[Closed] Any Mini owners, past or present, available.

NOT the large wheel/low tyre option - looks lovely but royally buggers the ride.

I had a brown 1980ish mini mayfair when I was about 19. It was great.

Came down stairs one morning to go to work and my dad had put two big yellow spots on the doors with '69' on them!!

We've got an R56 ('59 reg) Cooper. It's a cracking daily driver. I take it when working away to keep miles off the "nice" car. It's on 16's and wouldn't want any bigger - it rides hard but not crackers on these wheels. Ours has chilli pack which gets you half leather seats, light pack, heated mirrors and some styling bits and bobs etc. etc. - not essential but nice to have. One thing to note is that they chew a bit of oil (variable valve gubbins I think) and there is no warning and the dipstick is crap to read. It seems to have an intermittent fault on the stop/start that I havent had looked at yet but I just turn it off.

The wife had an R56 Mini Cooper S. Fun to drive but wouldn't touch one again. High oil usage, which is normal according to BMW unless it uses more than a litre per 500 miles. The engine also suffers from carbon build up. Firm suspension and low profile run flat tyres make for a harsh ride. She currently has an M Sport 1 Series and that is much comfortable and in a different league for build quality too.

We bought one at the start of January - 2004 Cooper with 80k miles in immaculate condition, FSH, fresh MOT for a smidge over £2k at a garage.

I've since found out that one thing to look out for is sticky rear calipers - one of ours was bad which had to be replaced which then led to new pads and discs too and a £350 bill.

But apart from that, we can't be happier! We'd looked at a Mini once before when mini-DBW #00001 was new and decided the boot wasn't quite big enough for baby related gubbins so dismissed it. But not that mini-DBW #00002 is out of a buggy and the amount of child related crap we carry around with us on short journeys is massively reduced, we'd take another look. Build quality seems to be exceptional - way, way, way better than anything else (Fiesta, Polo etc) we looked at. Its great to drive, great to look at and great to sit in. This weekend we took it from Yorkshire to Dorest and back via a detour to see family in rural Oxfordshire - knocking on for 600 miles with the 4 of us and luggage. Absolutely fine! Going to take it away at Easter for a week but we're going to get a roof box for that.

Totally smitten by the little thing.

Specs do vary and I hadn't quite figured it out. On my car's era you could get Salt and Pepper packs - no idea what these equate to in real life. Things like ISOFIX were an option on pre-facelift (2006ish) cars, think it was standard after that.

Lots of advice/buyers guides etc on mini2.com.

Thank you for the feedback. I shall definitely take on board the tyre/wheel combo and factor in the oil consumption. It sounds like the Chilli pack might be nice to have too.

I'm probably looking at a budget of £4000 and most likely not an S as I want to keep running costs down (particularly insurance as my daughter will need to be on the policy) as much as possible.

Has anyone driven a One? Are they ok to drive?

I test drove a One. On a short test drive there was little difference between that and the Cooper we bought. Would have been happy with either...

Had a cooper s convertible for a couple of years now - wife uses it every day:
Very harsh ride, but very direct steering
Incredible engine and great fun
Not a clue on what spec but its fine 🙂
You will get accused of owning a Salon, but personally I have to much of a grin when I am driving it to care
Porches have bigger engines as I found trying to keep up with one the other day
Not had any problems so far but I am sure they will be hideously expensive to fix when we do
You can't fit a pram in the boot - in fact you can't fit much in the boot
Its very noisy when doing speed on the motorway with the roof down

Would buy another in a heartbeat - most fun I have had since we sold her Mazda MX5

I have an R50 Cooper (2003). 110k on the clock.

Pros:
Looks great (to my eyes) and doesn't look like an 'older' car, owing to similar newer models
Handles like a go-cart
Lively driving experience (see above), torquey if not revvy engine, 0-60 seems quick enough, if not exactly 'fast'
Really solid build quality, especially the interior - external finish still gleams after 13 years
Quirky but fun 'mini' features (like retro switchgear, steering wheel mounted rev-counter), remind you that you are driving a Mini, rather than any-old-same-old-same-old-car
Appears to be roomy enough to carry two bikes and two people, plus kit, or one bike with only the front wheel off plus kit and one person.
I've also managed to sleep in the back of it - and go for a ride around FoD the next day!
Stereo sound quality is ace

Cons:
First gen engine (R50) drinks fuel in stop-start traffic (can get down to around 30-33mpg). Nevertheless - I average 38 mpg overall with a mix of long journeys and city driving.
Ride quality might be a bit harsh for some (with 16" run-flats), but to be honest - I quite like it (see: 'go-cart' above) - it feels 'lively'
The interior is a bit 'precious' - there's lots of shiny delicate painted fascia, which means I wince every time anyone gets in an out of my beloved R50, especially when carrying bags, pointy shoes, etc. I also had to search long and hard for a second hand one that didn't look as if someone had been around the interior with a block of sandpaper.

