Anybody have a Mini Cooper?

[OVERKILL]

Hopefully you'll never get in a serious accident with it.

It looks like a mini coffin.

Good luck

 

[PaiMei]

Originally posted by: OVERKILL
Hopefully you'll never get in a serious accident with it.

It looks like a mini coffin.

Good luck

The Yaris or Mini? They're both small and dimensions (LxWxH) are almost the same. The Mini most likely has better build quality though since it costs alot more.

 

[thedarkwolf]

Originally posted by: clickynext
You might consider a Mazda MX-5, though I'm not really sure about its gas mileage.

They aren't geared for gas mileage so its not that great. 22/30 for the new ones. I average 25 give or take in my 94.

 

[DivideBYZero]

Originally posted by: GTaudiophile
I think it's a great car...but it's a BMW...built in the UK...expect reliability to be pretty poor.

:roll:

 

[Gooberlx2]

My wife drives a regular Cooper convertible. It is very fun to drive, even with the minimal power compared to the 'S'...but maybe that's because it's the first manual I've ever driven. Gas mileage is good as we get 32mpg or above is almost all cases, but of course the car requires premium fuel. The new '07s are supposed to have better fuel efficiency IIRC.

 

[Shyatic]

For the kind of money you'll spend on a Cooper S, you can get a MazdaSpeed3 -- it is fun to drive, has good gas mileage, has room for four and still storage space after that. The Cooper is a VERY fun car, but it's just too damn small and not useful at all to take more than 2 people.

Just my $.02.

 

[dug777]

You don't want a Mini.

You want one of these:

http://www.fpv.com.au/cars/super-pursuit/overview.aspx

Much more practical, way faster, and infinitely meaner

 

[patentman]

Originally posted by: ultimatebob
I'm curious if any ATOT'ers have a Mini Cooper, and what they think about it if they have one.

I'm thinking about getting a smaller car that gets really good (35+ MPG) highway gas mileage, but isn't slow or boring looking like a Honda Civic or Corolla.

If you have any other suggestions that meet my criteria, let me know!

Two words, "Maintenance SUCKS!" Mini coopers are nototriously for breaking down, and their dealerships are suualy just far enough away to make getting them fixed convenient. Nearest dealership to me is ~25 miles away, which would be a real pain to get to for an oil change. This was the major reason I didn;t buy one. other than that I loved the car.

 

[iamwiz82]

Originally posted by: patentman

Originally posted by: ultimatebob
I'm curious if any ATOT'ers have a Mini Cooper, and what they think about it if they have one.

I'm thinking about getting a smaller car that gets really good (35+ MPG) highway gas mileage, but isn't slow or boring looking like a Honda Civic or Corolla.

If you have any other suggestions that meet my criteria, let me know!

Two words, "Maintenance SUCKS!" Mini coopers are nototriously for breaking down, and their dealerships are suualy just far enough away to make getting them fixed convenient. Nearest dealership to me is ~25 miles away, which would be a real pain to get to for an oil change. This was the major reason I didn;t buy one. other than that I loved the car.

They don't break down often, they have lots of minor issues that do not affect driveability. Rattles, yo-yo, things like that.

 

[Fritzo]

Originally posted by: iamwiz82
I've had an S and a regular Cooper. The S was infinitely more fun, but got well under 30MPG and required premium. I could pull 40MPG on the Cooper if I was easy on the throttle and had a lot of freeway miles.

The Cooper is slower than a Civic or Corolla, but the handling was good and the options were even better.

Maintenance is iffy. They are not super reliable in all respects. The engines never showed an issues, but I had a couple of little problems here and there (sensors, rattles, etc).

The S will run just fine on 87. It has a computer that adjusts the engine for lower octane gas. Says so on their website.

 

[Fritzo]

Originally posted by: PaiMei
I would get the Yaris Liftback. It's a lower class car (Toyota's lowest end model), but mine usually gets between 35 to 40mpg. May be too slow for you though.

