That is how I felt about my last r56 I made it my perfect mini. it had plenty (too much) power, it looked the business in my eyes, it handled brilliantly, up until my crash it had only gotten away from me once and that was due to going into a corner a little too hot and being a bit too heavy on the anchors and the back came round.
the car wasn't a particularly good spec only options were the chilli pack and jaw body kit, but that in away is why I liked it because the interior was nothing special there were no distractions no toys to play with so it was just a driving tool. my current mini has a huge spec so I am more reluctant to rip the seats out and because its a comfy car I don't feel the same eagerness to rally it along B roads. saying that you could feel the lsd dragging the car out of hairpins over on the west coast and that was good fun.