Man.. am I the only one who likes the Mini Cooper S? I mean.. when I was looking at cars.. I looked at the WRX TR, VW GTI, Civic Si Coupe, Mini Cooper S, or Audi A3.. which all you mentioned are in the list.. so I'll give my reviews on each of them.. well I didn't test drive the WRX or the A3.. but Audi's decrease in value tremendously after the first few years.. so that threw that option out the window.. WRX's are more torque than top end power.. so yeah.. the GTI is fun to drive.. but not as nimble on cornering as the Si.. the Si is a fun, lightweight car that gets you where you need to go.. but in all honestly.. I still wish I got that Mini S haha.. but there are a lot of reasons why I didn't.. first.. in California.. for a 2006 Cooper S.. there's a 5k markup.. which brings the OTD value to around 30k.. second.. Cooper S's at the time (Oct 2006) were all sold out except for like yellow and orange lol due to people preferring S/C over the 2007 Turbo.. third.. if I was gonna wait for a Cooper S.. I would have waited for a 2007 redesigned Cooper S Turbo.. but either way.. the 2006 and 2007 had a 5k markup.. on the test drive however.. wow.. the Cooper S is very well built.. everything feels solid and the one I test drove had no weird creaking or random noises.. the one complaint I had though was the center spedometer.. now whoever thought putting the spedometer in the middle of the car.. wow bad idea.. but the Mini Cooper S handles like a dream.. seriously loved driving that car.. its like driving a go-kart on surface streets.. for anyone thinkin that it's underpowered.. I would say you are wrong.. because the Mini Cooper S JCW (John Cooper Works edition) makes more HP than the regular S and improves handling.. which is pretty incredible OR.. you can dish out 30k+ and get the Mini Cooper S JCW GP.. which is the top of the line limited edition 2-seater racing version. Haha I've written enough. Good luck.
