Drove a mini...buying a mini...

I drove a 08' cooper S and thought it was fantastic. Its local, well taken care of w/65k miles. Dealer is asking $16500 for it which is within NADA. Coming from the tanks I've been in lately, it just feels nimble, toss-able, and predictable.

So my question is this... I've found a 09 JCW edition w/50K miles on it for $19500. Is the JCW worth the extra 3K ? I don't have a JCW that I can drive nearby, so I cannot make a direct comparison. It seems aftermarket/tuning wise you can make more power with less modding due to the larger (slightly) turbo. The big brakes and wheels look nice, but are they just slowing the car down (and limiting tire choice?).

Do I spring for the JCW, or go for the "S" ?

It's going to be an all around car for me, which may draw me back into cone bashing.

Mini guys/gals...help?

I got one earlier this year. This car is literally a FWD BMW. That said, I would steer clear of a used one just based on the fact that repairs cost as much as a BMW. There is an insanely cheep lease right now that I would recommend. I have a fairly loaded base that was $1500 down/$260mo/15k per yr. The buy out is around $16k which is about what trade in would be. To lease an S it's approx. $100 more per month. Leasing one, then if you really like it, buy it. I've had close to 6k problem free miles. If it keeps up, I'll buy it. If I have problems, I can turn it in.

Also, the 10+ S's have a nice exhaust burble that the 07-09's don't.

FWIW, the local MINI dealer auto-x's a base 05 and they've pooped on the other MINI dealers S every time this year...by a few seconds.

I would spring for the 09 JCW Cooper for the extra 3K if it was me. Lower miles, not from a dealer are two bug positives in my book. Maybe you can knock a little off that price too. Good luck, MINIs are really cool cars.

Watch the repair costs, both parts and labor.

I've got a '07 S with 62k miles that I've had since new. There are trouble spots on these cars-- timing chain issues, a water pump that self-destructs (now a recall item since the car could catch fire). Mine has been relatively trouble-free. Last major thing I had was replacing the thermostat, which would have been $400 or so at the dealer and cost me about $150 in parts and a day's labor. Dealership work is priced like BMW's for parts and labor, and nothing is easy to get at. Complete brake job will run about $1000, for example. I got the fronts done under the 36k warranty (later cars have 50k) and haven't had to do the backs, yet. I think I'm probably about there, though.

Make sure you can tolerate the ride in the JCW. I don't know what suspension package it has, but if it is like the Sport package and the rims are big, it will ride like a short-wheelbase Conestoga wagon. I bought a car with 16" rims and the standard suspension and it still rides rough and bucky on bad roads.

Fun, fun, cars to drive. Relatively practical, too, considering the hatchback configuration.

The JCW is supposed to burble, like the newer S's. Fairly recently bought an '07 S with 78k on it, bought it on a 45F day, so it was a good test for the timing chain issue. We, really the wife's car, had a '04 S previously, and the turbo charged engine is more fun to drive.

There is updated tensioners for the timing chain, but I think the best advise is not to follow the on board computers 15,500 mile base oil change. If you drive lightly, highway miles, it might actually extend even further. I know BMW/Mini is supposed to know how long the oil is supposed to last, but they didn't figure in the wrong spec oil, and terrible fuel contamination in the US. I use a LL01 BMW spec oil, and plan a 5k mile interval. From what I have read LL04 oil will get contaminated very quickly with any type of ethanol/additive fuel, and Mini USA recommends the LL01.

http://www.miniusa.com/faq.jsp?category=10

Read all the dealer repair bill stories, but have only been in a dealer service area for a recall/warranty work on any cars I've ever owned. Just replaced the thermostat housing on the new Mini, looks like an artificial heart, and seems to be prone to leaking. Took about 2hrs, and a pair of remote spring clamp pliers.

Well damnit...it almost sounds like an E36 M3 would be the same cost to feed/maintain. Uggh. I know I won't find something perfect, but the more I look at things a cheap POS that I care nothing about is where I'm leaning now.

It's hard to spend 15K on a new Mazda2 when there is a cooper S sitting right next to it for nearly the same money....

TAftonomos wrote: Well damnit...it almost sounds like an E36 M3 would be the same cost to feed/maintain. Uggh. I know I won't find something perfect, but the more I look at things a cheap POS that I care nothing about is where I'm leaning now. It's hard to spend 15K on a new Mazda2 when there is a cooper S sitting right next to it for nearly the same money....

Well that's quite a change! With the Mazda 2 you will be getting a brand new car with a warranty and no repair bills and no worries. Zero. A Mazda2 and a MINI are two completely different animals.

Oh, this thread is about MINIs. I was tricked by the title and thought it was about Minis. I've driven a few MINIs. I looked hard at them back in 2005, but ended up buying my Mazdaspeed Miata instead.

