Mini cooper power / lag / age and spec buyers tips
Discussion
Hi all
Appreciate some advice here. Some covered in other threads but very specific couple of questions too so all advice appreciated.
Misses has her heart set on a mini couper. Budget puts us in the 2010-2011 and 40-60k miles area.
trying to steer her in the right direction but my natural tendancy is to go a little older and get some spec, maybe the S, but she wants a newer one. Having not had a mini before how important is the spec, what would we want and what could we do without, etc?
All advice about long term ownership appreciated. Anything that starts to grate? Anything you wish you had considered before buying etc?
What should we look out for too. Mostly i am trying to look for rattles from the engine. Mostly I am finding they sound a little rough for a second or two on start up but settle down nicely. Interestingly i have noticed a bit of a noise from the rear breaks on breaking in more than one- bit of a rubbing sound.
Also - i found the standard cooper surprisingly slow. I never expected it to be super fast but after one test drive I found it lacked power low down and took a while to get going. My concern is the need to get out of junctions or overtake etc. Struggling to get multiple test drives in to know if this is to be expected or indicative of a problem on the one i drove?
Thanks guys
Appreciate some advice here. Some covered in other threads but very specific couple of questions too so all advice appreciated.
Misses has her heart set on a mini couper. Budget puts us in the 2010-2011 and 40-60k miles area.
trying to steer her in the right direction but my natural tendancy is to go a little older and get some spec, maybe the S, but she wants a newer one. Having not had a mini before how important is the spec, what would we want and what could we do without, etc?
All advice about long term ownership appreciated. Anything that starts to grate? Anything you wish you had considered before buying etc?
What should we look out for too. Mostly i am trying to look for rattles from the engine. Mostly I am finding they sound a little rough for a second or two on start up but settle down nicely. Interestingly i have noticed a bit of a noise from the rear breaks on breaking in more than one- bit of a rubbing sound.
Also - i found the standard cooper surprisingly slow. I never expected it to be super fast but after one test drive I found it lacked power low down and took a while to get going. My concern is the need to get out of junctions or overtake etc. Struggling to get multiple test drives in to know if this is to be expected or indicative of a problem on the one i drove?
Thanks guys
Thanks guys
Do you think anything was wrong - the car got going after a while but that initial acceleration out of a junction, into 2nd, and it was like there was nothing there - foot was right down and the response was very muted until we got to 30/40
Not sure if you have to blitz 1st gear for longer and really work the gears which i fear chnages the car makes it more hard work to live with every day
Myself i do drive a fairly beefy car so maybe i had unrealistic expectations but misses will beed to do a fair bit of motorway driving so i dont want her struggling
Do you think anything was wrong - the car got going after a while but that initial acceleration out of a junction, into 2nd, and it was like there was nothing there - foot was right down and the response was very muted until we got to 30/40
Not sure if you have to blitz 1st gear for longer and really work the gears which i fear chnages the car makes it more hard work to live with every day
Myself i do drive a fairly beefy car so maybe i had unrealistic expectations but misses will beed to do a fair bit of motorway driving so i dont want her struggling
menousername said:
Thanks guys
Do you think anything was wrong - the car got going after a while but that initial acceleration out of a junction, into 2nd, and it was like there was nothing there - foot was right down and the response was very muted until we got to 30/40
Not sure if you have to blitz 1st gear for longer and really work the gears which i fear chnages the car makes it more hard work to live with every day
Myself i do drive a fairly beefy car so maybe i had unrealistic expectations but misses will beed to do a fair bit of motorway driving so i dont want her struggling
Sounds like it. I assume it's just me getting used to a petrol car after several years of diesels.Do you think anything was wrong - the car got going after a while but that initial acceleration out of a junction, into 2nd, and it was like there was nothing there - foot was right down and the response was very muted until we got to 30/40
Not sure if you have to blitz 1st gear for longer and really work the gears which i fear chnages the car makes it more hard work to live with every day
Myself i do drive a fairly beefy car so maybe i had unrealistic expectations but misses will beed to do a fair bit of motorway driving so i dont want her struggling
Sounds like you're not using the engine?
You can do without all extra's on one of these and still have a nice car, but they've designed them to be individualised, so people are crazy for this and that options, before you know it you've doubled the price of the car. Most Mrs and many Mr's will want 'newer'. Not always better though. The lethargy you describe, if you think you were using the engine, is testament to small engine naturally aspirated cars being strangled during manufacture.
Try the diesel, they pull like trains! The early S is what I have, but even my One before it was 135mph car and just funny, but I did something very quiet and discreet to it haha. The S is 255bhp now so also fun.
The later car in NA form needs to be left to rev more really,
They should all be quiet especially the early Tritec engine cars, the later Prince engine ones use oil, so check it when viewing, if it's low now it will have been most of its life.
You can do without all extra's on one of these and still have a nice car, but they've designed them to be individualised, so people are crazy for this and that options, before you know it you've doubled the price of the car. Most Mrs and many Mr's will want 'newer'. Not always better though. The lethargy you describe, if you think you were using the engine, is testament to small engine naturally aspirated cars being strangled during manufacture.
Try the diesel, they pull like trains! The early S is what I have, but even my One before it was 135mph car and just funny, but I did something very quiet and discreet to it haha. The S is 255bhp now so also fun.
The later car in NA form needs to be left to rev more really,
They should all be quiet especially the early Tritec engine cars, the later Prince engine ones use oil, so check it when viewing, if it's low now it will have been most of its life.
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