MINI COOPER S 1.6 3dr (2002)

Daft but fun

I got my Mini Cooper S for a laugh after I came into some money last year. I bought it second hand with 40k miles on it, at about 8 years old or so. It had lots of kit on it and I got a pretty good deal, but it has been expensive to run for me and probably if I didn't have this bit of money I'd have thought twice.

The main trouble is that it's such a flaky piece of rubbish really lol. I mean it's bags and bags of fun, loads of power and poke, I think this one got tweaked by a performance company so it's even better than a normal Mini Cooper S, but seriously the repairs and general flakiness are so daft. I know it had all sorts done by the previous owner, and I've had to do the clutch plate (really expensive) and steering rack, a few jobs on the rear shocks, tracking nearly every other month, just all sorts of stupid things.

That and it gets through loads of fuel, and costs a fair whack to insure the Mini Cooper S. What can I say though, it's a real thrill to drive. It's not that comfy mind, and I'm fairly short. It's pretty cramped and I need to get up to stretch my legs every hour or so. It's got some fancy little features though, like the windscreen that clears up really quickly. I like the CD multichanger, but it seems a bit retro these days! I do still use it, but I've also had the stereo redone to fit my ipod.

One good thing is that it's quite a long interval between services, but then it's in the garage so much you could probably get all that stuff done on the side during each job and save the money.

Here's another little joke about the Mini Cooper S - you can get a roof rack on it, but only if you take into the garage and get special holes drilled into the roof!! That sort of gives you a good sense of the way the car is put together really, nice idea, lots of fun, but loads of silly oversights and no way designed for practicality.