Any Mini owners out there can give me advice please??

macman

Another vote for the new model i10, you could get a newish 1.2 for your budget. The best supermini around. The novelty value of the Mini will soon wear off.

bacono

I've had a couple of MINIs - a 2002 Cooper and a 2005 Cooper S. I loved them both, they were a blast to drive but they weren't without issues.


The Cooper had minor electronic faults - things like the airbag light coming on incorrectly, which always necessitated a visit to the dealer to turn it off. It must've happened about 10 times and was never fully resolved. That was a known issue with the first generation of MINIs.


The Cooper S was a little rocket with the most appalling MPG to match, easily below 30, the run flat tyres were close to £200 each (and non-repairable), and the fan/air-con had an almost deafening clacking sound in sub-zero temperatures. It had a shocking tax as well, for a small car.


Thing is though, they were brilliant cars and the joy of driving them outweighed all that. I can safely say in my experience - I owned both cars for a combined 10 years - the novelty value never wore off. (Once when my Cooper was in a bodyshop for over a week I had a Corsa and a Peugeot 308 as hire cars... both nice enough cars. When I got back in my Cooper though it was like getting into a supercar in comparison, couldn't believe the difference).


Anyway, your situation, the MINI One is the cheapest in the line-up. It may be slightly underpowered and not super-quick from a standing start, but the overall driving experience is great.


As already mentioned if they've got the service package (TLC) they're not particularly expensive to run. The TLC is three years usually, but there's also an option to extend it to five years. Definitely check whether the 2012 one you're looking at has the extended term. (Think it's about £250 to extend it if not, worth doing)

burlington6

My daughter had a slightly older one from new. 2008 Plate.

What a piece of c..p

The new model might be better, but they seem to be mainly bought by women who don't care how bad they are, because they're cute

iolanthe07

Remember that Hyundai have a 5 year warranty, their sister company Kia have a 7 year warranty and Mini have a 3 year warranty. That speaks volumes to me.

I was looking at a new Mini 1 automatic, but with all the bells and whistles you can end up north of £20 grand.

Amy.B_3

Yeah my friend previously got a MINI and she wouldn't recommend if you're looking for a cheap car, you'll pay out a lot if something goes wrong. Plus she said hers ate fuel constantly.

She's now got a Fiat 500 and besides getting used the much smaller size, she loves it! No where near paying the same amount of fuel a week as with the MINI.

Plus thinks she only pays something like £20-£30 a year in road tax which you can't really argue with.

Have heard the reliability isn't the best with these though although hers is still going pretty strong!

Shambler

I lease a 2015 Mini Cooper 1.5, 0-60 in under 8 seconds and 50mpg if driven gently.

I really like it, everything feels great quality and it handles really well.

The only thing that would put me off buying one is the repair costs when something goes wrong...older minis had a reputation for being unreliable but a 2012 model should be ok.

And as someone else said the clutch pedal is a bit heavy!

musafir05

Owned a Mini in the past, as suggested previously its a money pit. Problems ranging from oil leaks to power steering failure, I had the lot and then finally gave up in the world of used-cars. If you are interested in contract leasing then try a website called gateway2lease. They currently have a mini 5dr with free serving for £176 plus deposit of £1600.

Jimi.K.

I currently have a 2014 new-gen i10 and think it's a brilliant car. I had a sit in a new 2015 mini in a shopping centre the other weekend. Can't comment on how it is to drive, but it felt very dark and cramped compared to the i10, so if I were you I wouldn't make the switch without trying out the new i10 first.

Puttytat

I feel I have to defend the MINI here. I've had 4 - an '09 Cooper, an '11 Countryman Cooper D All4, a '64 Cooper S and now a '15 JCW. The '09 Cooper cost me £19 in 3 years of ownership for a litre of oil top up (stealership price), the Countryman cost nowt in almost 3 years. The '64 plate proved to have an inherent engine problem which led me to rejecting the car - the JCW is the replacement. I know the some of the older (pre '06) models are considered money pits but a late R56 model ('08 onwards) should be a good bet. MINi's reputation is due to the unique driving experience - they truly do feel like they are on rails. There must be a good reason why you can't seem to drive for more than 100 yards without seeing one! There are lots of Mini Owner clubs/forums out there and you can see these people love their cars, regardless of issues.
I reckon I'd have still had my old Cooper had it not been battered by the car across the road from us when their kid let the handbrake off for a laugh! But it never felt the same after repair so part exed it for the new model.
Test drive one, you'll understand

Iceweasel

What a load of nonsense is being repeated here regards tyre costs.

A runflat mini tyre can be had for well under £90 no problem at all.

Blackcircles are currently quoting £80.82 for a Goodyear Excellence Run-Flat.

http://www.blackcircles.com/tyres/brands/goodyear/excellence

Run-Flats CAN be repaired but it's obvious though that lots of people are being told that they are non-repairable by tyre-fitters - and the amazing thing is that they believe them and buy a new tyre.

The same rules apply to repairing run-flats as to any other tyre - you just need to shop around and find a not-so-greedy tyre workshop to do it.

I have a run-flat on my car which was repaired (to tyre industry standards) in Germany which is regularly ran at speeds in excess of 130mph.

I've also had one which they said did not meet the criteria to be repaired.