Is it annoying to say :Hi everyone, first post here?" It is, but I've been on numerous online forums of various types and purposes for nearly 20 years.....

I've not bought a MINI yet, but it definitely got on my radar when I read about the improved gas mileage for the '07 models (The new EPA formula drops the numbers by about 4 MPG across the board), and I thought that it might be a good opportunity to move to something both practical *and* fun. (I drove "practical" cars for years, starting with a Civic CX hatch--averaged about 45 MPG for 8+ years--then an Insight, mid-50s MPG, then am xA, before I bought a car for "fun" for awhile, a PT Cruiser Limited Edition.)

Been doing lots of research, but nothing beats actually *using* it, and a 15 minute test drive just won't cut it for something I'd expect to have for the next 5-10 years. So I searched for and finally found (not easy) a place that rented MINIs at a not-too-unreasonable rate ($400/week, as opposed to a couple of other places at $120/day) and took it on a long-weekend trip to LA.

For the week, I drove 1030 miles and used 33.3 gallons of gas, for a 30.9 MPG average.

It was a base MINI, not an S (what I want), but it had a sunroof (which I don't want). It also didn't have the leather seats, which isn't as important for the covering as it is for the adjustable lumbar support. (Back problems have led me to seek out car seating that provides better, solid lower back support). Still, I was able to make the long drive without too much uncomfortability and more or less pain free. Interestingly, at the end of both the drive down and the drive back, I wasn't as tired as I often am at the end of such long drives, which was especially nice as unexpected traffic along I-5 in the valley turned a 6-hour drive into a 9-hour one.

The automatic (which is what I am leaning toward; I'm getting tired of years of working a clutch in traffic) worked generally well, although I noticed what others apparently have as well: a bit of sluggishness in shifting. I never did try the Sport option or the manual shifting.

I love go karts. Even though they actually move rather slowly, being so close to the ground makes them *feel* fast, and I've seen the "go kart-like" description of the MINI. I did not have that experience. On the contrary, once I got out on the open freeway, it didn't feel terribly fast at all. Yet, although I typically try to maintain about 80 along I-5, on several occasions I looked over at the speedometer and found myself doing 90. Yet the MINI was doing this seemingly effortlessly.

Steering was tight and cornering was nimble. I was able to take curves at speed and feel like I was getting pulled through the curve, not falling out of it.

But while the overall driving experience was a good one (although I would have liked getting a few more MPG), I also found a number of (what the @%$%^! were they thinking?" design issues, some of which, while not deal-breakers, definitely give me second thoughts.

- The position of the window controls. Putting them behind the cupholders is just dumb. Anytime you have something in the cupholder, it requires a bit of a contortionist move to get to the window control switch, which could actually be dangerous while moving. (Once, when I hit the control to roll the window down to pay a toll, I apparently hit the seat warmer by accident--something that I definitely wouldn't need for my own here in California--and I didn't notice it for several seconds until I was driving along and started to feel my @ss getting uncomfortably hot. It took me a bit to first figure out what exactly was going on, then figure out that I'd accidentally hit the seat warmer switch as I was trying to get to the window switch, noticing that there were some greens LEDs that I'd not seen before.

- The operation of the windows switches is bass-acwards, making it so it's difficult to just crack a window open. A brief press-and-release triggers the window to opan all the way (or close all the way), but to open (or close) it to just a specific point, you press and hold, but to do the "hold" action long enough to override the "all-the-way" action, you've opened it farther then you want to if you want to open it just a little.

- A similar issue is with the turn signals. Why the stalk doesn't "stick" when you push it all the way to leave the turn signal on is, well, silly. Some designer probably thought "Hey, let's do something different" without understanding that such a "difference" would tremendously decrease usability. doing something different simply for the sake of doing something different is not automatically a Good Thing, and in this case, it can be just frustrating.

The gas gauge is way off. With a 13.2 gallon tank and 10 segments in the gauge, I found that with 3 left lit, I put 12 gallons in the tank, with just 4 not lit (6 lit, indicating less than half used), I put 8.6 gallons in the tank, and just after one segment went off (topping it off before I returned it), I put 3.2 gallons in the tank.

- While I'd not have this issue because I'm not getting a sunroof, I got some annoying wind noise, seemingly from the front of the sunroof, when traveling at highway speeds. I neither found not felt any air leaks, yet it sounded like it was cracked open.

- The door is long. When parking in a tight space--something that the MINI is adept at--opening the door enough to actually get out can sometimes be challenging.

And then we come to the stereo, with multiple usability issues.

- The buttons and the labels on the buttons are tough to match. It's easy to think you're pressing one button (each button is actually a rocker that is two buttons) but really pressing the one next to it. It's really too many small buttons in too close proximity.

- The volume control is in a strange place, too far from the rest of the controls.

