Tell Me About Your Mini...Cooper

[MarcusBrody]

Does anyone have experience with 2015+ Minis (technically 2017+ for the Countryman)?

I am looking to replace a old 1998 BMW 318ti. It is little quasi-hatchback stick shift. Underpowered, but light, revvy, handles well, and has just been fun to drive in a way that seems uncommon in most of the modern, undeniably "better" cars I've driven over the past few years. Despite being front wheel drive, the Mini seems like it might be the most similar thing. It's small and low with a stiff suspension. The B38/48 engines are by pretty much all accounts great and are a big part of the reason that BMW has risen to the top of reliability ratings in the last few years. They're not wildly inefficient. I probably would not get another manual as part of the reason we are replacing the old BMW is my wife cannot drive it (also it is now leaking oil from the crank case as well as the oil filter housing gasket, getting from reverse to first requires special knowhow/voodoo, and it has mid-90s safety tech), but many of the newer ones have dual clutch paddle shifters which I might try out.

I test drove one over the weekend and enjoyed it a lot. It very much felt like actually driving. My wife didn't like the heavy steering feel and heavy bolstering on the seats, but she'd be willing to drive it if I have our other larger car. My favorite was a 2 door Mini Cooper S hardtop. My son liked the Countryman. I did not think it was as visceral, but I preferred it over the Kia Sportage Hybrid which is my wifes top choice (that seemed a perfectly competent car, just not very fun). The Countryman is still shorter than my BMW, though a bit taller/wider. In any case, I'm considering either the F56 Cooper Hardtop -2 or 4 door (2015-2024), or the F60 Countryman (217-2024). Anyone have any experience with recent Minis? I did a search, but msot of what I saw was about the first gen.

[Garbowski]

My wife leased a few of the hardtops in a row, 1 of them being the new gen. Fun to drive. I don't recall anything ever going wrong with them, but they were all leases on the BMW 'we do all maintenance' plan.

[mcski]

Coppers are fun to drive. Have some nasty blind spots but they’re cool. My mechanic has one in his stable but says it’s on the Audi level pain in the ass to work on. They get driven comparatively hard too so be wary if buying used.

[MarcusBrody]

One advantage of the Countryman was that the visibility seemed notably better than the Hardtop. I didn't spend long enough in either to notice whether there were any specific blindspots, but it just felt more open/visible to me. I drove the Hardtop first, so my lack of being impressed by the Countryman could have been by comparison. I bet had I driven it right after our van, I'd have been more impressed.I definitely read the same about them being a pain to work on given the size. An oil filter housing gasket is a $1500 job. Though if I just never cleaned up the oil spot from my current BMW...

[I Skied Bandini Mountain]

FWIW, our X1 grocery getter (same platform as the countryman) has been a fantastic car.

[MarcusBrody]

We have a friend with an X1, which I liked as a small-ish runabout. We talked a bit with the BMW/Mini sales guy about the differences. Honestly, I think my wife would prefer the X1 to any Mini (lighter steering, softer ride), so I would consider it. But she probably drives 1000 -1500 miles a year (with half of that still likely to be in the bigger car), so I weight my preferences higher. She just needs to be able to drive whatever we get if I'm away with the bigger car.

[MarcusBrody]

Oh, showing my wifes focus on cars: I thought that we had compromised on the Minis when we went out to test drive the other day, but it became apparent that she had believed them to be electric and was disappointed to find that they weren't.

[Rideski]

Any reason you wouldn't get the all wheel drive?

[MarcusBrody]

Id consider it if we got the Countryman, but we live in the desert. We don't need it very often. For a vehicle with higher ground clearance, I'd want it just for sandy desert roads, but its not nearly a big of a deal in southern NV as it was in New England, and even there just put snow tires on a FWD vehicle.One idea is instead of getting a nice, new middle of the road cross over, get a slightly older Mini for ~20k and a beater off road vehicle for ~15k and have spent the same/less money on what I consider more fun vehicles. My wife has slightly different ideas.

[plugboots]

Side story. Almost bought a JCW Clubman, when they were discontinuing the manual. Went to the dealer and he wouldn’t let me test drive it. I was in my newish BMW at the time, so he didn’t profile me. His loss. Anyway, I have a friend who has the same clubman gen. you’re looking at and loves it. No major probs.

[Cruiser]

Buddy's wife has a late teens countryman and he recently showed me a repair estimate from bmw for a strut, engine mount, gas tank for latch, and a couple other small things. It was over $15k (which, incidentally, is more than the car is worth). She's not a great driver. They live in the city. So the car has gotten some use but I was in awe of the repair costs.

