Cooper SD owners

[SCEL1SE]

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!

[Angib]

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.

[SCEL1SE]

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.

[timp]

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.

[rich345]

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.

[Suspect]

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.