You're calling my car a 'stripped down econo-shell'?
We I think the VW's are bloated unwieldly family cruisers.
Except of course the Beetle, which, oh yeah, they're discontinuing.
Bear in mind the MINIs are really BMW's and they share some things. Like how you can order exactly what you want. They build it to your specifications in England and then ship it over by ship. So, like, I ordered the bi-xenons, DSC, and cruise w/multifunction steering wheel....that's it. No sunroof/luxury package, climate control, keyless entry, etc, required. I found that refreshing-I especially like the bi-xenons (not a bad deal for 500 bucks). There are packages, but you can get everything ala carte.
I will say also the seats are very comfortable and I've gone on several 400 mile one day trips with no backache, and no rolled-up towel as a lumbar roll which I had to do with the Beetle. I still like the 'leatherette' seats, like I had in the VW and our old 325ci.
My wife thinks it's smoother riding than our old Beetle, but then again, it had the Bilstein HDs.