As an aside, the boss drove it to work a while ago when his truck was in the shop and one of the salesmen saw him getting out of it in the parking lot. He had not called on us for very long and didn't know us very well. After he finished putting the order together he quietly asked me if my boss was gay cuz, you know, they do have a certain level of popularity among that population. nttawwt

[Self Jupiter]

Great car out of the box for all the reasons you described.

Not as familiar with with gen 2. The front ends of the Gen 1s take a beating in any kind of rough or city driving with or without the sport suspension. Great car to own until it’s out of warranty if you can’t do a lot of the wrenching yourself, and even then... It’s basically a BMW / Audi that even less mechanics are familiar with.

[MarcusBrody]

Buddy's wife has a late teens countryman and he recently showed me a repair estimate from bmw for a strut, engine mount, gas tank for latch, and a couple other small things. It was over $15k (which, incidentally, is more than the car is worth). She's not a great driver. They live in the city. So the car has gotten some use but I was in awe of the repair costs. As an aside, the boss drove it to work a while ago when his truck was in the shop and one of the salesmen saw him getting out of it in the parking lot. He had not called on us for very long and didn't know us very well. After he finished putting the order together he quietly asked me if my boss was gay cuz, you know, they do have a certain level of popularity among that population. nttawwt

That repair estimate seems unreasonable given what I have seen (unless th eother small things were an engine and transmission). People do report motor mounts failing and with labor, it is pricey, but like $1200 pricey, not $12000 pricey. Same with struts. You can buy expensive ones, but not that expensive. That sounds weird.

And of all the things in the world I am concerned about, people thinking I am gay ranks pretty much at the bottom. Just do not care at all. I actually kind of like that Minis largely avoid the macho or boy racer vibe of lots of other similarly fun to drive sportscars/hatches. Edit to remove apostrophes.

[MarcusBrody]

Great car out of the box for all the reasons you described. Not as familiar with with gen 2. The front ends of the Gen 1s take a beating in any kind of rough or city driving with or without the sport suspension. Great car to own until it’s out of warranty if you can’t do a lot of the wrenching yourself, and even then... It’s basically a BMW / Audi that even less mechanics are familiar with.

The ones I am looking at are Gen 3s, which have much, much better reliability reputations than gen 1 and 2 (esp gen 2 which was apparently a reliability disaster). There are still some things to look for, but overall they are by almost all accounts very reliable, with the standard German car maintenance costs.

[plugboots]

The gay comment made me wanna get one. Same way I want a red Miata.

[MarcusBrody]

I ended up buying a Mini Cooper SE, the EV version. It's basically the BMW i3 drivetrain in a Mini body. Paltry range (maybe 100 miles), but that lets it remain relatively light. It's quicker but not as visceral to drive as the Cooper S I test drove. My wife liked it more though, I think largely as the steering wasn't as heavy. I love that there is still a physical switch/button/knob for almost everything. Since everyone is focused on range, it was pretty darn cheap for seemingly a pretty nice car which will serve well for my 16 mile round trip commute and shopping/errands into the city that are usually 35 to 50 miles round trip.

[fastfred]

Shoulda got the gas

Got a 20 year old clapped out shit box 6 speed manual tge suspension needs major help but at 90 mph on the highway it's buetiful makes no sense such a shit box but so fun

[Core Shot]

It is the moped of fun to drive cars. Don’t let anyone see you driving it.

[Ski220]

Congradulations on getting a new car. The hybred sounds like it will suite your needs well.

PS The following doesn't matter and really only serves as a test of site functionality.
Sorry to step on your thread.

The ones I am looking at are Gen 3s, which have much, much better reliability reputations than gen 1 and 2 (esp gen 2 which was apparently a reliability disaster). There are still some things to look for, but overall they are by almost all accounts very reliable, with the standard German car maintenance costs.

They just haven't been around long enough.

[MarcusBrody]

@fastfred: Yeah I'm a bit mixed on that. I love driving and there was a stick shift S on sale private party locally that I really liked the look of. If it was just me, that would likely have been the car I bought. But part of the purpose of this car is for my wife to have something to drive if I take our larger vehicle on ski trips and the like, so a manual was out. Still, I'm having fun with it and the electric torque, but while it's technically faster than the Cooper S, it feels less dramatic. Still it's pretty fun to drive. And possibly the first car that I've seen my wife actually excited to drive, so that's good.@Core shot: Psssht, I'll swagger out of that little car like Handsome Rob himself.@Ski220: I know that you're partially joking, but the 3rd Gen Mini Coopers came out a decade ago now (as did the B38/48/58 family of BMW engines that seemed to flip their reputation). Outside of the hydraulic engine mounts needing replaced periodically, the post 2015 Mini Coopers seem pretty bulletproof and good a good choice for a budget fun car given current prices..