Last Day Of Mini Ownership

[bowman1812]

Had my Cooper S for 14 months now and unfortunetly it's going tomorrow.
Covering 20,000+ miles in that time at an average of 26.9 mpg and rising fuel costs meant it just had to go. It was fun while it lasted but tommorow I'll be the proud!?! owner of a ****** Pug 206 diesel.
It was a costly 14 month mind. Here is a list of all the work / things that have had to be repaired / replaced or just went wrong.

4 new tyres
Brake pads all round (Upgraded front ones £90 set, due to bad brake fade on standard ****** ones)
New supercharger (TLC covered price of the unit, I paid for labour)
New front suspension (TLC covered)
New Minidisc player (TLC covered)
Passenger door electric motor replaced (TLC covered)
Radio never worked
New sat-nav disc as 2003 version was crap. (New version not much better)
Numerous rattles and squeaks
Front windows always left streaky, dodgy rubbers!
New side indicator covers due to old ones steaming up.
New windscreen

Not sure I'd buy another. It would have to be Works GP if it was. Wouldn't get a 2nd generation version, stupid high bonnet compared to 1st gen, stupid fake air intake in bonnet, also no supercharger whine (Yes I know the turbocharged version is better for MPG and is quicker, its not called a Mini Cooper T is it!)

All the best to everyone on this site for their helpful advice and tips.

[Fen]

I don't think the S stands for supercharger - it echoes the original Mini Cooper S model from the Sixties, and that definitely wasn't supercharged. I'm with you on the rest of the comments on the R56, however.

I think the Sat Nav is fine. I had it in my 5 series and the Mini version is identical, so I've used it for about 44,000 miles in total. To be fair the Audi one I had in between was several times better, but the older Audi type (that I upgraded from) was laughable so it isn't that bad, and it looks a lot better than having something stuck on the windscreen.

I'd agree it wasn't a faultless 14 months, but good luck in that regard with a French car to replace it...

[Ant FR]

god i know the minis are bad, But come back to us after 12 months and we'll free up the space on the forum for you to list the problems with the Peugeot. You think minis are bad, then welcome to the dictionairy definition of unreliable, Peugeot.

i hear what you say about cost of fuel etc, especially with the figures of 1.50 a litre by end of year being mooted around at the moment

[Yardstick]

Well M7 make a nice induction kit that uses the scoop on the R56 as an air feed so you no longer have to drive the wolds most expensive letter box

[Tigger, Eeyore & Roo]

Quote: Originally Posted by Fen (original)

I don't think the S stands for supercharger - it echoes the original Mini Cooper S model from the Sixties, and that definitely wasn't supercharged.

I remember reading up on this one and BMC wanted to call it the Cooper "Special", but John Cooper objected to this as it made it sound like a home brewed "special", so they compromised by calling it the "S". Like Fen says, a supercharger was never involved.

Tigger.