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Cooper SD owners

16K views 18 replies 14 participants last post by  vincs2222 
#1 ·
Could all the guys who have the Cooper SD, post up some comments on ownership. Good and Bad points about the car, living with it on a day to day basis.
I am quite interested in potentially buying an SD, but at this time, i do not know enough about them.
It would be interesting to hear thoughts on it!
 
#2 ·
Kinda depends on what you're comparing it to, but general thoughts are:
- noisy, rattly bugger at idle and low speed but smooths out completely once moving;
- very highly geared so around town 4th is the highest gear and 6th isn't needed till about 50;
- as a corollary of the above, there's a surprising amount of gearchanging to do, as around town the car is so often being driven only just above idle revs;
- very soft power delivery, so it never slams you back in the seat, but just goes on and on accelerating;
- when being thrashed, it responds well to being revved;
- I've averaged 47mpg over 6000 miles with a lot of high speed cruising and country road thrashing.

Otherwise it's standard Mini.
 
#3 ·
Hi.
Thanks for the reply. I obviously need to try the car, but always nice to see what other owners have to say.
I suppose its hard to compare the car to a Petrol variant. The other car on my mind is the JCW. Obviously the petrol head in me, says, go for the JCW, no questions asked, however, my better half will be driving it a lot more than i will. I do a fair bit of mileage when i am home, so that was the justification on this one, as i constantly run a Subaru WRX, to which i am sick of filling with V Power fuel!!
I'm afraid to drive the JCW, cos when i do, i know what my choice would be. But whether that is the sensible approach, who knows.
 
#4 ·
Just changed from a 2009 (PSA engine) to a new SD (BMW engine):

love the extra power
engine is much smoother and far less agricultural
engine much quieter at idle / low revs

hate the lack of a spare wheel
pi55 poor fuel consumption compared to the Dooper (got a max of 84 on the computer!)
new toys with Mini connected are fun if totally naff

I use it as a daily driver - doing a total of 60 miles per day.
 
#5 ·
swapped from a cooper s clubman to an sd hatch. i agree it is a little noisy on tick over but i do not think i would go back to a petrol one again. £30 a year road tax, cheaper insurance, in the real world pretty much as fast through the gears (although a little slower 0-62) and better fuel consumption. absolutely love mine i have to say.
 
#6 ·
I love my SD. Had it 2 years and covered 43,000 miles without a single complaint. Lots of grunt and cheap to run. However, I've just decided to trade it in on another Mini and am going for a JCW. I know it will cost me more to run, but it has even more power and having had a test drive I couldn't stop smiling.
 
#7 ·
I went the other way, from FJCW to Cooper SD. This, for me, was a mistake. It made me realise that I like exhaust note :). Its loud when cold, but like others say, smooths out when on the move, but you are never left with any doubt its a derv.

It has good mid range punch, but I was constantly being out punched by Insignias, Accords and even a standard astra van, all dervs. Fair enough, these will have more BHP/Torque and probably more than 2 litres in some cases, I personally think it isn't quick enough to warrant the s badge. This may sound like sour grapes, I am not saying it was rubbish, but perhaps it was partly my fault coming from a works. To the other owners I can see why people would like it, I just didn't "gel" with mine.

Fuel usage was good to average, long run at 68 mph I manage 63mpg, around town/A roads was around 48-50. For me the extra 15mpg over the works, which on the same A road/town routes averaged around 35-38 mpg, wasn't worth the lack of nice noise from the engine and exhaust. If however I was doing mega miles, I certainly would consider one again.

I am now back in an R53 S JCW lol so that probably tells you fuel consumption isn't high on my agenda, if it is, go for it :)
 
#8 ·
Just bought my wife a new SD and she loves it, I also think it's a belter, 143 Bhp is plenty for a decent fun drive, the brakes are weak as are the lights, (probably not helped by me having a E92 330i) 50 mpg round the doors and feels good, it's ten years since her last one and they feel tight and solid as usual, she had an E90 BMW same engine before and says she won't be going back.
 
#9 ·
Just bought my wife a new SD .... the brakes are weak ....
The brakes are poor if you use the performance. They are only Cooper discs not S discs and I guess they think SD drivers want flash economy not economical fun.

It is extremely simple to convert the front brakes to S discs - £400-ish, 30 mins per side and no touching the hydraulics. I have a photo guide if anyone wants it.
 
#11 ·
I've had a Cooper SD since October 2011 - not that long after they arrived in the UK. I left a Vectra for it, and despite a few moans, have loved this car ever since. Compared to my old car, the brakes on the SD are great, but I've never used it to thrash around in. Good overtakes and acceleration onto motorways are all I'm interested in.

The engine is just brilliant. It's power delivery for a car that gets over 52 to the gallon is just top notch. My son's got a BMW 320d with a similar engine (or even same, not sure) and his engine feels even quicker (maybe bigger turbo and injectors?) but I'm not complaining.

