Mini as a inexpensive commuter car?

[scottmandue]

My Miata is a fun little sports car, however it is also my DD/commuter (40 miles a day/200 miles a week) and whereas it is great fun for weekend cruises a road warrior it is not.

The Miata is also only getting 27mph, from all I hear a Mini is just as much fun to drive, has more room, and gets better gas mileage.

Deal breaker is price, pretty sure I would be doing good to get $5K for a 1995 Miata and I presume a decent Mini (good enough condition for a DD) would run twice that?

Anyway, just in case I dig up a coffee can in the backyard full of $100 bills. If I were in the market for a Mini, what years/models were the best/worst?

TIA

[aschen]

I am not an expert but I have heard from many people they can be a pita to work on and have some minor annoyances from time to time. I doubt it would be as cheap to own as your miata. Fun cars though

[onewhippedpuppy]

Hell no. I just sold my 2002 Cooper S, I couldn't get rid of it fast enough. Terribly made, everything snaps together with brittle plastic that shatters when you touch it. But don't worry, because you have to pull the fender liner and it's cheap plastic snaps to do any front motor service. At 80k mine had a substantial stack of repairs, and I was replacing stuff again already. Case in point, belt tensioner #3 at 80k. Most work requires disassembly, such as having to drop subframes to do suspension bushings. Reading through the forums makes Porsche ownership look easy. On the upside they are cheap to buy and relatively fun, but no way I will get another.

[AFC-911]

Take the 5k and buy a Focus ST or a Mazda3.

[scottmandue]

Originally Posted by onewhippedpuppy

Hell no. I just sold my 2002 Cooper S, I couldn't get rid of it fast enough. Terribly made, everything snaps together with brittle plastic that shatters when you touch it. But don't worry, because you have to pull the fender liner and it's cheap plastic snaps to do any front motor service. At 80k mine had a substantial stack of repairs, and I was replacing stuff again already. Case in point, belt tensioner #3 at 80k. Most work requires disassembly, such as having to drop subframes to do suspension bushings. Reading through the forums makes Porsche ownership look easy. On the upside they are cheap to buy and relatively fun, but no way I will get another.

I was hoping you would chime in, I remember you having one... thanks for the input.

In reality I need to hang onto the Miata because we spent $4K buying her and since have dropped another $4K fixing her up (new tires, wheels, brakes, belts, seals, gaskets, cooling system, hoses, stereo)... good news is it is a tough little car and should last a few years while I save up for something else.

[Rtrorkt]

Had a first gen S and a 2nd gen Clubman S. Fun cars. The. 2nd gen had issues with the high pressure fuel pump, waster pump, and seemed prone to gumming up the intake valves. That requires blasting with walnut shells (I didn't ask). Other than that, and the fact when I tried to use my hands free phone features my friends thought I was in a toilet) good car. Neither got the mileage I was expecting. My deisel Touareg gets the same mileage and I am more comfortable

[Rednine11]

Originally Posted by onewhippedpuppy

Hell no. I just sold my 2002 Cooper S, I couldn't get rid of it fast enough. Terribly made, everything snaps together with brittle plastic that shatters when you touch it. But don't worry, because you have to pull the fender liner and it's cheap plastic snaps to do any front motor service. At 80k mine had a substantial stack of repairs, and I was replacing stuff again already. Case in point, belt tensioner #3 at 80k. Most work requires disassembly, such as having to drop subframes to do suspension bushings. Reading through the forums makes Porsche ownership look easy. On the upside they are cheap to buy and relatively fun, but no way I will get another.

I had the same problems.
Cooper S

[aigel]

Minis are very popular, but NOT because of their reliability or low cost of ownership. You can read any reliability study / survey of recent years and the mini is always in the bottom somewhere. The Mazda is leaps and bounds better. At 27 mpg on regular, you can drive the wheels off that Miata and still come out ahead. Nothing uses that much less gas where you will ever justify buying another vehicle.

Now if you are jonesing for another car, come out and say so, but don't bring up gas mileage.

G

[BReif61]

My friend has one, and I'm pretty sure that if it wasn't paid off he would have ditched it by now.

It blew a spark plug out of the head, threads and all. Actually a COMMON ISSUE.

He also recently completed a three-week clutch job. Why so long? You have to essentially disassemble the front of the car, and anytime he touched an ancillary part, it broke.

[David McLaughlin]

Reading the Mini forums, people have a lot of problems. But, there is usually a common denominator or two. The cars people are having trouble with are usually all Cooper S and usually modified. I hope my car ages well. My car has 65000 miles and has wear on the drivers seat bolster and threw one check engine light that I was told was Vanos issue but has not come back. I change the oil at 5000 miles and bought 6 tires. I get a low of 35 mpg and a high of 47 mpg. Knock on wood things will continue well as I plan on having the car for some time.

[azasadny]

My friend had a MINI and he sold it to buy a MazdaSpeed3 because of transmission issues. I had the Speed3 and he really liked it. I've had the Speed3 since 2/2007 and love it...

