Mini cooper s for me.

If I'm honest the 52-06 cooper s (supercharged) has a very strong gear box. It's the coopers and one that suck.)

If I had to choose the above or the current s I'd go for the current because they are alot better on fuel.

Things to watch out for are top end engine rattles, the chain stretch after 30,000 and start becoming noisy. Also as the are direct injection there with be some de-coke needed with some mileage.

Both are very cool to tune.