I should probably say that this is my first car and I only passed my test in March, so I haven't been driving long and I don't really know that much about cars. Anyway I wanted the Cooper S for ages, it was really the main reason I learnt to drive haha, and it's been brilliant so far. I love how fast it is! I maybe shouldn't say that, I'll probably run it into a tree or something before long. That's probably why the insurance is so much, my mum complained about that part!
It's fantastic to drive, zoooms around and sticks to the road like crazy. The windows are all nice and tall so you can see easy enough. I learnt to drive in my mum's Astra and it's much easier to see out of than that. It's easier for parking as well, which I'm still a bit rubbish at.
The Mini Cooper S is hardly a man's manly car, and I get a few jokes about it being a girly car, hairdresser car, that sort of thing, but who cares it's a massive laugh to drive, and anyone who gets in it doesn't complain for long.
The 'start/stop' engine thing, where it stops at a red light and then starts up again, means that it's cheap to run, doesn't keep glugging away fuel when it's not going anywhere, so that's good. I haven't got anything to compare it to but I assume it's cheaper to run than other cars.
It's a bit of a pain that the stereo is completely integrated into the front panel, I'd have liked to replace it maybe with something else, but it looks to be competely woven in there. It might be possible, but doesn't look like it. Plus I suppose I'd bring down the resale value.
I'm not sure whether I'll sell my little Mini Cooper S yet, it has had a few repairs doing in the warranty. There was something with the engine system, and the suspension, so if there are too many more repairs then I might need to get rid of it. I wouldn't be able to afford any repairs after the end of the warranty, no matter how much fun it is to drive.
Maybe the Mini Cooper S is meant for someone with a bit more money, which is odd really cos it's a fairly cheap car. I suppose I'll look back and laugh as they say.
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.
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.
I probably got a bit swept up in the marketing around the new Mini. I liked the look of the Cooper S and sort of stupidly didn't really look into any of the details, much less reviews of what it was actually like in terms of reliability. Anyway suffice to say I'm definitely checking that sort of thing now! I only had the Cooper S for a few years in the end cos it was such a liability and I decided in the end to cut my losses.
The first thing to annoy me with the Cooper S was how much petrol it drinks. It's nowhere near what was advertised. Actually it might have been if you drove it in a really really careful way, but what actually happens is that you have to rev it quite a bit to get the clutch to engage so that's basically impossible. It's also surprisingly expensive to insure, which again I hadn't properly looked into.
It's also not doing anything all that clever with the space it's got. I'm small so it didn't bother me too much - although I was a bit cramped - but it just got daft when I met my other half and he could barely fold himself up into the front seat, no chance of getting into the pokey little back seats. It really looked like a toy with him in it.
Next problem with the Cooper S, really not a reliable car. I bought it new and it went back to the dealer probably about five times in the first year for all sorts of things. They were really indifferent to me as well. I suppose BMW have got more important customers to worry about than the plebs driving Minis! I don't remember all the details but one thing I know took ages to sort out was the engine management system. The steering control thing inside went to pieces too, I think in the second year of having it. There were other little silly problems like the window opening mechanisms being unpredictable.
Overall the Mini Cooper S was just a bad joke, and I had to sell up in the end as it was going to be costing me so much in repairs. If you've ever been in a situation where you've felt the need to sell a 3 year old car you'll know it doesn't happen lightly, but it happened and now I'm much more careful.
Owning a MINI can be hard work. It's a very small car (obviously) and doesn't have much room for your friends or your luggage. It can be seriously unpowered sometimes when you're up against something like an induction powered 2.0-litre, and when you actually look at it, you wonder if it's getting a bit dated.
But it's not all bad. Those same looks still manage to keep you entertained, as the interior is very funky and cool. And the 1.6-litre supercharged engine is very responsive and more than quick enough to keep up with some hot hatches.
It's just not the complete car a lot of people are looking for, that's all. It's reliable, quick and sporty. And I can't really say anything other than that,
I think basically this car is more fun than it is really practical. First thing is that the boot is really tiny, just a daft shape, doesn't seem to fit anything into it bigger than a shopping bag without needing some serious to-ing and fro-ing. But forget the practicals and it's loads and loads and loads of fun. It's just massive fun to drive. At every speed it seems to have more power to give, yet it also gives fantastic fuel economy. One thing that really took some getting used to was the clutch. I found that when you're first pulling away you kind of have to rev it quite a bit and then bring the clutch up slowly and try to find quite a precise biting spot. The pedals aren't at the best angle for that particular trick, but It didn't take long to get used to. Believe me it's worth getting used to because of how brilliant it is to drive after that. Apart from the speed it always seems able to hang on to the road for dear life, the steering is great, really responsive and not at all indecisive. Bit slippy when it gets wet, but not too bad, might just be the tyres. Nought to sixty in SEVEN SECONDS! WOOOOHOOO!!! It all just feels like a much more expensive car, I have to remind myself what I paid for it. Press the sports button, go on, press it, and enjoy :)
But yeah it's not as practical - apart from running costs, and even then, forgetting about the fuel, the insurance is pretty high on account of it being a little demon. It's easy to park (I didn't go for the parking sensor jobbies and it's still a doddle cos of the nice big clear windows), but like I said boot space is really minimal and the bodywork also leaves some things to be desired. Like mine has had quite a lot of rattling right from the start. It's been mostly sorted out by the garage under warranty, mostly, but it does make me worry about it longer term. The back seats are pretty daft as well, difficult to get into like any 3 door car, and a bit of a joke once you've got yourself back there. I don't often have more than one passenger but if I did I'd probably get annoyed (or they would) by the back seats.
It is comfy mind. Long journeys or short ones are just as good. One thing is that it's pretty low, and my mum has bad knees so she doesn't like it cos it sort of puts your knees up in the air a bit and keeps them knocking about, especially on shaky roads where it doesn't feel so happy overall.
I'm American, which isn't odd in itself, but it means driving a British MINI can cause some confusion. The reason why I do, though, is because I love the way it's British in every way - apart from the fact that BMW owns it, but shh!
There's not a lot of space inside for people over 6 foot, but who cares? The interior is as funky as the 1960s, as fun as the MINI's handling and as practical as a barn.
I have the Cooper S version which has a turbocharger to get the MINI down the road in just over 7.0 seconds. It's a really quick car and I always get looks from people on the sidewalk as I burble past.
To anyone who lives in a city and wants some nimble, fast and agile, the Cooper S is the car for you.
As an owner of a BMW MINI online forum i get to hear and read all about the differing viewpoints of individual cars, however, i'm here to discuss my one in particular.
An R53 JCW variant, the last of the supercharged models.
I can honestly say i did not have any problems with this car at all.
As per normal mini characteristics the car handled very well on the open road and on the track.
Running costs were kept to aminimum by virtue of the TLC purchased with the car and included a certain amount of servicing, obviously things like wiper blades, tyres and brake pads were not included, but, given the price of oils etc a significant saving was available.
The only areas i feel the car let me down was that MINI used run flat tyres which are very heavy.
Interior rattles were abundant but were fixed and the car could have done with a little more power to compete with it's competitors.
All in all i would highly recommend this car to anyone in the market for a hot hatch