GT SPORT: Classic little guys

The original Mini, the original Beetle, and the original 500; three iconic little cars emerged from the 20th century and no matter how much pop culture stardom these cars possess, their classic tastes never go out of style, especially when you take these three for a spin at GT SPORT.



Ah, the classic trio of city cars. When you look at these three together, it's like three good-looking senior citizens hanging out at the pub for a nice draft, chatting about the good old days in a rather friendly manner and it's great to see these three together again in GT SPORT.

There are different reasons why these three looked so popular probably because of the star factor they posses. Most like the original Mini because Mr. Bean drove one as well and it's not just Mr. Bean, the original Italian Job movie and The Bourne Identity gave a shine and scratch over the legendary British icon.

For the Beetle, you should thank Disney and Hasbro for its stardom because if it weren't for this car, Herbie and Bumblebee wouldn't exist and speaking of Bumblebee, it's great to bring the classic Beetle back for the Transformers prequel film starring, you guessed it, Bumblebee. Expect bringing some tissues, folks.

As for the 500, well, the only thing that took a shine on the Cinquecento is Lupin the Third and a character from Disney-Pixar's Cars. I'm talking about you, Luigi.



What we have here, ladies and gentlemen, is the three pillars of stardom; Mr. Bean, Herbie, and Lupin the Third. I know, it's not in order but such stardom really made these cars special even in today's times and here in GT SPORT, I'm driving these three icons to see which fared well. Having second thoughts, I traveled to Tsukuba and checking these cars out in a Best MOTORing method.



Okay, let's remember this right away because I've done this twice but if you need a quick refresher, get this; out of the three, the Mini has the most power while the Beetle is the heaviest of the three and the 500 is the lightest so on paper, their driving style do vary and while the Mini shows no problems in the handling department, the Beetle, because being the heaviest, can be slightly struggling to get round the corner, and the 500, because with so little power in so very light car, feels like it almost doesn't need a brake when it gets round the corner.

I know that the slow and steady will win the race but since this is GT SPORT, the rules of survival of the fastest shouldn't be ignored and with that, let's cue the tape.



After a quick lap round Tsukuba, here are the results;

Mini Cooper - 1:21.940
VW 1200 - 1:32.684
Fiat 500 - 1:42.259



History does repeat itself but it's undeniable that the original and British-made classic Mini Cooper is by no means the most iconic of the three timeless classic due to its motorsports pedigree and a very high popularity among car enthusiasts and historians. I appreciate how these three classic icons handle, although the 500 was the most surprising of the three (with thanks to Lupin the Third), but in the end, looks like Mr. Bean always wins the day. The untalkative weirdo has bested the Transformer and the master thief by a large margin and that really is a bombshell to end this day.