[Draman]

Your wife sounds like she has some strong opinions about her car choice so I would probably go with the Mini since that's what she prefers. The Mini is a fun car and it's relatively safe as well.

If you do get the A3 2.0T, get it flashed with APR software or something. Avoid the 3.2; Audi's V6 is lousy. I'm pretty sure an APR A3 2.0T will be faster than a Mini S...still might not be as fun unless you buy sway bars or maybe even a full coil over setup. Who knows if your wife would be interested in all that though!