Was considering buying one of these way cool mini cars sometime after the first of the year. I’ve test driven one but I don’t know anyone who actually owns one. They are a bit pricey for a small car (the one I’m looking at is something like $24,000). They get pretty good gas mileage (they CLAIM 40 MPG) and they are way fun to drive, at least about the city.
Any 'dopers have one or know someone who does? Thoughts? Problems? Issues?
-XT
My daughter loves her Mini-Cooper. Be aware that it takes premium gas, but she gets fairly good gas mileage out of it (she has a slight leadfoot and does only in city, but she manages about 32-34 MPG).
I have driven it upon occasion (keep in mind I grew up driving a Rabbit) and found the handling to be very nice. You do feel quite small next to the Hummers and SUVs that seem to clog the streets… But it’s a nice drive–fun, too. The dealership and service people (only in for routine maintenance) could not be nicer.
I have decided that when I finally drive the Volvo into the ground, I am getting a Mini myself.
You’ll probably find that you’ll be spending a lot more on gas because you’ll never want to get out of your car. 
Okay, seriously this time…
Probably the #1 thing you’ll need to figure out is whether you want the Mini Cooper or the Mini Cooper S (and/or the convertible versions of either). I’ve test-driven both, and was underwhelmed with the performance of the “regular” MC. It was the first time I’ve ever literally put the pedal to the floor, and the car wasn’t in a hurry to break 60. I have another friend who test-drove the MC with a couple family members (4 people in the car, including the salesman), and she said she had similar problems with acceleration.
So, obviously, I took the Mini Cooper S, and I couldn’t be happier.
Well, that’s not entirely true, and here’s why. About a year after I bought it, personal circumstances (i.e., tricking a girl into becoming my girlfriend) required that I move a rather significant distance, bumping my commute from 2.5 miles to about 34. Since I get about 25 MPG here in Los Angeles (where the freeways are slower than dirt during rush hour), fuel costs can be something of a pain.
In terms of the driving experience, however, I couldn’t be any happier. The engine and (more importantly, in L.A. traffic) brakes are incredibly responsive, as is the steering. Handling is also go-cart responsive, and the car itself is a beaut.
During the first 36,000 miles of ownership, maintenance is cost- and hassle-free. I took it in once so far for routine maintenance, and they didn’t try and stick me with any fees. I’m not sure how much maintenance will be after the free-maintenance period is over, but I’ll jump off that bridge when I come to it.
One issue you may run into is cargo space. If you have the luxury of folding the back seats down (which takes less than a second), you’re set. If you routinely have more than one passenger (i.e., you can’t fold the seats down), then you may be inconvenienced by the fact that the trunk, such as it is, is prohibitively small.
Actually, if you routinely have more than one passenger, you may run into problems with the back seat being relatively small. At work, I have a 4-person lunch carpool, and we take turns driving, and the people in the back seats of my car look a little cramped. That said, they haven’t complained. That said, they’re not the types to complain…so take that FWIW.
Overall, yeah, I love my car. Like I said, I have a 30+ mile, 70-90 minute commute, and it’s more than bearable in this car. Keep in mind, I’m 5’5" and generally like driving anyway, so YMMV (somewhat literally).
One more thing to mention: Depending how picky you are on what you want on/in your car, you may have a wait ahead of you, as they will custom build your car if you don’t want any of the ones on the lot. I don’t quite recall how long my car took, but I think it was about 6 weeks, and that was well short of the time they quoted me, which I believe was around 3-4 months. Not that I imagine this will influence your decision too much, but it’s something to consider.
We’ve not had any experience with our MC having slow pick up. I don’t time these things, but we can merge from the tollbooths just fine into expressway traffic.
The cargo space is quite small–as in not able to get the groceries for a family of 5 INTO the cargo space–they had to be distributed throughout the car.
That is true. I have a 2005 Mini Cooper S and I’ve got almost 44,000 miles on it. This is from someone who normally doesn’t put on 10,000 miles a year. I love driving it.