Yeah, I have the Scion xA (nearly same car), and I'm getting 35MPG easy. Not exactly a racer though.

 

[iamwiz82]

Originally posted by: Fritzo

Originally posted by: iamwiz82
I've had an S and a regular Cooper. The S was infinitely more fun, but got well under 30MPG and required premium. I could pull 40MPG on the Cooper if I was easy on the throttle and had a lot of freeway miles.

The Cooper is slower than a Civic or Corolla, but the handling was good and the options were even better.

Maintenance is iffy. They are not super reliable in all respects. The engines never showed an issues, but I had a couple of little problems here and there (sensors, rattles, etc).

The S will run just fine on 87. It has a computer that adjusts the engine for lower octane gas. Says so on their website.

The computer retards the timing and you will have performance loss, which is why you bought the S in the first place

 

[randomlinh]

Originally posted by: iamwiz82

Originally posted by: Fritzo
The S will run just fine on 87. It has a computer that adjusts the engine for lower octane gas. Says so on their website.

The computer retards the timing and you will have performance loss, which is why you bought the S in the first place

exactly, who buys a mini-s to be conservative

 

[Fritzo]

Originally posted by: randomlinh

Originally posted by: iamwiz82

Originally posted by: Fritzo
The S will run just fine on 87. It has a computer that adjusts the engine for lower octane gas. Says so on their website.

The computer retards the timing and you will have performance loss, which is why you bought the S in the first place

exactly, who buys a mini-s to be conservative

If you're short on cash, it gives you the option. I'm sure a lot of people are using that feature.

 

[ravana]

I have an 06 Solar Red/Silver MC (non-S).

I've done about 25k on it in the past year, I average about 27 mpg with city only driving in DC. On the highway I've managed to get 38 driving back from Chicago.

I'm single and it works out great for me. It's solidly built (except for that one squeak on cold days until the car warms up ) & fun as hell to drive. Also the MINI community is great.

Check out north american motoring for more.

 

[geckojohn]

They really made a lot of improvements on the 2007 models. I'm thinking about getting one to replace my 2002 Acura RSX.

How do the Mini Cooper compare to the Cooper S? Is it that much slower for city or regular driving?

 

[patentman]

Originally posted by: iamwiz82

Originally posted by: patentman

Originally posted by: ultimatebob
I'm curious if any ATOT'ers have a Mini Cooper, and what they think about it if they have one.

I'm thinking about getting a smaller car that gets really good (35+ MPG) highway gas mileage, but isn't slow or boring looking like a Honda Civic or Corolla.

If you have any other suggestions that meet my criteria, let me know!

Two words, "Maintenance SUCKS!" Mini coopers are nototriously for breaking down, and their dealerships are suualy just far enough away to make getting them fixed convenient. Nearest dealership to me is ~25 miles away, which would be a real pain to get to for an oil change. This was the major reason I didn;t buy one. other than that I loved the car.

They don't break down often, they have lots of minor issues that do not affect driveability. Rattles, yo-yo, things like that.

All I know is the 3 people I know that have one are constantly brigning their's in for computer problems. Or rather having it towed in, because the car simply won't start. Guess that doesn't affect driveability because technically you are not driving the car.

And it is still a pain in the butt to drive 25 miles to the nearest dealership for any kind of service.

 

[patentman]

Originally posted by: geckojohn
They really made a lot of improvements on the 2007 models. I'm thinking about getting one to replace my 2002 Acura RSX.

How do the Mini Cooper compare to the Cooper S? Is it that much slower for city or regular driving?

The s is roughly the same weight but offers ~55 more horsepower.

S does 0-60 in 6.7 seconds, the non-s does 0-60 in 8.5.

 

[geckojohn]

So, do you think if i go from a standard Acura RSX to a Cooper... should I go with the S model?

 

[geckojohn]

bump