Let me start out by saying I really want to get one of these little cars. After years of watching them drive around, I finally sat in one for the first time last week. I was hooked. It was so much bigger inside than I thought it would be (as my name implies). I'm going this weekend for a test drive hopefully.

With that in mind, I've been reading a lot of owner reviews online the last few days. I'm worried. 90% of what I read is complaints and more complaints. People having issues within the first month of buying. Lot's of people saying they are having to replace the transmission and clutch every 30k miles. Lots of things going wrong right after the warranty expires. Rattles and noises that take 3-4 visits to the dealer to fix, only to have them return a month later. Not encouraging stuff. For comparison, I had a '93 Jeep Wrangler that I got in 2000, it had 70k miles on it. At 100k miles I had to put in a new transmission (not sure if it was the first time it needed a new one). Over 6 years I put about 60k miles on it. When I sold it, the transmission was the biggest expense I had ever paid in to it.

I know that the most irritated people will be the most vocal. Perhaps that's what it is. But I was hoping that at least for every bad post, there would be a good one, no such luck. Are the people that love their Mini's too busy driving them to post reviews online?

At the moment I'm planning on nothing older than an '04 with under 30k miles on it, this seems to be the danger zone from what I've read though. Most people say things start going bad after 20k miles.

Please help me out. I would love to buy one of these cars, but can't do it without some confirmation that they are reliable and aren't just a money-sink. Anyone with some personal experience owning one of these? The longer the better, I'm hoping to keep mine for 10 years or so. If possible please post your year and model (cooper or s).


Thank you for your help.

 

Ihave a 07 MCS . No complaints people don't usuallly write good points they are out driving. My Cooper has no problems in 4k miles. It is a hoot to drive and makes me smile when i see it .It gets alot of attention especially when it is parked. On a trip it will sip gas over 40 MPG under 75.It is a toy a little bulldog.Rides like a sporte car and ahndles like a Go kart .There are a few cars faster however the MCS has a fun meter to the max.

JOHN

 

Another potential new guy here, but many years of experience buying and researching cars.


If you actually read the complaints on the Toyota Tundra forum, you'd never buy a Toyota Truck. But I've had my Tundra for four years and haven't had one single vibration or anything out of the ordinary. I suspect the vast majority of people buying Tundras (judging by Consumer Reports high ratings for all Tundras) are just like me - no problems. There are a few, however.

I'm making my point by illustrating the use of these types of forums. People who never haveany problems with their vehicles generally don't rave about them in postings unless someone asks(if you searched the Tundra Forum for "high mileage tundras", you'd find that there are literally dozens of people who have over 200,000 miles on their trucks).

Do the research inrags likeConsumerReports, Car and Driver,Edmunds.com, Road and Track, Motorweek, Intellichoice, etc. You'll get a general feel forreliability from those.

Buy what sparks your fancy. Take good care of it and enjoy it.

I bought a 2.0T Jetta about three years ago when Consumer Reports said they were the worst cars on the planet. Owned it for two years and the thing was a ROCK SOLID ROCKET - no problems whatsoever.

There are risks associated with buying anything. Good luck.

 

After having our 07 Mini S “John Cooper Works� for 2 weeks, we love it! It is an outstanding value. The bang you get for the buck is hard to beat. We have owned cars for 10 K to 100 K and this little rocket is as much fun to drive as anything on the road. It also has one thing all of our other cars we have owned don’t….. the smile factor. Everyone that sees the Mini waves, smiles, or honks the horn. Makes you and them smile. Not enough of that these days!

Just my $.02

 

Cooper S is totally cool man.

 

You could always buy an extended warranty.
I just spent over $31,000 on my Cooper S Convertible and it is solid wonderful sportcar.
Can't compare to a Jeep.

This is a bit of English heritage, with German engineering by BMW.
I would make certain you get the Cooper S.
I like the extra power, the supercharger boost and sound,and it really does not take away much from the mileage. Go for it. Have a checked out maybe by a Mini dealer, and enjoy it.

Good luck.

 

I'm new to the world of Mini's, and I've only had mine for about a week. I can only hope that it lives up to the engineering from BMW!!. I don't want to deal with a problem car either, but my dad gave me this for my 50th Bday. I really think that the 6 speed was a bit much for his old worn out knees. I just rolled the odometer over to about 6500 miles after driving it back from Dallas Texas, and so far no problems at all. I love this car, it rides like a dream on good roads, and you feel the bumps on the bad ones. What sports car doesn't. Mine is the 2007 S model, and as Tim the Tool Man Taylor used to say, you can never have to Much Power. I hope that it gives me years of dependable service, and the smile factor x 10. Go for the Supercharged, or Turbo charged version. The xtra power is worth the cost. 6 speed manual is also a must.