Mini Coupe anyone bought one thinking about buying one ?????
Discussion
Yup, I bought a cooper s coupe 3 months ago, fast enough. They are great fun to drive, you do have to get used to the controversial looks and you are bound to have lots of comments, positive and negative. Covered 11000 km so far, near to no oil consumption, driven hard when warm,me one some laps on the nurburgring and gave it a proper cooling down. Only issue was ride height, it just looked too high, so lowered it already.
If you buy one, get it fully loaded :-) Get the red hot chili, wired, city at least. And mind you, dtc+edlc diff isn't standard equipment on anything but jcw. on the cooper s it had to be ticked as an option. Don't get too crazy though as it ends up costing about the same as a well specced BMW 3 series. But the mini is just that much more fun to warrant the purchase. Of course it will depreciate a lot less in the years to come. Haggle a bit, the current economy allows for big discounts on new cars :-)
Running it in is a pain though, the dealer said I needed to take it easy for 2500 km as there have been some issues with cracked pistons and high oil consumption, but most issues concerned the n14 engine. Allen the r58 have the n18 in cooper s trim. Pre-2013 jcw have n14 engines though. The timing chain should be covered already on the n14, but pistons and cooking heads and oil feed pipes have been fixed by introducing the n18 engines which are the same as the n13 in f20 BMW 1-series.
The brakes are typically BmW though, they suck.
If you buy one, get it fully loaded :-) Get the red hot chili, wired, city at least. And mind you, dtc+edlc diff isn't standard equipment on anything but jcw. on the cooper s it had to be ticked as an option. Don't get too crazy though as it ends up costing about the same as a well specced BMW 3 series. But the mini is just that much more fun to warrant the purchase. Of course it will depreciate a lot less in the years to come. Haggle a bit, the current economy allows for big discounts on new cars :-)
Running it in is a pain though, the dealer said I needed to take it easy for 2500 km as there have been some issues with cracked pistons and high oil consumption, but most issues concerned the n14 engine. Allen the r58 have the n18 in cooper s trim. Pre-2013 jcw have n14 engines though. The timing chain should be covered already on the n14, but pistons and cooking heads and oil feed pipes have been fixed by introducing the n18 engines which are the same as the n13 in f20 BMW 1-series.
The brakes are typically BmW though, they suck.
garycab said:
Hi, ive recently bought a JCW coupe, 61 plate, fully loaded. Great fun car, 1st mini ever owned in 30 odd years of driving !!
So far so good, just come back from a weekend in Luxembourg with 15 Audi tt's, 1100 miles ran like a dream !
A road trip with 15 Audi TT around europe sounds a story and a half. So far so good, just come back from a weekend in Luxembourg with 15 Audi tt's, 1100 miles ran like a dream !
TommyL said:
Yup, I bought a cooper s coupe 3 months ago, fast enough. They are great fun to drive, you do have to get used to the controversial looks and you are bound to have lots of comments, positive and negative. Covered 11000 km so far, near to no oil consumption, driven hard when warm,me one some laps on the nurburgring and gave it a proper cooling down. Only issue was ride height, it just looked too high, so lowered it already.
If you buy one, get it fully loaded :-) Get the red hot chili, wired, city at least. And mind you, dtc+edlc diff isn't standard equipment on anything but jcw. on the cooper s it had to be ticked as an option. Don't get too crazy though as it ends up costing about the same as a well specced BMW 3 series. But the mini is just that much more fun to warrant the purchase. Of course it will depreciate a lot less in the years to come. Haggle a bit, the current economy allows for big discounts on new cars :-)
Running it in is a pain though, the dealer said I needed to take it easy for 2500 km as there have been some issues with cracked pistons and high oil consumption, but most issues concerned the n14 engine. Allen the r58 have the n18 in cooper s trim. Pre-2013 jcw have n14 engines though. The timing chain should be covered already on the n14, but pistons and cooking heads and oil feed pipes have been fixed by introducing the n18 engines which are the same as the n13 in f20 BMW 1-series.
The brakes are typically BmW though, they suck.
