>>Its a personal choice thing :-).
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>>One of my favourite driving experiences (apart from motorcycles) was a friends souped up mini. He was a decent mechanic and worked in the motor trade, it was extremely powerful, light and I can only describe the driving experience as raw.
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>Yupp, and the german part of the heritage of the IMO most important car of the last century is quite small...

In 1968 my wife and I went to the Mercedes dealer in San Francisco. I looked at the various models, and had the cash in my wallet to purchase it after doing my research. A salesman came up to me and spoke with a thick German accent. I asked the wrong question: “How many miles to the gallon does the model 280 get”?

The salesman stated with his nose high in the air, “Obviously, you cannot afford a Mercedes”!, as he turned his back and walked away. Mercedes lost a customer! So we went with a BMW 2002 tii. :)