I know about the Elise quite extensively, and it is one ugly car. It's as loud as a lawn mower driving around, the shocks are so highly strung that a pebble will rock your brain out your ear, and us Americans are lucky that it comes with air conditioning and speakers. Plus it's only got some little Celica engine in it. Sure it weighs about 1900 pounds because it has zero sound deadening and it's built out of the weakest metal one can find, but still. It's trash. It's for people that never grew past 16 years old.
The Nissan Z is too heavy and that makes it sluggish off the line. Visibility terrible, there's nothing interesting about it. They shouldn't have called it a Z. It doesn't stay true to anything that the Z used to stand for.
These are of course my opinion based on very different tastes. I know about both though, because they're pop cars right now and one has to know.
I'd say that the Mini beats both of those, so be happy that you got it. You don't have to validate your purchase of the Mini by posting a mass of pictures of Minis every time cars are mentioned. It's a fun car, we all know.
I personally look for comfortable seats and a quiet interior over speed. Pep is necessary, of course, but things like the Z feel too sluggish and aren't practical enough, and like the Elise are too rough and also not practical at all.