Me too. I cannot imagine myself driving anything else at this time. What color is yours? Mine’s hyper blue with a black roof and stripes. The hardest part about buying a Mini Cooper is picking out the color.
$24,000? God, I’m dying of envy! When we looked at Mini Cooper S’s here they wanted something like $55,000 on-road!
Do you want it for the looks? The uniqueness? Performance? What are your criteria? I notice you mention cool and MPG, maybe a Honda Fit or Nissan Versa would be better if MPG is a big issue.
If you wanna go by the numbers with other cars in it’s class, here is a pretty good Road and Track PDF: http://www.roadandtrack.com/assets/download/0607_pockets_results2.pdf
FWIW, I bought a Mazdaspeed3. It’s fast and well-rounded, but gas mileage isn’t teriffic (about 25mpg in mixed driving.)
A friend of mine and his wife were rear ended by a Ford Explore while stopped in a rainstorm. The Explore was going about 60. It threw the Coopper into the highway divider. He broke a rib, she had a mild concussion. The Explore driver was killed, his SUV flipped and he was unbelted.
I think those cars must have been pretty safe (they were lucky too).
How about you wait a bit and buy a Smart car? 45/41 hwy/cty mpg, and starting at $11,590 for the bare bones model.
The only way I could see changing cars is if they released a hybrid version of the MCS. That would be pretty much the perfect car, imho.
I have to admit, I was a tad unimaginative when it came to color. Anywhere I had the option of “black,” I took it (piano black dash, black seats, all-black body except for the chromey bits). And then I got the windows tinted. 
To back up what bannerrefugee said, the Mini comes equipped with 6 airbags standard. Thankfully, I have no firsthand experience with them, but it is good to hear that they work well.
Oh, speaking of misfortunes, the Mini also comes with complimentary roadside assistance. (I don’t recall whether it runs out at the 36,000 mark along with the complimentary maintenance, or what limits it may have had on things like # of miles towed, but it’s good to know that it’s there.)
When did you buy your MINI, Gozu Tashoya? The new MINI hatch models (R56 they’re called by BMW) have different engines with a slightly better pickup and way better gas mileage than the older models (R53).
Personally, I think MINIs are great. You do have to pay a bit more, but you get a car that is lots of fun to drive, and it looks good, too. Usually, they’re pretty good quality and have a rather high resale value (I think the same is true in the US). The smart I would only recommend for city driving, IMHO it’s awful to drive at higher speeds and bumpy roads, and its claim to fame is fitting into tight parking lots (not so much an issue in the US, I guess).
OK, I might be biased: I’m currently considering buying a new MINI Clubman and am still wavering whether I should get a Cooper or a Cooper S. I’ve picked out the color, however 
From testdriving it I can say: If space is an issue, you might consider the Clubman rather than the Hatch - it has much more space on the back seat, and a bit more space in the trunk. Driving it was very close to driving the hatch. However, AFAIK, there is only a limited quantity available in the US and there are quite long waiting lists.
For the latest MINI info, I like to read Motoringfile, by the way. You might want to check it out, xtisme - they often do comparisons with other cars (obviously they are also biased, but you might still find it interesting).
FWIW - “they” may claim 40 mpg but the EPA says 28 mpg city, 37 mpg highway.
I have had my MINI Cooper S for just over a year and I still love it. I want to drive it all the time. Any time my wife and I go anywhere together I want to take my car.
From what I understand, the main difference between the 02-06 (R53) model and the current version (R56) is that the R53 has a supercharger and the R56 has a turbocharger (in the S). I have not driven an R56, but I understand they have lots of pickup and handle great.
The ride in my car is very stiff which is great for cornering and handling, but not so great when going over bumpy roads. This is partly due to the stiffer suspension on the S and partly due to the run-flat ties. I know several people who has swapped out their run-flats (and just keep and air compressor and a can of fix-a-flat or something) and they said it helps with the ride. The run-flats are very expensive to replace, about $300 each but they do offer a warranty on the tires and the whole car warranty covers the tires, too.
