I am a 21 year old college student, graduating in may but probably going to grad school so i'll continue to be a college student for a while. i've been researching the mini for about 6 months now and i'm ready to purchase in the next few months. however, i am stuck between getting a regular mini cooper or getting the mini cooper s.

i would like to hear from current owners on both. money isn't really a problem because the mini cooper s i priced out would be about 25900 plus ttl. however, i could totally spruce up the regular and spend way less.

what do regular cooper owners think? do you often wish you had the s?
s owners, how often are you thankful you got the s (just when you are doing around the city driving)? i'm not a mini "enthusiast". i don't speed everywhere. i like getting good gas mileage, having a smooth ride, and i basically just drive to the grocery store and school.

thanks!!

 

If you don't want the added horsepower performance advantages of an S sounds like a standard mini will do you fine as it gets better gas mileage ect

 

Drive them both, we can't make the decision for you.

 

Amg is right, you should drive one of each and make up your own mind rather than listen to us vent our own prejudices.
With that I will give you my own opinion
I drive a standard Mini, am and tickeled pink with it. It is basically a commuter car that I use to get from lots of point a's to lots of point b's. It beats the heck out of theSuburu that preceeded it. It is fun to drive, economical and, in reality, is more than fast enough for any common situation. Sure there are occasional timesI wish I had the extrapower and adrenalin rush that comes with the S. But economy and reliability trumph in my situation. It is probably a semi reasonable assumption that a less powerful version ofthe same engine will have odds of being more reliableover the life of the vehicle. From what I have seen, the S's are pretty darn reliable too though.(I would think that because of the car's nature, a usedS would more likely to be abused than a standard Mini, if you are looking at used rides.)
Idon't have a particular need for theupgrade in statusthat comes with theS. I have had acouple trendy people attempt to put me down for having the "wimpy"Mini. It doesn't bother me. As far as I am concerned, they are the one with a problem, because they aren't smart enoughtoappreciate what is indeed avery high quality, neatlittle car in it's own realm. For the most part,myMinistill draws a lot of attention and comments from people who admire it. The vast majorityof the general public don't even knowthatMini makes models with two levels of performance.
On the other hand, I love to own a S too. In fact if I were in the situation where I had to choose again, it would still be a difficult choice, (Ihave been led to believe thatthe newest turbocharged S's compete with theregular Minifor mileageas long asyou keep your foot out of it, which makes the choice even harder) but I would probably remain pragmatic and save the $$ andgo with the standard Mini. That doesn't mean that you would or should though.

 

I am asking the same question, however, as I do plan on driving both cars. I also would like to know if anybody has some buyer remorse about which model they purchased. My question right nowis, what's your car is like when the air conditioning is turned on? Is the non s just as peppy as before or are you having a hard time keeping up. To the s owners when you turn the air on is it like driving a regular Mini?

Thanks
Wayne

 

You'll feel the difference in a Cooper but barely feel in an S

 

I just test drove both the MC and MCS and to me - I noticed a significant increased acceleration in the S. I test drove in Hawaii and could not open it up on the highway (traffic) - but based upon my comparison driving on city streets I was immediately sold on the S. I will be ordering an S - but I fully intend on holding on to this car for a long time (have always loved the MINI).

 

Depends on what you need it for...but in most cases, shoot for the "S."

 

I have a 2008 Mini S JCW. I just did my first MPG calculation, and it came out to 510 miles per tank, which is 38.64 MPG (Mostly all HWY miles). I do not know if this has anything to do with the turbo or not, but it is really nice to NEVER have to down shift to pass people very, very, very, quickly whenever I feel the need to. There are situations out on the road where power can make all the difference as to weather you live or die, or get into an accident or not. Power in the wrong hands can cause the same problems though.

... But the coolest thing about the turbo is that cool 'Phew' noise it makes. That alone is worth the 2k or whatever it is IMHO!