New to the forums, just wanted to introduce myself and get that first post out of the way. I've actually been wanting to have a MINI since high school, almost a decade ago, but I've been shopping for GTI's for the past year. Yeah, I'm that picky. Anyways, since I'm buying used, gently used, its been a real struggle to find a GTI that hasn't been driven like a rocket ship. Add in VW's unstable reliability and I've been turned away from purchasing a used GTI. So now I'm looking for a MINI Cooper S, 2008 or newer.

My current struggle is dealing with the fact that almost every MINI is different, tailored to the original buyer, so finding one that I like has been difficult. I'm two months into my search and I figured reading a MINI Cooper forum would help me out a lot, so here I am.

Currently I own an 01 Mazda 626 which more dents than cylinders.

 

New here myself. I have an 05 S Convertible and love it.

 

I'm also new and looking for an R56 and have have experienced the same frustrations as the Phillip Van Veen. It is danged near impossible to find one without the dual pane sunroof, and it would appear there are more automatics available than manuals. I'm looking for a car to autocross with SCCA and other organizations, and still use for minimum daily drivin or weekend cruising. I have owned everything from muscle cars of the 60s to C6 Corvette, and several fwd compacts in between. I autocrossed a CRX and Civic for several years, but want to get into something I can depend on driving in relative comfort and ac...I am getting old...