Mine has had all the rattles, a faulty airbag, faulty fuel sender and I am getting pretty poor service from the dealer when they try to repair it. I keep having to wait for ages for them to finish the work when I arrive to collect the car, even if I phone before I set off to check it's ready; bad enough if I lived round the corner, but it takes me 45-60 minutes to get there! Plus they keep damaging (scratching and denting) it when they are fixing things. In fairness to the MINI staff, they are all great and very friendly, helpful etc, it's just when I have to take it into the BMW service section that things go wrong.
Maybe this is affecting my views slightly, but I am only somewhat satisfied with the car. Sure, everyone loves it . Even the local policeman says he's going to come and get it next time he needs to commandeer a vehicle, which he apparently has done twice before (I thought they only did that on TV and in films!). Another time I stopped to let this New Age traveller / homeless looking guy (who I would have thought spent most of his time living in a tree protesting about new roads being built and hated cars; he was even riding a bike!) cross at a zebra crossing. He got halfway, stopped, looked at the car and just when I was getting worried he shouted 'Nice car' and gave me a thumbs up!
However, I kind of miss the free-revving nature of my old 106 GTI, which just seems more exciting to drive somehow. Maybe the Cooper S on 17"s just has a bit TOO much grip in the corners and feels kind of heavy to me (about 250kgs more than my 106).
Plus I find overtaking is more dangerous now that I have a proper safety cell around me and doors that are slightly thicker than a piece of tinfoil, which leaves me sitting a lot further inboard from the outer edge of the car than in my 106, so it's a lot harder to see around the vehicle in front without getting dangerously over the other side of the road.
I also miss having a sensible amount of boot space (or at least a sensible shaped boot; why is the space almost vertical with nothing to hold the cargo in? The only way to fill it is to stack the bags precariously on top of each other, hoping they don't all fall out when you get where you're going, or carry a big cardboard box in the boot the whole time. Also I miss being able to carry more than one adult passenger with legs.
I don't know, maybe after waiting so long it was bound to be a bit of an anti-climax, and the BMW service problems aren't helping. Maybe after I've managed to go for a month or two without them having to go anywhere near it I might feel differently!
