You heard that right – Mini called out Porsche today when it announced a challenge between the new Cooper S and the 911 Carrera S. We also thought it pretty crazy. The proposed challenge will be rocking the casbah on June 21, right by the Porsche NA headquarters, so they won’t have any excuse to play absentee. Here’s the video from Mini:

We went ahead and broke down the stats for you:

Mini Cooper S

172 hp inline 4
$21,531
0-60: 7.1 seconds
Top speed: 140 mph

Porsche Carrera S

385 hp v6
$79,100
0-60: 4.7 seconds
Top speed: 182

So, judge for yourself. Can any amount of driving make up for 200hp and 2 ½ seconds to 60? As for us at the DailyDerbi, we declare shenanigans! This just reeks of a publicity stunt. Of course the Porsche will win (unless, of course, Mini sabotages the Porsche, but unlikely considering the amount of press). What does Mini stand to gain from a royal tush whooping? Mini will have had a track presence with Porsche, and that says something for performance. Also, we think Mini might be able to push the track times something like, “Cooper S came in only 5 seconds later than the Carrera S”. For the lay man that doesn’t understand that 5 seconds is a LONG time in racing, potential customers might say to themselves that being 5 seconds behind a Porsche is a good deal at $21k.

There does stand a chance, of course, that Mini has already compared at the track, and it actually thinks the Cooper S will win.

So chime in and let us know what you think – publicity stunt or calculated comparison?
[AJ | MiniUSA]

UPDATE: Porsche turned down Mini’s offer. Some douchey statement about how they didn’t want to play into Mini’s PR campaign. A shame since it would just make Porsche look better.

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