider the ride too harsh. Love the colour scheme on Mini too.
like other replies I prefer the Mini, TTS is quick, but too civilize for me as a convertible weekend toy.
F57 more playful, could have fun without pushing to lose my license but some friends consider the ride too harsh. Love the colour scheme on Mini too.
As far as I can tell the Quattro is only available with the S tronic auto box and is quite a bit more money than a fwd manual TT. Again, it depends how you intend to drive it. If you use it year round and like to drive hard then maybe the Quattro is necessary but for most people I’d imagine fwd is fine. Also the mini is fwd so no difference there.
I’ve read reviews that say a Cooper S is in many ways a better car with a more settled ride. £15k would get you into a 2018 Cooper S which could be quite attractive. The JCW does look a nice motor to me though and could be a bit more special. It might get more kit as standard too although I’m guessing at that.
If you want the sharpest drive then maybe have a look at a mk8 Fiesta ST. I have a mk7.5 and it’s fantastic fun to drive. The only things that let it down slightly are the stiff ride and low rent interior although neither bother me that much. The mk8 improves in both those areas and though it won’t be as classy inside as the Audi or Mini I think it’s pretty good and more than makes up for it in the drive.
Ultimately your choice but of the two I’d be leaning more towards the Mini.
Depreciation probably similar on both.
BMW 2 series perhaps? £15k will get an early M235i coupe with manual box. Food for thought!
I’ve read reviews that say a Cooper S is in many ways a better car with a more settled ride. £15k would get you into a 2018 Cooper S which could be quite attractive. The JCW does look a nice motor to me though and could be a bit more special. It might get more kit as standard too although I’m guessing at that.
If you want the sharpest drive then maybe have a look at a mk8 Fiesta ST. I have a mk7.5 and it’s fantastic fun to drive. The only things that let it down slightly are the stiff ride and low rent interior although neither bother me that much. The mk8 improves in both those areas and though it won’t be as classy inside as the Audi or Mini I think it’s pretty good and more than makes up for it in the drive.
Ultimately your choice but of the two I’d be leaning more towards the Mini.
Depreciation probably similar on both.
BMW 2 series perhaps? £15k will get an early M235i coupe with manual box. Food for thought!
So I was in the same boat about 2 months ago.
I have owned a few minis and a few Audis in the past so I wasn’t brand biased. Test drove both recent and in the past.
My concluding thoughts were that £15k on a mini was unjustified. Purely because what made it good fun could be achieved for £2k on a R53 Mini Cooper S. The rest on top was just modern luxuries.
The TT (with the 225bhp tune) and virtual cockpit was actually a really good little car. I could and would have easily spent the £15k and not worried about the price as it is very quick and also very tech ‘forward’ with the nav in the binnacle. An easy remap would have seen even more pace too.
In the end I budget stretched a couple more grand and got a mint M235i. Reason being, I love the shape (personally), but also figured it would be my last ever big engine car. My next car will likely be a 2 litre before EV takes over. There’s still 8-12 years left of ICE- plenty of time for 3/4 cylinder cars so get the big engines in whilst you can! I’m averaging 30mpg which is borderline same as I managed in the 4 cylinders quickish cars I’ve owned before.
I have owned a few minis and a few Audis in the past so I wasn’t brand biased. Test drove both recent and in the past.
My concluding thoughts were that £15k on a mini was unjustified. Purely because what made it good fun could be achieved for £2k on a R53 Mini Cooper S. The rest on top was just modern luxuries.
The TT (with the 225bhp tune) and virtual cockpit was actually a really good little car. I could and would have easily spent the £15k and not worried about the price as it is very quick and also very tech ‘forward’ with the nav in the binnacle. An easy remap would have seen even more pace too.
In the end I budget stretched a couple more grand and got a mint M235i. Reason being, I love the shape (personally), but also figured it would be my last ever big engine car. My next car will likely be a 2 litre before EV takes over. There’s still 8-12 years left of ICE- plenty of time for 3/4 cylinder cars so get the big engines in whilst you can! I’m averaging 30mpg which is borderline same as I managed in the 4 cylinders quickish cars I’ve owned before.
Another thought,
You could also look at getting a cross between the two with an Audi S1.