Just something I threw out there that I think/know is about 15K (Mazda 2). In reality all I need is basic transportation to and from work. It's all any of use really NEED. I'm just looking for a fun car that can do a few more things than transport me from A to B is all.

The joke is that BMW engineers are so good, they engineered the MINI with old school British reliability. The problem is, British parts and shop labor are a whole lot cheaper than German ones. Get a RWD BMW or a classic Mini.

TAftonomos wrote: Well damnit...it almost sounds like an E36 M3 would be the same cost to feed/maintain. Uggh. I know I won't find something perfect, but the more I look at things a cheap POS that I care nothing about is where I'm leaning now. It's hard to spend 15K on a new Mazda2 when there is a cooper S sitting right next to it for nearly the same money....

Funny you bring these two up. Those were 2 of the 3 cars I had narrowed my shopping choice down to just a few months ago. It was either a 2012 Mazda 2, a 2012 Honda Fit or whatever MINI I could buy for relatively similar money. All the logical choices said go with the Mazda or Honda...brand new car, warranty, reliable, great fuel mileage. But I came across an '08 MINI Cooper S that had only 29k miles, and came with MINI's extended factory warranty which is good for 2.5 more years. It was just too good to walk away from. Really love the Mazda and Honda (we already have one Fit), but I went MINI.

So far, I really like the car. It certainly has "quirks", but it's a lot of fun. I am still a bit nervous about it's reliability issues and am hoping it doesn't come back to bite me...even with the factory warranty. However, I'm enjoying driving it. It's also getting good fuel mileage so far, about 34-36mpg.

Never drove a JCW, but the S is pretty fun, not sure I'd have sprung the extra money. I've heard the JCW has a stiffer ride than the S. If that's true, I wouldn't even want one. I've got the "base" S suspension and non-run flat tires and my car is pretty darn stiff.

The brakes alone would make a factory '09 JCW worth the extra $3K. They are a noticable improvement over the S brakes (which aren't exactly terrible). They do force use a 17" wheels, though. The power difference is noticable and while it's not hard to bring an S up to (or higher than) JCW levels, the JCW has always been known for being smoother than any of the aftermarket builds.

I've been playing with MINI's since 2003. Don't let B.S. internet hearsay disuade you from getting one if you like it. No - it's probably not going to beat a Mazda with regards to reliability, but they aren't as bad as some make them out to be.

Oh... and having dealt with both, I don't think the M3 will be cheaper to keep and in some ways the MINI is more fun - we sold a '97 M3 a year after buying an '03 MCS because the M3 was never driven.

The JCW in question has had quite a history. After looking over the maintenance records, there is no way...

25K miles transmission syncho failed 4th to 5th - New trans

32K miles high pressure fuel pump failed

44K miles cam tensioned backed out of head, causing slack timing chain. Chain, followers, tensioner was replaced.

I can only imagine what the parts alone would cost me when these things go bad again. I can see a synchro going really early on if it was defective, but @ 25K miles?

High pressure pump isn't cheap.

Worst is the chain/tensioner thing.

damnit...damnit...I really liked the idea of a mini. I don't like the idea of spending 20K to buy it, and 2500 a year to keep it on the road.

Seems like the origional owner bought a 40K dollar car, and traded it in right after the warranty was up. I bet there was a reason for that......

Friggin mazda 2 is looking good again.....

TAftonomos wrote: damnit...damnit...I really liked the idea of a mini. I don't like the idea of spending 20K to buy it, and 2500 a year to keep it on the road.

Ha! Funny you should mention that. A couple years back I was thinking (and only thinking, never seriously looked - read on...) about getting a MINI.

I asked my BMW shop guy about them. They're fairly reliable, he said, but not Honda/Toyota territory. I asked him to explain further.

"Like any other BMW, they're a $2K a year habit."

Don't know about the tranny issue, perhaps it was "user error". But the other stuff would actually be encouraging to me if I was shopping for a MINI again. The tensioner and HPFP are both very common and well documented weak spots for the car. IIRC, MINI extended the warranty on the HPFP to 100k miles. With this car, since both the tensioner and pump issues have now been fixed, I'd feel pretty good not worrying that I'd have to replace them. A car that hasn't had those repairs would be more scary to me than this one, because I know that I'll have to pay for it down the road. When I was shopping for mine, I was specifically looking for one that had the tensioner/chain repair done.

In reply to Klayfish:

It wasn't repaired because the chain was making a death rattle...it was repaired because according to the service report, the tensioner was "Hanging off the block and spraying oil everywhere". The darn thing backed out of the head... Getting the chain fixed because it was stretched is one thing...this wasn't that.

Anyway, I passed on the car. Was pretty clear the owner traded it in just after the warranty was up...for good reason to. Oh well...

All I have to add is that, all else being equal and assuming you are doing your own maintenance, an I6 BMW is going to be considerably easier to work on than a MINI.