mini's

Great cars, great resale value, lousy dealers.

Get the S.

(hint... if you do get an S, stick with the stock wheels)

 

Bought one for my mum a couple of years ago (they were new then).
Frankly, a great car to drive, but the build quality is up to British reputation.

 

a friend in our Triumph club bought a rally model (or something like that), nice car.

 

They are pretty cool. My wife is [still] thinking about getting a Cooper. The Cooper S is the best.. excluding the Works Cooper S. Guy in our office has the latter and also owned a Cooper S. Reckons they are both good cars.

In the UK they hold their value quite well.

PS gougoul err what cars do the Swiss make and export then?
PPS I do however agree the British car industry (though very little of it actually owned by the British now) has certainly had it's problems

 

Build quality is significantly higher than the previous years, especially the 03 and 04's. So get a new one and I wouldnt worry to much. Its a good car, nice interior and a great handler.

 

My ex girlfriend was shopping for one. When the saleman opened the door, I was waiting for about 13 clowns to come out of it. The build quality seemed ok though.

 

My parents have been looking into a new car. Im getting to the age of first getting my licesence so we went and looked at a Mini Cooper S. It's a pretty nice car, I would personally get the Cooper S John Cooper Works package.

 

My friend has a Cooper S, it's an absolute blast. Real comfortable, enough room to haul odds and ends. It's almost more fun because it's so predictable, understeer understeer understeer, e brake... And it gets like 35mpg on the highway. For the $, it's hard to beat.

Mini owners are fun too. Jeep guys tend to wave to each other, in the mini though when you see another one the guy's giving you the horns (think at a Metallica concert) or something ridiculous. Good times.

 

My daily driver is a Mini. I bought it a year ago and already have 25,000 miles on the odometer. I purchased the car due to all the miles I drive, the gas savings is huge. I used to drive an SUV. The car handles great and is fun to drive. The car also has a few rattles and squeaks, but what do you expect for $19,000. There is not much power or pull until you get to about 5k rpm's. If you're looking for a little performance get the S. It has about 50% more h.p.

 

Agreed....I think Mini's are one of the most under-appreciated cars out there today. They are tons of fun and much more practical than they look.

 

The Mini Cooper S is a hoot. And it is practical too.

It can fit 4 adults comfortably. It works better if the tall guys sit in the back seat.

A friend drove his S with us up to Monterey for historics week.
He set a pace thru Big Sur that had a couple of guys in Elises and S2000's grinning from ear to ear. They had NO desire to pass him.

Erich

 

Watching the Italian Job (2) as I type. What a cracking film

 

They are good cars. We have three at the moment, two Coopers and a Cooper convertible. I didn’t get the supercharged ‘S’ because I hate buying gas and because I like a car you can drive with your foot to the floor. I find the seats very comfortable, much better than a 360 Modena. It feels well built and easy to park, and what more can you ask for in a small car?
We have had an airbag switch fitted to two of the cars so that a parent can do a school run with three kids. It’s sort of funny - all these single kid parents driving the mini-van, while our lot arrive the old fashioned way - scrunched up in a small car. I think it’s great!
On another note, literally, I’m teaching my daughters to change gear - I call out the gear I need, stomp on the clutch, and the one in the passenger side works the shift. Not long ago I was taking two of them to a birthday party.
“Where is the party, Dad?” asked the daughter in the back seat. With my eye on the traffic I absently replied, It’s somewhere on forty-THIRD.”

WAAAAHHH!! The next thing I knew my nose was touching the steering wheel and the engine was screaming like a dying opera singer. Daughter number one had heard the ‘third’ bit and flicked the lever from fifth to third, skipping fourth on the way down. Damn the syncros and to hell with the clutch, she had slotted it right in without single snick or crunch, only the engine was unamused, loudly unamused.

Mind you, we made the party, and with no bent valves to show for our little adventure.

I guess they are quite robust, mechanically.
Good cars.

 

My Mini is one of my favorite cars... darn near as much fun to drive as my Ferrari.

The BMW MINI Cooper is a decent car, but very little of the character of the real thing.

Bill

 

had one for 3 yr lease as perfect compliment to my 348s. never had 1 unscheduled service. only complaint was cvt trans which was not smoothest nor quietest. snow tires in winter made it equal traction as wife's range rover. loved and now miss it. wife might want to replace rr with new style mini due next yr?