Really? What about them don't you like? I find them to be of good quality and largely unremarkable styling-wise - basically, I see nothing to get excited about and nothing to object to.
It seemed like amateur hour at MB the way they were tacking on touch screens for a while.
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__________________ "The great promise of the Internet was that more information would automatically yield better decisions. The great disappointment is that more information actually yields more possibilities to confirm what you already believed anyway." - Brian Eno
Maybe I need to re-asses the Mini Cooper myself. Much like with Land Rover, Ive always ignored them because of the horribly reliability stories/ratings.
Are there any particular years that tend to be better than others?
2005-2006 are good, as are the 2005-2008 Convertibles. 2002-2004 Coopers had a crappy Midlands 5 speed. Avoid the CVT Coopers. The 2nd Gen 2007-2012 N14 engine is not very good (it eats timing chain guides), the 2013+ N18 is much better.
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2005-2006 are good, as are the 2005-2008 Convertibles. 2002-2004 Coopers had a crappy Midlands 5 speed. Avoid the CVT Coopers. The 2nd Gen 2007-2012 N14 engine is not very good (it eats timing chain guides), the 2013+ N18 is much better.
Bought a 2008 convertible with 6-speed manual and the supercharged engine. It's a JCW version, which gives you better exhaust, different airbox, and a couple of other little things from what I can tell. It has a factory strut tower brace, but I don't know if that's a JCW or just a Cooper S convertible thing. I think the JCW gives a few horsepower, but nothing to write home about. The rear centered dual JCW exhaust looks sick, though, especially when you illuminate the tips by turning on the rear red fog light that sits just above them.
It has 70,000kms, so pretty low mileage, and came with winter tires on nice wheels as well as the factory summer wheels and all seasons. I'm getting all the stripes removed to de-cutify it next week.
I've had it for just a few days, but so far I'm so stoked. Way happier with this than so many other cars I've had as an adult. It's so freaking fun bombing around in it. Go kart handling is the go-to description for these, but there's nothing more apt. It's a blast. My other car is a CLS 550, so this is like half the size, 10x more nimble, and that's so awesome. It looks like a joke in my garage next to the Merc - I have so much room in front of it.
As for speed, it is what I was looking for. Not a rocket, but fast enough that you can wring it out without being illegal. Like I can accelerate through a few gears before I'm at the speed limit. My other car is doing 100 in a few seconds, and that's too fast for casual fun heading out to a movie on a random week night. I think the mini wouldn't be that fun on the highway, but that's not what I bought it for.
The convertible top is great. You can hit the a button to just have it move back a couple feet, creating a targa opening. I didn't even know that until I test drove it, but that is an awesome feature.
As for the Abarth, it just didn't feel "good enough" in that it was kind of cheap feeling and I know I wouldn't like that. The Abarth is one of the best sounding cars out there, but I wanted more out of this toy than just a cool sound.
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Bought a 2008 convertible with 6-speed manual and the supercharged engine. It's a JCW version, which gives you better exhaust, different airbox, and a couple of other little things from what I can tell. It has a factory strut tower brace, but I don't know if that's a JCW or just a Cooper S convertible thing. I think the JCW gives a few horsepower, but nothing to write home about. The rear centered dual JCW exhaust looks sick, though, especially when you illuminate the tips by turning on the rear red fog light that sits just above them.
A John Cooper Works version of the Cooper S (JCW), gets you a larger catback stainless exhaust, different airbox (with a flap that opens at 4,500 rpm to allow extra air from the cowl. Bonus: you can also hear supercharger whine better), a lightly ported cylinder head, larger capacity fuel injectors, a 12% smaller supercharger pulley, and an ECU tune. If the JCW kit was factory installed instead of at the dealer, you'll also have larger red JCW front calipers. If your strut tower brace goes from one strut tower to the other, it will be a dealer JCW accessory item that was available to all MINIs. All convertibles (designation: R52) will have tiny braces on each side of the strut tower going down towards the frame to make up some rigidity.
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I had a 2012 C class with the built-in nav and when it came time to get a new one, I couldn't wrap my head around how much I disliked the new style. It looked like an ipad being supported by a third party vent clip holder.
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Travis Munroe | Century 21 Elevate | 403.971.4300
I actually really hate those H-vents in practice. I don't think they look terrible but every time I use a Car2Go Mercedes I'm irritated by them.
__________________ "The great promise of the Internet was that more information would automatically yield better decisions. The great disappointment is that more information actually yields more possibilities to confirm what you already believed anyway." - Brian Eno
A John Cooper Works version of the Cooper S (JCW), gets you a larger catback stainless exhaust, different airbox (with a flap that opens at 4,500 rpm to allow extra air from the cowl. Bonus: you can also hear supercharger whine better), a lightly ported cylinder head, larger capacity fuel injectors, a 12% smaller supercharger pulley, and an ECU tune. If the JCW kit was factory installed instead of at the dealer, you'll also have larger red JCW front calipers. If your strut tower brace goes from one strut tower to the other, it will be a dealer JCW accessory item that was available to all MINIs. All convertibles (designation: R52) will have tiny braces on each side of the strut tower going down towards the frame to make up some rigidity.
You're like a Mini Cooper encyclopedia. Thanks for the info. That's hilarious it already has the 12% smaller supercharger pulley and I'm glad you told me because I've been watching videos on how to do that mod. Would have been a waste of time/money.
I don't have the red JCW front calipers, so it sounds like mine was a dealer installed kit.
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I just bought a 2009 Nissan Maxima and I am absolutely smitten. It gets great fuel economy, absolutely RIPS and has all the bells and whistles, for a very very reasonable price. Can let it run Automatic in regular or Sport Mode or paddle shift it like a manual. It's such a fun car I honestly can't believe it isn't more popular
I should add she already has 230k on her and still runs beautifully
You're like a Mini Cooper encyclopedia. Thanks for the info. That's hilarious it already has the 12% smaller supercharger pulley and I'm glad you told me because I've been watching videos on how to do that mod. Would have been a waste of time/money.
I don't have the red JCW front calipers, so it sounds like mine was a dealer installed kit.
Wheeler Dealers did a rebuild of one of these, was a good episode. I think it was something like 140 hours to do the service of the supercharger and engine which is required at 100 000 miles or something.
Wheeler Dealers did a rebuild of one of these, was a good episode. I think it was something like 140 hours to do the service of the supercharger and engine which is required at 100 000 miles or something.
That's nuckin futs, although it is 90,900 kms away for me so I'm not worried about it yet. I'm surprised they couldn't build a whole car in 140 hours.