[Heel n Toe]

Originally Posted by scottmandue

My Miata is a fun little sports car, however it is also my DD/commuter (40 miles a day/200 miles a week) and whereas it is great fun for weekend cruises a road warrior it is not.

The Miata is also only getting 27mph..........

Yeah, you've got to be a little quicker than that to be considered a road warrior.

So, right now you can get to work in just under an hour if you hit the lights pretty good... how quick do you want to be? I think a Mini can probably speed things up by at least half if you keep the hammer down.

[Don Plumley]

Our 05 MCS has 118K trouble free miles. Just replaced the clutch and front control arm bushings. Aside from a couple of motor mounts and a coolant intake tube, nothing unusual. Our cost all in (tires+maint) is 0.16/mile.

Great car.

[Noah930]

Originally Posted by aigel

At 27 mpg on regular, you can drive the wheels off that Miata and still come out ahead. Nothing uses that much less gas where you will ever justify buying another vehicle.

Now if you are jonesing for another car, come out and say so, but don't bring up gas mileage.

G

+1 Rarely does buying another car justify the cost savings in gas mileage.

[Nostril Cheese]

MINIs are fun, if you can work on them. Do NOT buy an auto.

Mk1 Coopers are about as quick as your Miata. Cooper S is a very fun car with a few mods. Pan gaskets leak, window regulators fail. Power steering pumps fail. Had a Cooper once come in with a burnt exhaust valve at 56K. Pretty much all the bushings will be worn.

Mk2 Cooper/S really arent very DIY friendly, require a computer for just swapping the battery. More powerful, but it feels like a much bigger car than it is. Direct injection issues, Window regulators fail, Vanos problems, typical cheap modern BMW build quality.

That said, Mk1 MCS with a good history and expect to throw money in for suspension and cooling system work. I've seen them going for around $6-7K these days.

[onewhippedpuppy]

My 2002 MCS had a burnt valve at 65k, the PO had to rebuild the head. I took several road trips with it, best MPG was only 32 on the highway. If you want a fun car that gets better MPG than the Miata, I can make a lot better suggestions. Some that will be cheaper, and many that will be more reliable.

[Christien]

I had an 06 cooper S for about a year and a half, no major problems. Got it at about 60k miles, put 10 or 15 on it. There's an airbag sensor under the driver's chair that can trip the warning light if you move the driver's chair just so while the car's running - that was a PITA. Had to replace a tail lamp - a nightmare unless you have double jointed arms the size of a 10-year-old's. Don't buy an automatic up to (I think) 2007 - those are the ones prone to failure - $2000 replacement.

But ours was a ton of fun, for the price and size of it. It's no Porsche, by any means, but the added hp and better suspension with the S was great. Lots of torque steer that took some getting used to, and it definitely handles funny at the track because it's FWD - tons of understeer, but still a fun car for a small track. A lot of fun to drive spiritedly around town, especially with the top down. Trunk space isn't huge, but adequate, though cut it in half on a convertible. On a coupe, with the back seats folded down, I can get my entire guitar rig in there - 4x12 speaker cabinet, head, 2 guitars, a case of gear and a duffle bag of cables, and still have room for a passenger in the front.

Gas mileage is good if you drive it slowly, but you won't. We got consistent mid-20s mpg because I loved to drive it hard.

The only thing I absolutely hated about the car was the electronic throttle. I'm used to the 911 linkage to the carburetors, where the most minute change in pedal causes an instant reaction in the engine. In the Cooper, you hit the pedal and wait. I installed a sprint booster (throttle remapper) which helped, but only by about 50%. That took it from unbearable to bearable, but still not great.

[AFC-911]

The OP is right, the Miata is too slow.

[speeder]

I haven't owned a Mini but know plenty of people who have and I've driven them. I had the use of a 2008 Cooper S Clubman for a while last year.

I just don't like them. They certainly have some redeeming qualities and handle OK for a FWD car, but the design and execution really leave me cold. The torque-steer sucks. The switches and ergonomics suck. It seems like everything in the car was designed to be "cute" rather than functional. Quirky for the sake of quirky. It's the anti-German car, even the anti-Japanese car. And not in a good way.

I realize that I'm on the extreme end with these cars, I really can't stand them. I'd rather have nearly any other car in their segment, from a WRX to a GTI to any sporty Honda Civic. I think that Hondas are twice the car.

And yeah, if you're getting 27 mpg at current fuel prices, what would you have to get to notice the savings? 50-60 mpg? You can't be spending much on fuel.

[masraum]

Originally Posted by AFC-911

The OP is right, the Miata is too slow.

unless you have a turbo.....



The biggest problem with the turbo is the very tight ratio 6 speed which is made even more tight by the fact that they lowered the redline 500rpm.
1st gear 25mph, 2nd 45, 3rd 65, 4th 85, 5th 105 & 6th 130. i don't mind, but it is a lot of rowing. Skipping gears isn't a problem if you like that sort of thing.