I am looking into possibly purchasing a 2007 or 08 MINI, but I have a few questions that hopefully somebody can answer.

1. Is the mini cooper reliable enough to take on extended trips (ex: NY to SC)?

2. Is it a premium gasoline only vehicle?

3. A main reason I am looking into the cooper is to save gas and at the same time have a fun, nice looking car (unlike prius, etc). With that said...is it worth getting the S version considering it doesnt eat up that much more gas? Basically, is the performance gain/ride factor drastically better from the regular cooper to warrant the lower MPG?

4. How is the overall interior built quality? Is everything tight, solid with premium parts like a BMW, or is it built more like your typical ford/toyota? I am hoping yes considering they are expensive little buggers compared to your honda/toyota, etc.

5. Is their excessive amounts of road noise when driving on the highway, or would you say its comparable to most other cars?

6. Because I do a decent amount of highway driving, would you say the MINI is built to handle daily 70 MPH highway driving?

7. I have noticed MINIs keep their value, so do you think its worth buying certified used MINIs, as opposed to new?

8. As much as I enjoy manual, this would be my everyday car as I would have no other. So would you say the automatic transmission option is nice and smooth without problems?

9. Lastly, do you think the MINI is practical as your only main everyday car?

10. Lastly, are there any major issues/concerns, etc that I should know about in general about the MINI? I hear its good to go with atleast the 07 due to the new engine/overall performance etc, how true is this?

I know these are a lot of questions, but if anybody can answer them, it would be greatly appreciated.

1. I would say you'd be very safe in getting a 1 or 2, 3 or 4 yr old MINI that you could take anywhere you want with no worries.

2. The "S" version is a premium fuel car, although some don't use premium (not a good idea IMO).

3. There is a pretty significant difference in fuel economy between the regular and the "S" versions. Is it worth it? You need to drive them both, then decide.

4. Build quality is very good (but so is Toyota)...

5. Road noise? It's a sports car. You need to drive one and decide.

6. See above

7. I would have no hesitation buying a used one again.

8. Personal decision.

9. If you frequently carry backseat passengers, you may want to try sitting back there for an hour yourself and see what you think.

10. If your budget allows, I'd go as new as you can with any car.


Hope this helps, merely MHO......

Thanks for the reply. Exactly how much worse is the MPG on the s version? On the MINI website it seems to be only a bit worse, but is it that much different in reality? Also just how much faster is the S over the regular version? Is the regular Mini slow?

The mileage difference isn't that great, and yes... the performance difference is significant enough to mitigate the small loss in MPG.

I've had non-S Coopers as dealer loaners over weekends before, and I found that I had to keep my foot in it to a much greater extent than with the S. They handled well, but personally, I couldn't own one. Just too slow for me. Felt a lot like a Honda to me; always needed high revs to get the engine working. With the S model, the torque is always there; no 'gear-hunting' to get you into the powerband... put your foot down, you go.

If you're not in an area where you frequently need to drive 'assertively' (not the same as aggressively), then you'll be okay. And if it's going to be primarily a highway car, then you're probably okay without the S. I just live/work in the DC area, and I do have to press the issue on occasion to get on the freeway or get out of the way of an idiot type-A driver.

As to your other questions, I won't go through them one by one, I'll just say that we've owned three (now down to a single '08), and they've all been very reliable, solid little cars. My wife's daily commute (just started) is 70-80mi per day. We got rid of her '04 (manual) to get the '08 (automatic), mainly because sitting in traffic with a manual sucks day-in, day-out.

Personally, the car's still a little small for me. I worry about her, because as good as the crash tests have been, the MINI is still tiny compared to big SUVs. But she feels more aware and nimble in a little car, so I backed off my insistence on a 3-series or Volvo C30. But is it capable as a long-distance daily driver? Absolutely.

....I found that I had to keep my foot in it to a much greater extent than with the S.....

I think keeping your foot out of it is the key if you are striving for gas mileage. I am getting ~32-33 mpg if I really watch it it, but I consistently hear of 38+ with the non-"S".

We see 38+ on the freeway, but in mixed driving it's around 30mpg (this is the '08). With my '02 (pulley, intake, ECU, exhaust, clutch, flywheel, LSD) I got 22 around town with my foot in it fairly regular.

38+ that is really good.

the short wheelbase makes a rough ride on crappy interstates, that's my only complaint

the short wheelbase makes a rough ride on crappy interstates, that's my only complaint
meh, it's a sports car.....