‘New’ MINI Myths from its introduction.
Discussion
We can see this in a historic perspective now.(Just read another article in a Classic weekly.). It claims they were low priced ,then goes on to say ‘build quality is more Rover than BMW solid”. I was around at the time...they were dear, and appeared beautifully built compared with rivals, and with what folk were used to. Friend’s son had a Cooper...I thought it was delightful. Waited for prices to drop; they didn’t for ages..by then the moment of glory had passed. Incidentally, weren’t the Early Tritec engines the most reliable?
I bought a Cooper new in Jan 2003, then a JCW in Jan 2005 which I still have. I don't think they were that dear at basic spec, it was the options that took them up - which was new to that sector at the time. From memory my Cooper was £10,600 standard which I spec'd to £14,500; my JCW was £14,600 as a standard S, and £23,600 by the time I finished ticking boxes.
I thought they were well built, certainly in the perceived quality of how the door closes etc - but a lot of them had interior trim rattles
The engines are pretty bulletproof, there's someone in the US with over 600k on his Cooper
I thought they were well built, certainly in the perceived quality of how the door closes etc - but a lot of them had interior trim rattles
The engines are pretty bulletproof, there's someone in the US with over 600k on his Cooper
Myth:
The wheelbase is the same as an Austin Maxi!
Fiction:
The wheelbase is smaller than a Maxi, but the track and wheel base is the same as a Series 1 Landrover.
Myth:
The exhaust pipe was added at the last min after someone noticed the clay model was missing one, so they hastily grabbed a beer can and fashioned an exhaust tip and stuck in in the clay.
Fact:
This happened, and that's the reason for the rolled edge look of the Mini tail pipe. Someone high up in BMW spotted it and thought it looked very smart.
Myth:
The R in R50/R53/R56 etc etc stands for Rover.
Fact: It does, only after the R56 series did BMW adopt 5 stud hubs, iDrive and a F designation for the cars.
The wheelbase is the same as an Austin Maxi!
Fiction:
The wheelbase is smaller than a Maxi, but the track and wheel base is the same as a Series 1 Landrover.
Myth:
The exhaust pipe was added at the last min after someone noticed the clay model was missing one, so they hastily grabbed a beer can and fashioned an exhaust tip and stuck in in the clay.
Fact:
This happened, and that's the reason for the rolled edge look of the Mini tail pipe. Someone high up in BMW spotted it and thought it looked very smart.
Myth:
The R in R50/R53/R56 etc etc stands for Rover.
Fact: It does, only after the R56 series did BMW adopt 5 stud hubs, iDrive and a F designation for the cars.
We bought a MINI One in 2002. It was the only new car we had bought. ( And still is).
From memory it was £11.3k with sunroof, red part leather interior and upgraded stereo.
My big fear was depreciation but we kept it for six years and sold for £6.5k. So not too bad.....
Reliability wise the only issue we had was the airbag light. It felt well built (no rattles) and was refined compared to what we were used to. (I did have a vx220 at the time!)
From memory it was £11.3k with sunroof, red part leather interior and upgraded stereo.
My big fear was depreciation but we kept it for six years and sold for £6.5k. So not too bad.....
Reliability wise the only issue we had was the airbag light. It felt well built (no rattles) and was refined compared to what we were used to. (I did have a vx220 at the time!)
I bought a New MINI in October 2001, about 3 months after it was released. I couldn't understand the comments on build quality. The carpets were painfully thin, plastics hard etc. It seemed that people equated design with quality, when in reality the materials were average. And don't get me started on the Kwality R56.
I sold them very briefly (3 weeks), I too don't get the build quality praise, they were certainly very stylish inside with their toggle switches, chrome etc but the visible plastics were generally average, in particular the rotary heater controls and panel was awful, with hard, thin plastic and the rotary controls just felt awful with their movement and very noticeable "click" when turning, especially the fan one.
I was led to believe that the wheelbase was the same as a Freelander, can't remember whether it was the 3 or 5 door though.
I was led to believe that the wheelbase was the same as a Freelander, can't remember whether it was the 3 or 5 door though.
Rich1973 said:
The glass on the pre-production cars all had Rover branding.
