MINI COOPER S 1.6 3dr [Chili Pack] (2006)

Loveable somehow

I've met a few people with this car and they all have this sort of odd mixed look in their eye, like it's a cool car but keeps letting you down but you still love it cos it's so awesome to drive. It's not for the faint heated basically. There are surprises good and bad, in terms of the performance (good) and repairs (bad). I got my Mini Cooper S second hand with an extended warranty cos I was a bit wise to the notorious problems.

From the get go it had all sorts of odd rattling going on. I could tell that one on the test drive, and the dealer did put some sealant or something around the worst of it so that worked out.

Other things fell off over time. The centre bit between the front seats, the sunroof had to be entirely replaced due to being shaky and rubbish, and last but not least the engine completely died spectacularly one day. It was all covered inside this warranty, and the dealer I think has made a loss on this Mini Cooper S, with all the repairs, but there we are. I worry about when the warranty expires, might need to sell it on. I dread to think what happens to people who buy one new, where depreciation will be so much worse.

The Mini Cooper S isn't at all practical either, I mean it really is just for fun, can't be clear enough about that. The standard tyres slip around in the wet, and they'll bump and jog you about like nothing else on anything but the smoothest freshly laid tarmac. It screams away from a standstill and always has more power to give back, but the shaky tyres situation makes it a bit hazardous. It's dead dear to insure, probably because of that bad combination of power and shakiness.

The boot is no use either, can barely fit your shopping in, definitely not anything family wise, like maybe a pram or anything. The seats do fold down to give a bit more room, but that'll help you get two people's shopping in, not that much more.

You can't normally fit a roof rack either on the Mini Cooper S, or you can but it takes a lot of doing, replacing the roof or something. I did eventually find a Thule box that fitted without any extra work, so it's always worth shopping around for that sort of thing.