Thoughts on mini coopers?

[Graham_A_M]

Hey guys, my winter/ daily driver is getting pretty tired, so looking for an upgrade. I've been thinking of a mini Cooper, preferably the S version.

Anything i should look out for?

[Twin_Cam_Turbo]

Pretty fun cars, I was looking for one for a while. Would you be looking for an older S/C or a Turbo model?

[Graham_A_M]

Older, so s/c'ed how easy is it to make it quick?

[Redlyne_mr2]

We just took in an 03 with 85 000kms. Cooper S, pretty fun car to drive and quite spacious. The original owner just sunk $6000 worth of maintenance into it. We're asking $11900 which seems pretty cheap considering what you get with that car. As far as I know all it takes is an upgraded pulley to make it quicker.

[Unknown303]

With a new pulley those SC ones are retarded fun to drive. My friend has one and it's just comical how fast it is.

[AE92_TreunoSC]

Wicked bad for headgasket problems.

Expensive cars due to the BMW aspect of the car.

Only buy a mini cooper, if you're in love with it.

[Graham_A_M]

^ fuck, I sold my z4 because it was a lemon that cost me a fortune to keep it on the road :( thanks for the headsup, any other problems or reliability issues? Where can I find a smaller pulley?

[AE92_TreunoSC]

How about the fact the engine is a Chrysler engine, its very similar in design to the neon engine haha.

Also there is a stupid cooling fan on the bottom of the engine which is completely exposed to road debris, which causes it to fail $$$.

I dont work on a lot but I know there are tons of complaints from owners of these cars.

Like I said you need to be passionate or there's no reason to own one in my opinion.

[911fever]

They are brutal on reliability. Sold one last summer with low mileage, an 07 S and it was nothing but issues for the owner, I felt bad for the guy.
Cooper's are also super gay, they are pretty homo looking lolol
/flamesuit

[mr2mike]

Bad transmissions, cold winter starting problems.

[Redlyne_mr2]

Originally posted by mr2mike
Bad transmissions, cold winter starting problems.
What your Altima? I agree:D

[Graham_A_M]

K, thanks I'll pass then lol

[HiTempguy1]

Originally posted by Graham_A_M
K, thanks I'll pass then lol

How about strut towers that mushroom on the 1st gen ones? Or crappy electrics? The list goes on. A drivers car (dominates a lot of its auto-x and road racing classes in the states), but is what you'd expect for maintenance out of a BMW (if not worse). The 2nd gen models are waaaaaaaayyyyy better.

[J-hop]

neat cars, but thats about it IMO. I haven't looked at the mini stats in a while but I remember not being particularly impressed with their performance, I expected them to be rockets but I think with a couple hundred dollar chip a 1.8T GTI would keep up to it and would be a lot cheaper to buy and maintain, and IMO a GTI would have much more breathing room for performance enhancements than the mini!

[rob the knob]

which user was it you were discussing your convertible in heated discussion? they may like to issue similar comment on this vehicle


Originally posted by Graham_A_M
Hey guys, my winter/ daily driver is getting pretty tired, so looking for an upgrade. I've been thinking of a mini Cooper, preferably the S version.

Anything i should look out for?

[Guillermo]

IMO the interior design is TACKY. looks like something chrysler rejected from the PT Cruiser.

[Graham_A_M]

Originally posted by rob the knob
which user was it you were discussing your convertible in heated discussion? they may like to issue similar comment on this vehicle

lol somehow I'm not bothered of the opinion of two kids, leave alone one that owns a g35.......yet lives with his parents
:confused:
From a performance standpoint these cars seem to be blast, while still be very practical. So I thought I'd ask here, but I've owned enough lemons in my day to ever want another :nut:

I'll go take a look at the one listed in this thread tomorrow, but big thanks to everyone in this thread. Quite an eye opener this thread has been.

[euro_racer]

I've driven one for about 2 weeks about a month ago. at first, it was a bit awkward to be seen in one but then you get used to it quick. it seemed like a pretty fun little car to boot around town in (even though it was a base automatic cooper). it handles nice and you can see alot of the BMW influence in the car which is kind of nice i guess...

after the 2 weeks, i started noticing strange noises coming from the drive train also a check engine light came on for random misfire... with all that said, i probably would not want to own one, at least not a first gen one

edit: also forgot to mention that i drove my mk4 gti vr6 right after the cooper and the vw seemed like a far more superior car (performance and comfort wise)

[Cos]

I want one.... 2002 - 2004 probably.....

[benyl]

Get a Turbo model. The supercharged ones are problematic.

There are two in my extended family... I would look elsewhere.

[nickyh]

I owned a 2008 Cooper S, and I honestly loved it.

Fun car to zip around town in, comfortable enough when it was driven out to Vancouver, just don't take it to Costco.

The issues I had in the year of ownership (had to get someone to take over the lease), were:
-cold start issue
-windows had to be re-initialized
-hood scoop was warping from the heat of the turbo
-the service team at Mini Crowfoot.

So not too bad, especially since after the first year of ownership of my VW i knew the service dept on the first name basis.
I don't know if I'd feel comfortable owning one for more than 2 years after warranty is up, but I'd buy one again - and I am looking at the JCW potentially in the Spring.