I know that people say the S1 is not the best drivers car but that same criticism has been put against both the TT and the Mini JCW. I actually think it’s a really good looking car and as it’s so often overlooked it’s rarer and may even be a little bit more special. You get the same engine as in the TT but you get Quattro with a manual gear box which can’t be bad. I reckon they’re quite interesting which coming from a VX220 might be something that matters to you.
You could also look at getting a cross between the two with an Audi S1.
I know that people say the S1 is not the best drivers car but that same criticism has been put against both the TT and the Mini JCW. I actually think it’s a really good looking car and as it’s so often overlooked it’s rarer and may even be a little bit more special. You get the same engine as in the TT but you get Quattro with a manual gear box which can’t be bad. I reckon they’re quite interesting which coming from a VX220 might be something that matters to you.
38911 said:
Ignore silly comments about Quattro being vastly superior to FWD - it's only 'quattro' by name (it's a haldex reactive system, and not a real 'quattro') and 99.9% of the time the FWD and quattro feel exactly the same.
I echo this too. I wasn't a fan of the Quattro system in the TTS, and I'd have actually preferred it to be FWD only(I'm personally used to rear biased 4WD systems so that is probably why I noticed it a lot more). A lot of reviews I've read have also said that the FWD TT is the pick of the range too. Don't get me wrong the 4WD is a nice to have in the wet or poor conditions, but for me it seemed to almost ruin the car dynamically to drive though. The ultra light steering with absolutely zero feel...mated to a 4WD system that liked to understeer wasn't a great combo imo.
How about this as an alternative? MINI Paceman John Cooper Works All4. Something like the one bellow. It wasn't very loved when launched, but they make a good, if unusual, second hand buy. If anything they were a a bit ahead of their time.
http://www.autotrader.co.uk/car-details/2022091296...
http://www.autotrader.co.uk/car-details/2022091296...
Missus had a 2013 JCW that we just sold ,she loved it but I found it a bit on edge all the time ,reminded me of 2 stroke bikes ,only works flat out or switched off no in between mode as such , never had a TT but I would imagine the interior quality would be better never thought Minis felt like a premium product….
We have a 17 Mini JCW convertible. It’s quite good fun. The steering wheel is perfect, the handling is ok (there are a lot of settings to play with) and it’s quite quick. Build quality is solid. Looks ok without looking silly/daft.
Cons: the ICE system is impenetrably complicated. The paddle shifters are on the wheel and not the column. Turbo’d engine means it runs out of puff at higher revs. Fuel tank is very small.
But overall the positives outweigh the negatives. It’s a fun car that someone who likes driving can enjoy. It’s not a ‘Ring machine and I wouldn’t use it for a 100 mile+ journey. As a second car for a bit of a laugh, it ticks all the boxes.
Know nothing about the Audi - sorry.
Cons: the ICE system is impenetrably complicated. The paddle shifters are on the wheel and not the column. Turbo’d engine means it runs out of puff at higher revs. Fuel tank is very small.
But overall the positives outweigh the negatives. It’s a fun car that someone who likes driving can enjoy. It’s not a ‘Ring machine and I wouldn’t use it for a 100 mile+ journey. As a second car for a bit of a laugh, it ticks all the boxes.
Know nothing about the Audi - sorry.
We had a 1.8 tt sline 16 plate and then a jcw manual 16 plate. I thought the jcw would be a great little car but we never really got on with it. Had adaptive suspension and it was rock hard in both settings. Any more than around 30-45 minutes in it and we would both get back ache (which we haven’t had in any car before). The tt on the other hand whilst not that powerful was great to drive. Very comfortable, cheap to run and surprisingly practical as the rear was large with the seats folded down.
Would take a TT over the jcw personally.
Would take a TT over the jcw personally.
Cw4578 said:
We had a 1.8 tt sline 16 plate and then a jcw manual 16 plate. I thought the jcw would be a great little car but we never really got on with it. Had adaptive suspension and it was rock hard in both settings. Any more than around 30-45 minutes in it and we would both get back ache (which we haven’t had in any car before). The tt on the other hand whilst not that powerful was great to drive. Very comfortable, cheap to run and surprisingly practical as the rear was large with the seats folded down.
Would take a TT over the jcw personally.
I remember the ride being pretty punishing on the 19" wheels in the TTS. Whereas the Cooper S only had 17" wheels(without runflats) so the ride was better in the MINI for me. The ride in the MINI was a bit jiggy in town, but it was excellent to throw down a nice country road though. It soaked the road up so well I thought. Would take a TT over the jcw personally.
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