Reliability of the Mini....????????????

[Maverick1]

I do not currently own a Mini but am interested in getting one, the Cooper S. I was wondering how reliable the Mini is in comparison to Toyota's and Honda's ??? I currently have a 1988 Honda civic hatchback with around 464,000 Kms on it and I have not done any engine work or transmission work, still going strong but the body is rusting.
I love the look of the Mini and I am sure the handling it has is great, but was concerned with it's mechanical reliability. Can the Mini engine get 300,000 Kms without any problems?? Since it is a supercharged engine I was wondering if that effects engine life?
What kind of fuel economy does the Cooper S get?? with the US gallon?

Cheers Mav

[DrkSlvrS]

Maverick1 - Since the MINI is so new to the market I don't believe that anyone can give you an honest reply to your questions. I have read a few posts from people with over 100,000 trouble free miles.
My OBC reports my MPG average at 32.2

[supercharged]

Maverick1:

I agree with DrkSlvS.

Aside from that, all manufacturers produce that one car in every so many that is more problematic than others. You'll just see it more because people come to this site when they have problems, in an attempt to find someone else with the same problem. There arent many other sites like this for other manufacturers.

The engine has been built to handle the mechanical strain that the supercharger may put on the engine, and so for that reason, I dont think the supercharger will shorten the engine life. I think it's more dependant on how hard you drive it, and even then, the engines used in the MCS can take a lot of punishment.

I also think it comes down to mechanical sympathy. If you drive it softly when it's cold and you run it in well when it's new, and just general stuff like not pushing it to the max all the time, it will give you 300,000KM.

That's my opinion.

SuperCharged

[r34ver]

yeah i got about the same mpg, no problems as of yet..tho only 1500 miles in

[mini vanilli]

my mini better be reliable. i'm set to put on 30,000 - 35,000 miles a year. its been three months since i got my MC and i already put on almost 7,000.