2002 MINI Cooper CVT Indi Blue/Black
Thank you Sejanus; for being persistent and careful with this subject.
67,000 miles now. No mods, except wheels/tires and the visual-only exhaust extension. Our car continues to perform in all the ways we use it: daily driver in a congested commute, grocery runner, weekend exploring, regional business trips (weekly now), autocross, and track days. Each is very different demands and stresses.
No problems, except...
AM radio. Reception has become horrible, unusable at times, with strong interference (or more likely, a weak signal to the radio itself). MINI replaced the radio so it is new, replaced the entire wiring harness (that early issue with some cars), replaced the cables to the aerial and other components, and took the entire system out of the car (all components) to exercise the connections and confirm that everything was installed. "Work" seems to have an effect, but then it falls back to terrible. They've thrown their hands up several times, and just blamed AM generally as bad. As an old US Army Signal Corps guy, this bothers me because it must be fixable; it is either bad equipment, bad signal strength or bad grounding. MINI specifically went through the car and swears that grounding is not the issue. The radio is actually new. OK, that leaves signal so I am having the aerial replaced next. I enjoy NPR and my local jazz stations on FM, or a CD built from our collection, so this has been a project versus a crisis.
Vinyl seats. We're getting stress wear on the driver's seat in two places.
Vanwall's comment on the Cruise Control deserves some support. Spot on, Rob! On road performance is perhaps the best of any system we've owned. It is wonderfully smooth, which converts directly to comfort and fuel mileage. The round trip to Portland (about 400 miles) nearly every week now provides an opportunity to explore this subject. The CVT is what makes this work so well, a neat package. I've even reached my peace with the buttons.
And then for those who have followed us in this very early car through the threads of MINI2, we continue to track the car in car club events around the region. This activity does introduce wear on brakes, but there have been no problems that I can trace to heat or stress. We get the highest lowest gas mileage of anybody around us, about 11mpg typically.
I've become a serious fan of the MINI in the rain, on the track. With DSC off, CVT in Manual, the clutch-coupled gearbox can be driven Very Effectively in the corners and it is huge fun. The car can be throttle-steered, making small directional adjustments more precise than anyone's "automatic". Switching to SD on exit permits that phrase "turbine smooth acceleration" to apply in these low-grip conditions with full throttle, not advised in those other cars out there. Equalized! Car and Driver very clearly show in the rain.
We using purposed tires on purposed wheels. The commute and daily trips use the very light 5.5x15" 7-hole with Continentals package (26lbs, great wear but hard), autocross and track days are more fun on 6.5x16" wheels with Falkan Azenis (32lbs; wonderful predictable grip), and we got another set of 15" 7-hole wheels to mount Dunlop directional snow tires (30lbs; the MINI becomes a tractor). Wheel changes are easy on the MINI and we're enjoying having the right "shoes" for the job at hand.
The MINI still shines, with little real "competition" by small, nimble cars from other manufacturers - yet. I think BMW Group did a good job! Ours continues to perform.