New Mini

[Nige]

My sister acquired a mini prior to Christmas and as a interested brother I've ragged it around the roads for a few miles and I'm hooked. So much so I'm planning to buy one, does anyone have experience of these? I'm spending about 5k and looking at Coooper S or possibly a Works if I dig deeper into my wallet.

This type of thing
http://www.pistonheads.com/classifieds/ ... iment=true

[jackstowers]

Was it yours or your sisters petrol?!? My girlfriend has got a Cooper S and as much fun as it is every time I take it for a 'test drive' I'm astounded by how quickly it guzzles fuel. Front tyres don't last very long either but it is amazing fun. Really capable in the snow too.

[73SJM]

I had a couple of Mini Coopers from new (52 and 54 plate) and loved them, performance obviously not as good as the Cooper S but still great handling and fun to drive with much better fuel consumption (think it averaged around 34mpg). Extremely cheap to run too (apart from the runflat 17" tyres that didn't last long) and hold their value well. Go for either a Cooper or Cooper S, with the Chilli pack and a few optional extras and you can't go wrong, facelift model was introduced in 2004 with a few improvements as convertible was released. I'd have another, I still see the 52 plate one driving around every now and then and would quite like it back!

[911hillclimber]

My daughter had a Mini One.(52 plate I think)
Steering rack failed in the alarming way reported on a million web sites...££££
Rear brakes a nightmare....
Weak and rattles and the interior full of poor fitting plastic.

Went after a year or so for an MX5.
She is on her 3rd one now with a GTV Alfa Twin spark as a rest between them.

I'm happy the mini has gone.
Mk3 steel convertible MX5 Sport a dream.

[myatt1972]

A friend of mine had a mini convertable from new, it was at the garage more than at home. Problem after problem with the roof.
Its now gone and she has an Mx5 thats been faultless and yes she is a hairdresser !

[Bruce M]

Had a 52 plate Cooper S for 25k miles for new. One mirror warranty issue but otherwise bulletproof.

The MK1 has excellent turn in which was dulled on the MK2.

However, 27mpg was the average for mixed roads, the upright windscreen takes stones head on and the rear end gets filthy due to turbulence.

[jamie]

Driven a few, loved them all. Hated it when other Mini drivers waved (sorry, I am just too cool for your gang).

[912uk]

I have bid on a few at the write off auctions. They command such strong money as they are so sellable to ladies.

But your right they are a nice chuckable drive and I hope to get one some day when some one stops bidding £5 less than the selling price of a Cat D one at auction!! crazy money!

I've repaired one with a mate for his girlfriend and a small bump on the front makes them look a right mess but it's all the bonnet and front once off it's easy to get to every thing and it was a really simple fix. She loves it. I don't like the Fat Mini's ( new ones )

[Barry]

My brother's got one, an '07 Cooper 'S', in immaculate condition, full history with 67,000 miles.

I've driven it a couple of times, and been in it a few more times. My impression is that it's a rather artificial drive: slightly odd steering that doesn't quite centre as you'd expect, very slightly odd throttle response and rock, rock hard ride (it's running on 17's). Anyway, the above is all down to opinion, and if you like it, you like it. It's certainly quick though.

More to the point, the interior is made from cheap rock-hard plastics that rattle and groan. When you pull a door shut it sounds and feels as though the trim will come off in your hand. It's used six litres of oil in 15,000 miles (despite it's full dealer history, and my brother using the correct oil). By comparison, my 177,000 MK3 Golf uses no oil between services.

Anyway, by chance (having noticed this thread the other day, and thinking I must post), on wednesday this week it lost power, dropped to three cylinders and threw up it's engine management light. Long and short is that it's scored number one bore, and the engine's a write-off. The (excellent) specialists think that it looks as though either a gudgeon pin circlip has come loose, or the pin itself has wandered.

I got chatting to them, and they mentioned Mini's with variable valve lift (non-turbo) have a lot of problems with the valve train, and the only way to sort is replacement head. Others burn either exhaust valves or seats (again oddly, on number 1). In addition you've got the well known steering pump failure (see Watchdog) to look out for.

TBH, if you don't put much money into one, you'll probably have a ton of cheap fun, but I don't think they're very well made at all (definitely not a premium product).

http://www.pistonheads.com/gassing/topi ... 14825&nmt=
http://www.mini2.com/forum/second-gener ... again.html
http://www.mini2.com/forum/second-gener ... per-s.html
http://www.mini2.com/forum/first-genera ... no-70.html

[squirejo]

Fiat 500 Abarth is cooler and better. IMHO. And yes, I have one.

[Codfather]

The missus had an 05 plate, then replaced it with a 500 Abarth, but it wasn't quite her, so replaced it with this last year



It's a diesel, much better built than the Abarth and does 60 odd to the gallon. Bags of torque and pretty rapid too. Handles like a go cart! My only say in the matter was being allowed to put on some refurbished alloys from her old one onto this one!

The previous one had a straight through exhaust, which made it sound like the original mini, what a difference it made, revs didn't drop as quickly, so you could really fly on twisty roads

Just get one!!

Cheers
Dave

[carreracat]

i had an '05 cooper S JCW manual for about 3 and half years. absolute hoot to drive and well worth the hairdresser comments i had to endure.

they do eat front tires as can be expected with so much power on a FWD car and they are thirsty with the supercharger helping the fuel along - especially the JCW with a faster SC. i drove mine singapore to bangkok with a few other minis and an E46 M3 and the naturally aspirated M3 did better on fuel!!! of course that was drive at WOT all the way!

the very first gen (R50, 52 & 53), pre '04 cars are a little shaky on build quality, that got a little better in '05 and much, much better in '07 with the introduction of the (R56 & 57) turbo charged cars. I always thought however that the supercharged car had a lot more character.

'go kart like' handling is probably used to describe any small car these days but this thing really did handle well (even in hairdresser form like mine). had many happy B road trips through malaysia including a fair few track days at sepang.

of course you will get grief from the 'real' mini owners, but i avoided that cos i had a '75 1430 mini at the same time!!

[Nige]

Thanks for all the feedback. Certainly some negatives about them but I think I'm still going to go through with buying one. I like the Fiat 500s but I'm on a strict budget of circa £5k and I can't think of any other compact, fun car that the family will fit into for that price. We'll still have the Volvo for full family and load lugging and both children are now big enough to sit in the back of the 911 without cramming in a child seat. I'd like an MX5 but being a 2 seater is of no use.

What other options are there anyway?

[DanG]

Search further a field and you'll find a somewhat dubious love of the 500, particularly for their mechanical and electrical bits...

Minis seem to be, judging by the following and amount available for sale, to be superb for a 'long term hold' - my mother ran one for 7 years with zero faults.

I love them, some well known issues with powered steering, so worth googling, other than that they seem reliable.

Change happened from supercharged S to a turbo version at some point, built in Brazil by Peugoet, but that doesn't seem to have affected them.

Final point, they are put together in the UK, so panel gaps, for those of us used to German standards, are not perfect. Some plastics are plasticky too....

But for £5k, it's a lot of fun - particularly as a Mini runs a slalom course quicker than a 996...

[sng45]

Fiat 500 Abarth is cooler and better. IMHO. And yes, I have one.

Me too - mine was delivered last Tuesday in place of my Audi RS4 - absolutely love it !

My girlfriend used to have a Mini Cooper S-Works - another great car ( and co-incidentially @ 210bhp ( as I remember) the same power as a 2.7 RS !)