As has been mentioned there is not much interior space. I have had 4 people in my car only a couple of times, but for the two of us (my wife and I) it is plenty comfortable. The trunk is very small, but the seats are easy to fold down and the cover even has a designed storage place to keep it out of the way.
The Clubman has not been released over here yet, but there are some specs on the MINI official site. When I was last at the dealership they told me it would be coming out in February and the list price on the MINI site is $24,100 (but that is probably the base price before any optional extras).
When I got my car I ordered it so that I could get exactly what I wanted on it. It took about 7 weeks for it to be delivered, which is about what they told me.
If you want to find out more information, there are loads of sites out there. I like North American Motoring and motoringfile which was mentioned earlier.
For the record, mine is Chili Red with a white roof with the Union Jack on it, 2006, MCS w/manual transmission. I get about 29 mpg and I do probably 60% highway and 40% city driving.
I think it is a fantastic car, loads of fun to drive and very solidly built. Not really practical, but that is not really the point
Be sure to purchase an extended warranty, and be wary of BMWs’ tendencies to crap out after the warranty expires. My wife’s Mini Cooper’s transmission died soon after the normal warranty expired (Nav system, too), leaving us with the choice of ~$10,000 in repair work or the ~$3,000 cash we could sell it for. It would have been covered if we got the extra warranty.
We both loved the car, but we’re still bitter about its demise. I can barely look at one on the road (or my two co-workers’ in the parking lot) without grumbling.
I love mine. Why yes, I do have pics for your perusal, thanks for asking.
I’m nothing but happy with mine and would definitely recommend one. Driving back and forth to work used to be a chore, but now I look forward to my driving treat at the end of the day. Just to add to what everyone else has said, I was also quite pleased with the interior when I got mine- boratis very niceborat.
The only thing I would say is that the 40mpg figure you cite is probably for the Cooper, but it sounds like you’ll be getting the Cooper S which gets more like 30/35mpg with the new turbocharged engine. I think the convertibles still come with the supercharged engine, so those are a bit lower mpg, even.
But you have to consider your smiles per mile will be way higher.
I’m not sure what I test drove…whether it was a regular Cooper or a Cooper S. It was quite zippy and really a blast to drive…and the sales weenie claimed it got 40 MPG (though he gave the standard YMMV thingy). The car was right around $24,000 as I said…so I’m not sure if that means it was a regular Cooper or a Cooper S (I would expect the latter to be more). I haven’t seriously started pricing them out…there is, afaik, only one dealer for these things in Albuquerque so it’s not like I have a lot of choice. I couldn’t even find a used one at CarMax when I was looking.
-XT
I have nothing against the Mini-S except the space between the back seat and the bumper (there is none). If you look at it as a 2 seater I think it’s great. If you put someone in the back seat it’s a death trap. If you want 4 seats look at a Mazda Speed-3 which holds 4 real adults and has the performance of a Mustang GT. It’s also a much more useful hatchback.
I looked up the Mazda. It looks like it costs about the same but it says it only gets 18/26 MPG. I like the fact that it comes with a manual 6 speed…I’m definitely wanting a manual transmission. Also, the car looks cool as well. I filled out a dealer form so maybe I’ll go test drive one.
I think the Mini looks more cool though. 
-XT
I know this is secondhand info, but I throw it out there–the people I know who have minicoopers absolutely love them to bits. However, all have expressed shock/dismay/horror at the size of the repair bills when things have come up. Maybe they were just unlucky.
The Mini is definitely a neat car. There is no denying it is unique and it looks fun to drive. I test drove the Mazda having owned a Thunderbird Turbo-coupe with the same displacement engine. I specifically wanted to see how the turbo drove at low speeds so dogged it in the first 3 gears. Very nice engine manners. What I liked about the car was the basic clean lines and the fact that it looked almost identical to the Mazda 3. It’s a sleeper. I didn’t have a chance to spank it because the road was covered with loose asphalt and I didn’t want to damage it.
You should decide what features really make you happy. I’ve wanted a Mustang GT but the back seat is useless and the gas mileage isn’t great. I also like the ability to haul stuff and a hatch would be nice.