When I was at Rover they showed it to us complete with Rover badge on the front before things went pear shaped. I can believe the glass would've had Rover branding on it. Prototypes for the running gear was based on cut and shut Rover 200, you'd see them floating around Longbridge whenever you went up thereFast Bug said:
Rich1973 said:
The glass on the pre-production cars all had Rover branding.
When I was at Rover they showed it to us complete with Rover badge on the front before things went pear shaped. I can believe the glass would've had Rover branding on it. Prototypes for the running gear was based on cut and shut Rover 200, you'd see them floating around Longbridge whenever you went up thereJader1973 said:
Fast Bug said:
Rich1973 said:
The glass on the pre-production cars all had Rover branding.
When I was at Rover they showed it to us complete with Rover badge on the front before things went pear shaped. I can believe the glass would've had Rover branding on it. Prototypes for the running gear was based on cut and shut Rover 200, you'd see them floating around Longbridge whenever you went up therewww.aronline.co.uk/cars/bmw-mini/mini-2/r50-develo...
It's amazing that the car actually got produced at all in all honesty!
I had one of the first Mini Coopers in Southampton, people used to stop and point at it. that was the only good thing about it.
We had the "Chilli" pack and a few other bits and bobs...i forget now..... we only had it a few months, then sold it back to the dealer it was a complete pile of s
te.
when driving around the M27 by the airport you could take your hands off the steering wheel and it would steer it's self. Dealer claimed that the violent pulling on the wheel was a "Characteristic" of the car.... well I dumped it at the dealership and said I wanted all my money back if they didn't sort it. They tried the tracking, new tyres, blamed the run flats, and eventually replaced the whole of the steering rack/suspension.
The boot rattled constantly, they never fixed that.
The power steering whined worse than an Australian. I was glad to see the back of it, and said I would never have another......
Well a few years later on, I only heard good things from folk who had bought one. (I still liked the design and they appealed to me)
So I saw a lovely Mini 1 baker street in 2013 that was 14months old with 7k on the clock,it still smelled new. The difference in build quality was truly remarkable. I still have it. it is now on 178,500 miles. Still on first clutch, have only had to change tyres, pads and disc's, and one battery though I suspect that owing to lock down the current battery is on it's way out owing to being laid up for much of the last year. ( I suspect this owing to the fact the "stop/start" takes some time to kick in if not used for a couple of days) The car has it's service when required by main dealer, who do a decent job. They like the fact it is still on it's first clutch despite being used as a learner car. I really can't fault it.
I would buy a second hand 2012/13 as you can buy these for decent money with reasonable miles, and if they are built like mine then very good value. I would not touch an early one at all, as I suspect all you would be buying is expensive to repair, junk not well built in the first instance. ( I don't like the post 2013 shape/models, they have got too big.
just my 2 pennies worth
We had the "Chilli" pack and a few other bits and bobs...i forget now..... we only had it a few months, then sold it back to the dealer it was a complete pile of s
te.when driving around the M27 by the airport you could take your hands off the steering wheel and it would steer it's self. Dealer claimed that the violent pulling on the wheel was a "Characteristic" of the car.... well I dumped it at the dealership and said I wanted all my money back if they didn't sort it. They tried the tracking, new tyres, blamed the run flats, and eventually replaced the whole of the steering rack/suspension.
The boot rattled constantly, they never fixed that.
The power steering whined worse than an Australian. I was glad to see the back of it, and said I would never have another......
Well a few years later on, I only heard good things from folk who had bought one. (I still liked the design and they appealed to me)
So I saw a lovely Mini 1 baker street in 2013 that was 14months old with 7k on the clock,it still smelled new. The difference in build quality was truly remarkable. I still have it. it is now on 178,500 miles. Still on first clutch, have only had to change tyres, pads and disc's, and one battery though I suspect that owing to lock down the current battery is on it's way out owing to being laid up for much of the last year. ( I suspect this owing to the fact the "stop/start" takes some time to kick in if not used for a couple of days) The car has it's service when required by main dealer, who do a decent job. They like the fact it is still on it's first clutch despite being used as a learner car. I really can't fault it.