Thanks for the information on the possible issues with the engine. I'm looking to get a Cooper and agree its worth getting a well specced car. But prefer it, if someone pays that bit extra in the first place. Good road trip by the way. I know what you mean about negative comments about Mini's like it being a hairdressers car or worse!!! If you buy one, get it fully loaded :-) Get the red hot chili, wired, city at least. And mind you, dtc+edlc diff isn't standard equipment on anything but jcw. on the cooper s it had to be ticked as an option. Don't get too crazy though as it ends up costing about the same as a well specced BMW 3 series. But the mini is just that much more fun to warrant the purchase. Of course it will depreciate a lot less in the years to come. Haggle a bit, the current economy allows for big discounts on new cars :-)
Running it in is a pain though, the dealer said I needed to take it easy for 2500 km as there have been some issues with cracked pistons and high oil consumption, but most issues concerned the n14 engine. Allen the r58 have the n18 in cooper s trim. Pre-2013 jcw have n14 engines though. The timing chain should be covered already on the n14, but pistons and cooking heads and oil feed pipes have been fixed by introducing the n18 engines which are the same as the n13 in f20 BMW 1-series.
The brakes are typically BmW though, they suck.
clubsportguy said:
A road trip with 15 Audi TT around europe sounds a story and a half.
Had a mk1 tt for 3yrs, made some great friends, done 3 trips in europe & when they organised this trip to Lux they asked us to come too.Had a lot a fun banter, and no negative comments, it suprised a few i think! Looking forward to the next trip with them now !
If you decide to get one i dont think you'll be dissapointed, as long as you realise it is what it is.....if you want a smooth quite ride...buy a Lexus
We love ours. Went for the cooper S diesel, would probably go for the petrol if given the choice again just for a bit less weight out front, (10kg difference between the petrol s tho lol) but tbh it pulls like a freight train and the grip into corners is fabulous, bundles more fun than my e92 ever was, faster and more economical.
The controversial looks do divide, but funnily enough I've had only very positive comments out and about, the only negative comments have been from forum warriors. We specced it up pretty high, in hindsight I should've gone for the sat nav upgrade, chose the Harmon Kardon instead, we had to draw a line somewhere! If you can stretch to the Recaros they are worth every penny, amazingly comfortable, very supportive and heated! Also went for the sport pack, but not the sport suspension as the car felt stiff enough as was, it really is a hoot in the twisty stuff.
As stated above it is a touch noisy on the motorway, but that really is about it..
The controversial looks do divide, but funnily enough I've had only very positive comments out and about, the only negative comments have been from forum warriors. We specced it up pretty high, in hindsight I should've gone for the sat nav upgrade, chose the Harmon Kardon instead, we had to draw a line somewhere! If you can stretch to the Recaros they are worth every penny, amazingly comfortable, very supportive and heated! Also went for the sport pack, but not the sport suspension as the car felt stiff enough as was, it really is a hoot in the twisty stuff.
As stated above it is a touch noisy on the motorway, but that really is about it..
Edited by CANED on Monday 20th May 22:32
Another owner here, very happy with it would say mine is mid spec. Its a cooper s with heated leather seats zenons, climate controland probably some other stuff not standard. Apparently list price was £24k but got t pre registered for just over £17. Coming from using an elise every day I find it quite quiet! !
The car does have some understeer but would guess no more than any similar car, I lve the way it changes character though. Its happy sitting at 70with cruise control on and heated seats giving 40+mpg but then show it a windy road and a touch of the sport button sharpens everything up and produces some nice pops and bangs from the exhaust.
Only a few downsides, would prefer to be able to lower the spoiler even if over 40mph.
Would prefer it to rattle a little less.
And would prefer a more vocal exhaust with say the normal mde being like current sport mode, and the sport mode being a true barrage of guns.
A jcw engine and exhaust upgrade may be on the cards to sort the last issue!!
The car does have some understeer but would guess no more than any similar car, I lve the way it changes character though. Its happy sitting at 70with cruise control on and heated seats giving 40+mpg but then show it a windy road and a touch of the sport button sharpens everything up and produces some nice pops and bangs from the exhaust.
Only a few downsides, would prefer to be able to lower the spoiler even if over 40mph.
Would prefer it to rattle a little less.
And would prefer a more vocal exhaust with say the normal mde being like current sport mode, and the sport mode being a true barrage of guns.
A jcw engine and exhaust upgrade may be on the cards to sort the last issue!!
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