- There is no volume level indicator, so there's no way of knowing where you've set the volume (if you find a level that you like and want to stay consistent when you've needed to turn it down for something).

- The settings on the CD player aren't retained if you turn the car off. Set the play order to random, then set the player to display artist and track title in 2 lines. Turn the car off. Turn it back on. It's back to the default display and the standard sequential mode. You have to reset it back the way you wanted it. This is just dumb, dumb, dumb, to require users to put it the way they want it again, and again, and again. No other radio I've ever seen does this.

- The "Next" button doesn't go to the "next" song on the CD when you've set it to random play. Instead, it goes to the next song in the sequence on the CD (typically files are read in alphanumeric order). This is a fundamental misunderstanding of what "Next" means based on the user setting: When on random play, "Next" should go to the next random song.

- The fact that the engineers created a head unit design that pretty much can't be swapped out for another one is self serving. It doesn't play WMA files (at low bitrates, if you want a CDR stuffed with as many files as you can, WMA files tend to sound better than MP3 files.) and the iPod connection costs more than even the costliest iPod itself (an iPod cable shouldn't be more than $50.)

 

Some of the things you mention become non-issues as you learn the car, for example, accidentally hitting the seat heaters or not getting the feel of the window switches right. Other annoyances won't go away. The doors are huge, but how else will someone get in/out of the back? It's a matter of if the car otherwise charms you enough to live with its annoynaces. For me, if the thing didn't rattle insesantly, I could surely live with the quirks. Welcome, by the way.

 

Welcome to NAM

MINI Cooper S = good choice, no sunroof = what i went for as well. As you said it's that particular model - goto miniusa.com to look at the options you can have.

Yep - Automatic is a bit sluggish based on how the computer shifts. Manual mode / sport button = difference of day and night.

Yep, you don't realise the speed in that little bugger and i believe the go kart part that MINI relates to is the handling

I found this annoying too but i've gotten used to it now

Well, that's something you have to learn to use / get used. Heated seats rock and i like the way they are placed.

I have mine programmed so a brief press does just that - opens it up a little and not all the way down.

This can get annoying at times - again a quirk :(

I've seen some other posts here that complain of the same issue. I don't have this problem thankfully.

That sounds annoying - no idea what is though.

I am a tall guy and i love the big door - another MINI quirk


Multifunction steering wheel - don't really use the controls on the dash.

Yeah...now that you mention it... - where's the bloody volume indicator

I haven't tested this part but if that's how shuffle works right now, that's dumb.

I am pretty sure mine plays WMA (2007 week 40 build)

 

You can either drive one of the most fun and unique cars in the world and put up with some quirks or buy a Honda Accord and be bored to death. No offense Honda people, I have 170K miles on mine and my son drives it mostly. Hondas are great cars. LynnEl is right, once you drive for awhile some of the quirks don't feel like quirks at all. In fact, I think the turning signals are great. Of all the questions, the only real concern for me would be reliability and as of around 6,000 miles no problems (knock on english oak). Good luck and welcome.

 

It will last another 170K miles with minimum maintenance. Hondas are rock solid but when i was driving home from Portland i was going "i cannot believe i am in a MINI" every 15minutes.

 

Then really you can't fairly assess the auto. Even it you don't manually shift, the Sport button makes the auto experience totally different.

 

Way back in 2002, I couldn't get out of my car because the door handles unlock with the first pull and open with the second. I bumped my head into the window a few times before the second pull became second nature.

As others said, many of these quirks quickly disappear with familiarity.

But I must also say that you were incredibly smart to rent a car for a long term test drive! Great idea!

 

The turning signals and radio controls are typical in BMWs. If you were to drive a 3 series you'd have the same experience.

 

I'm so used to it now in the MINI that I do it when I get out of other cars!

 

My wife has a base R56 with auto and sport seats.
I enjoy driving the auto much to my surprise, sport mode is a blast.
I have a stick in my Miata.
I drove an MCS with a stick in the rain and didn't care for the torque steer.
For torque fun I clean out the carbon on my wife's Vette.
I'm not a fwd guy, but this is one I like very much. I'm over 6' and about 180# and find the sport seats a bit tight, but thankfully my wife is much smallar and loves them. I really can no longer spend much time in any of these cars do to my middle aged back and long legs.

I agree on all your observations of design miscues, buy you have to remember that there is the

Right way to do it, the wrong way, and the GERMAN WAY
After MG's, Austin Healy's and Triumph's I said no more English built car's, but after waiting for years for Mini to dump the CVT we have one and are very happy

Cheers,
Dave

 

hey...I had wind noise in my $50k BMW....I can deal with that.
I think unless you are in a space shuttle...there will be some wind noise...at least in every car i've been in or tested.
If its not the sunroof, its the door windows. New cars become old real quick when it comes to seals.

Everything else is just getting used to in my opinion.



I also have a jeep wrangler and nothing can be worse...but hey its a jeep.