There are problems though. The suspension and tyres (17" alloys) are just not suited to our useless A and B roads. Motorways they're fine. I've need 1 new alloy thanks to a pothole which bent the alloy, but the ride is too bumpy and unforgiving of our poor roads in the UK. Never used the sports button, whatever that does.

The headlights are poor - I've put 100w bulbs in which help, but in winter the fuel economy, typically with the lights on, goes down to around 48mpg - from typically low 50's.

The Harman Kardon sound rig is ok, but I've heard better. The seat belt height is non-adjustable, the controls for the heater and windows are fiddly, the date format is months/day/year and non-adjustable. I didn't think to ask for the on-board fuel calculator and USB connection so they aren't there.

In 25,000 miles it's needed one service, and reliability has been first class. No breakdowns or warning lights.

In October I'll probably swap it for a BMW 320D estate thanks to a German Shepherd's arrival. But I'd recommend this car for its engine and performance.
 
#12 ·
I've had a Cooper SD since October 2011 - not that long after they arrived in the UK. I left a Vectra for it, and despite a few moans, have loved this car ever since. Compared to my old car, the brakes on the SD are great, but I've never used it to thrash around in. Good overtakes and acceleration onto motorways are all I'm interested in.

The engine is just brilliant. It's power delivery for a car that gets over 52 to the gallon is just top notch. My son's got a BMW 320d with a similar engine (or even same, not sure) and his engine feels even quicker (maybe bigger turbo and injectors?) but I'm not.

The headlights are poor - I've put 100w bulbs in which help, but in winter the fuel economy, typically with the lights on, goes down to around 48mpg - from typically low 50's.
The 320d could be a 184 Bhp and the mini use the 118d engine so some minor differences. They can be chipped.

The light bulbs were one of the first things I did, we also live in Consett.
 
#14 ·
A year on from my previous posting on the subject:
Still think fuel consumption is poor. computer says 57.2 average but proper calculations show 58.3 - so the car itself is pretty accurate.

Navigation around the music on an iPhone is dreadful. Much worse than the pre-Connected version.

Connected itself is still naff - silly graphics spoiling some (minimal) useful info.


Still love the car though.
 
#16 ·
I've had my Cooper Sd hatch with Chili pack for a month now. Moved from a SEAT Altea 2.0 TDI Sport with 140hp with 18" wheels.

I can't drive it anything like as fast as I could the Altea along familiar roads. It also feels a lot slower in the mid-range.

Road holding is a major concern. If I encounter a manhole cover on a bend, the car snatches very aggressively as if it's lost contact and then regains it. I never encountered this in the Altea, and don't in my wife's Ibiza FR TDI. The roads are our familiar commute roads and the grabbing is very unsettling.

Lack of traction control. I bought the car used and this is something that I didn't expect it not to have. Maybe the lack of TC is the reason for the grabby steering mentioned above. I do have a set of 16" wheels fitted with winter, non-runflat tyres to go on. Maybe the handling will improve a bit. I know I wasn't this un-nerved with the R50 Cooper we bought in 2002.

The Radio Boost is awful to navigate and DAB drops out pretty regularly. There seems to be less leg and foot room in the back than the R50. There's no foot space beneath the driver's seat at all.

Constantly jiggly headlamp leveling is just unnecessary.

Fuel economy is better than the Altea, I'm getting low 50's from mixed driving whereas I was getting mid 40's out of the Altea although I'm not enjoying is as much.

Overall, I'm OK with it.
 
#17 ·
I collected mine in November, a brand new Mini Cooper SD (so the latest model you'll be getting) I must admit I'm really impressed with it, however, fuel consumption advertised on the Mini website is far fetched, I'm getting average 46 MPG, but I do drive it quite hard.

For me, it's all about the torque in the new SD, it really does pack a bunch. Acceleration is quite impressive too, I previously owned a BMW 318i Sport Plus (2 litre petrol) although the BMW was a beautiful car and had a comfortable cabin, it was so slow! The SD is so much quicker.

Enjoy!
 
#18 · (Edited)
Just swapped my Black 2009 mini Cooper D in for a white 2011 mini cooper SD im loving the car so far. Im getting about 49 mpg from the BMW engined 2 litre SD which is actually on par with the 1.6 peugeot diesel engined cooper D i part ex'd in. But i have a whole lot more power to play with now. I personally travel about 24 miles to work and back (50 odd miles) each day so i needed something reliable with decent economy that wasn't going to make me fall asleep behind the wheel. My car seems to have been specced with a lot of non standard kit too like the media pack full leather and tinted windows xenons traction control which my old motor didn't have. i love the media pack centre screen DAB radio and sat nav. Overall im really happy with my new SD and would recommend the car to anyone who asked.

Attached a pic of my new SD
 

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