Extras: I have ASC and trip computer - both well worth it IMO.

In a year and half of driving I've had a wheel bearing replaced, corroded front brake pipe replaced and got the gearbox fluid replaced (simply as a precaution). Otherwise, it's been faultless - which is not bad for a 13 year old, 110k car.

Doh! Thought this was going to be a thread about proper minis

Got rid of our 07 cooper s two months ago....what a relief!

Great fun to drive, but have no fillings left and don't mention the oil....what a joke!

just had to let my clubman go after 3 years. sad to see it go, loved it! cooper with chilli pack, that's a nice spec level to be aiming for i would suggest. mine was on 16's and it was a bumpy ride, but it drove good. never had any oil problems (or any problems for that matter. ) Less than 40mpg though which is pretty cr4p nowadays. Rear doors seem like a gimmick, but are actually quite practical and with a flat load boot, you can get plenty stuff in the. forget the nonsense about them not being real mini's, I've had one of them too, great fun bit you'd soon get tired of it not starting, rusting, breaking down, nor being able to go out in the rain etc'!!

Owned an R55 Cooper S Clubman for 2 years. Great car, but the clutch was going in mine at 47k.

I'd still have another Clubman in a heartbeat though.

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Thank you everyone so far.

I think I shall be looking for a Cooper or a One, with larger wheels and a chilli pack. (and BRG would be a bonus!)

We miss ours - 54 plate cooper S. Ditched the run-flats for a set of toyo proxes, it was hilarious. Supercharger noise, nice feel to the gear change, the pops on overrun and lift-off oversteer being particular memories.... great little car. No problems other than consumables and a tiny little oil leak which was easily fixed. BMW customer service was faultless (it was nearly new when we got it). Ended up selling when we went down to one car... which was a freelander. OOPS. Still, that's 2 of the hairdresser cars done.

It'll also be worth asking if the power steering pump has been changed if you are looking at an older car. We've owned a '53 plate Cooper S since new and the pump failed after 6 years (it is a known fault on this vintage of Mini). In fairness it was replaced as a 'goodwill' gesture after a little bit of persuasion...

I think they fixed the problem on the '56 plate onwards cars.

It still puts a smile on my face when driving it which is why we still have it 12 years later.

Ive had three of the R50/3 cars - a Cooper, an S then a One to save money when I changed jobs.

All three were pretty reliable, with the One being the puck of the bunch but it was newer than the others. The older generation engines are pretty simple things and don't suffer from the oil consumption or timing chain issues that the later R56 does. The early ones can have squiffy electrics but with your budget you'd be looking at a good later car which gets a few extra bits standard like a trip computer and low washer fluid warning.

The Cooper as the best balance between costs and performance for me; the One had the same engine as the Cooper but with worse performance. You also can't spec stuff like the Chilli pack. The Chilli pack is a must have for me and gets you half leather seats which are more comfy than the none-sport ones.

Personally I prefer the R50/3 to the R56 which lost the hydro steering, gained a lighter clutch and gearbox which took away some of what I really liked. They also got a horrible gear stick knob; odd thing to hate but man don't like the stupid lip they put on the top. I think the earlier cars are prettier too. TBH, I don't think they'll better the looks and proportions of those early cars.

There are some great specialists and breakers out there like MINI Matt who can help keep the costs of running one to sensible levels.

I've got a 1981 City with a MG Metro engine sitting outside the house (my retirement project).

We've had an 09 plate R55 Cooper Clubman. Bought s/h at 3 years old. Owned it for 3 years. Only issue was a rear roll bar bush. Otherwise great (except for the dreadful runflat tyres!

Replaced with a new R56 Cooper S Convertible. Absolute hoot to drive, though some scuttle shake on the ropey roads where we live.

Sadly I drive an old Mazda, so do t get to enjoy the fun very often....

Thanks everyone. I shall start trolling through the local classifieds and forecourts.

We had a 1958 mini with starter button on the floor.
Good car.
Get one.