I would buy a second hand 2012/13 as you can buy these for decent money with reasonable miles, and if they are built like mine then very good value. I would not touch an early one at all, as I suspect all you would be buying is expensive to repair, junk not well built in the first instance. ( I don't like the post 2013 shape/models, they have got too big.
just my 2 pennies worth
Lets not forget the N 47 engine in these cars too, many an owner regrets buying the model with that engine. Although I've had mine re-mapped and drive it quickly I've not had the cam chain guide/follower disintegrate on me yet at 30K miles. So maybe lucky with previous owners on that one, but quite a few fellow Clubvan owners of Facebook have a tale of woe.
I agree with the above the later models after 2014 almost looked like someone had over- inflated them. The GP 2 just looks about right in my eyes.
I agree with the above the later models after 2014 almost looked like someone had over- inflated them. The GP 2 just looks about right in my eyes.
Majorslow said:
I had one of the first Mini Coopers in Southampton, people used to stop and point at it. that was the only good thing about it.
We had the "Chilli" pack and a few other bits and bobs...i forget now..... we only had it a few months, then sold it back to the dealer it was a complete pile of ste.
when driving around the M27 by the airport you could take your hands off the steering wheel and it would steer it's self. Dealer claimed that the violent pulling on the wheel was a "Characteristic" of the car.... well I dumped it at the dealership and said I wanted all my money back if they didn't sort it. They tried the tracking, new tyres, blamed the run flats, and eventually replaced the whole of the steering rack/suspension.
I had an early Cooper Chili and in addition to the steering issues that were never sorted by Benham in Wolverhampton mine also suffered multiple cracked windscreens in the short time I owned it. We had the "Chilli" pack and a few other bits and bobs...i forget now..... we only had it a few months, then sold it back to the dealer it was a complete pile of s
te.when driving around the M27 by the airport you could take your hands off the steering wheel and it would steer it's self. Dealer claimed that the violent pulling on the wheel was a "Characteristic" of the car.... well I dumped it at the dealership and said I wanted all my money back if they didn't sort it. They tried the tracking, new tyres, blamed the run flats, and eventually replaced the whole of the steering rack/suspension.
The cracks always originated from roughly the same place and there were never any signs of impact.
I also rejected it after a couple of months.
Remarkably, according to the DVLA site, BF51KNW is still around, it’s only covered 34,000 miles since it was registered, probably due to the awful quality...
The myth I heard (which may or not be true) is the roof is a simple bolt on bolt of job, never needed to find out.
My wife has a 2006 Mini One 7 bought from new, we still have it now at 99000 miles today. Faults one outside temperture sensor (wire trapped) and it now has an engine management light that comes on when driving in the wet,goes of when dry. Not a motorway car, just driven 270 miles today but on a B road still great fun. Not a rattle yet. Only image I can
find, tail visible just!
My wife has a 2006 Mini One 7 bought from new, we still have it now at 99000 miles today. Faults one outside temperture sensor (wire trapped) and it now has an engine management light that comes on when driving in the wet,goes of when dry. Not a motorway car, just driven 270 miles today but on a B road still great fun. Not a rattle yet. Only image I can
find, tail visible just!
Edited by stevemiller on Tuesday 25th May 19:55
Jader1973 said:
Fast Bug said:
Rich1973 said:
The glass on the pre-production cars all had Rover branding.
When I was at Rover they showed it to us complete with Rover badge on the front before things went pear shaped. I can believe the glass would've had Rover branding on it. Prototypes for the running gear was based on cut and shut Rover 200, you'd see them floating around Longbridge whenever you went up thereThey’d finished the clay model and all the junior designers had gone home (very late / early morning) before the car was to be shown to management the next day. He took one last walk around the car and realised there was no exhaust pipe. He took one of the beer cans with which they had celebrated the completion of the model, cut it in half and pushed it into the clay. And the rolled finish resembles the beer can as a nod to that quick bit of thinking / oversight.
The AROnline article on the development of the Mini is remarkable, you do wonder how it turned out so well with all the politics and change of project leadership between Ex-Rover and BMW..
My contribution, is that the R56 is essentially the R50 tidied up by BMW to their liking.
Edited by Dashnine on Tuesday 25th May 20:17
Edited by Dashnine on Wednesday 26th May 08:58
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