I am in the market for a new car, and as part of my research, I rented a MINI Cooper non-s over this past weekend. I took it for 171 miles of very entertaining research this weekend, and now I can't imagine purchasing anything else!

So I told my family that I wanted to buy a new MINI Cooper, and suddenly they had strong objections. These being the same people who encouraged me to rent this car for a weekend to begin with, I was surprised.

They said basically three things:
Its too unsafe, because of its size they think it would just get squished.
Its too expensive, and I could get a much better car for the same money.
And its too unreliable, especially since the dealership is 30 miles away.

These are just my family's opinions, but I was wondering if anyone here could help me persuade them to let me buy this car?

Thank you!
-Sem

 

Buy it if you want a fun car that will put a smile on your face. It gets good gas mileage and comes with a good warranty and some free maintenance. It's generally reliable but it's not up to the Japanese levels of problem-free ownership. Don't buy it if you're overly influenced by the baseless opinions of others. Oh, and buy it if you enjoy reading and writing about your MINI experience here on NAM!

 

Let me start with a photo.
I'd be much more afriad to be in that Van than the MINI.
That being said, MINIs are very safe in crashes. There have been quite a few bangs posted on here, and I do not recall any having serious injuries.

Yes, you could buy a Camry or Accord for the same cost. But nothing interesting or fun has ever been thought of, done, or dreamed of in one of those cars. When I think of them, I liken them to a bucket of warm wall paper paste.

My dealer is 200 miles away. That being said, MINI roadside will tow your warranted MINI (for free)to the closest dealer (or a dealer within 50 miles of the closest dealer) SHOULD something go wrong. But online forums are a terrible place to judge reliability. People generally don't post saying "I drove to work and back for 2 years with no problems".

That being said, MINIs do have maintenance points every owner should know:
No fuel under 91AKI should ever be put in a MINI.
The less ethanol the better, anything above 10% will kill it(eventually, not right away).
FULL synthetic oil only.
BMW does not recommend using standard Auto-part store antifreeze/coolant, as it generally doesn't have the correct silicates etc.
Italian Tune-Ups are recommended, just don't over-do it.

So, what do you want from your car, to get from A to B; OR, to get to A to B and have to use your hands to reset your lips to thier normal position in front of your teeth, because they will be wedged up by your ears from the massive grin you didn't realize you had going that whole drive.

 

And you care about the baseless opinion of people who have never had a 171 mile fun adventure because?

PS: I've got the same photo saved in my MINI photo file for just this kind of discussion.

 

That pic above is a Tahoe or Suburban, not a mini van. It's been posted on a few forums before.

The driver of the mini was A-okay after the tahoe ran a red light. I think I read that the tahoe driver went to the hospital in the ambulance.

I would suggest you seriously consider a mini. It's the funnest car I've ever bought (only 5 so far at 29) but it could also cost the most for maintenance if you buy used...

 

Please see my post here describing the accident I had 1/28/11. Needless to say, based on the performance of my MINI my husband had me at the MINI dealership the following week to buy a new one. https://www.northamericanmotoring.co...-white-96.html

Photo album here:
http://smg.photobucket.com/albums/v6...n/El%20Kabong/

 

Flat out wrong. These little cars are just plain tough. Plus 6 air bags.

Oh, you can definitely buy more car for the same money (more, as in bigger and heavier), but not necessarily a better one; and remember, 'better' is very subjective.

Not. We're on our third one in the family. I had one minor issue with my first one right after I bought it, since then they've been problem-free.

And you just cannot beat the fun factor, which, depending on how heavily you weigh it in the which-car-is-better discussion, MINI wins hands down.

 

We bought used and have had only the scheduled 'turn your head and cough' expenses in a little over two years. Anecdotal tales of success, like mine or failure, of others, should carry no weight in decision making. Otherwise, you will suffer from paralysis by analysis. Get it in your driveway, make it shine like a new silver dollar and drive it like you stole it.

 

You can tell your Family that I have driven from Vancouver, WA to the Phoenix Metro Area and am now on my way back home, over 2700 mile round trip including 4 Days of travel in 7 Days and I would not/could not see myself driving any other car!! All the while getting 30+mpg/Hwy, umm...yeah...doing the Speed Limit!!

There is now doubt that these cars are much safer than their say "Compact Counterparts"...Yaris (Gag), Honda Fit (Ugghh), Kia Rio (DT)...I've made my point...now it's YOUR turn...you gotta' get one of these...YOU will NOT be sorry!! There are Miles & Miles of these waiting for YOU!!

BTW...my MOM considers our 4-legged FurKids her Grandkids and Molly a GrandCar...get it!!

 

Oh My Dear God. Buy the MINI NOW !!! 30 Miles ??? My nearest dealer is 4 hours away. And I would not hesitate to buy another (after owning 3 of them).
Annette (BoCRon) is your best source of info on the safety aspect. She and her daughter walked away from an accident that has sent countless others to the hospital. This is one of the safest cars on the road today.
Go with your gut feeling. If it feels like a good fit, go for it!

 

..agree with everything here.

..my wife and I look forward to 1 day getting a 2nd Mini in the garage

..life is short...gotta have some fun...fun things aren't always the most practical..lol.

..Wow..that pic! ..1st time I've seen it.

..I bet the folks who witnessed..where kinda

..seems like sometimes being in large vehicles folks might get over confident/less attentive...can be more dangerous...just IMO
J

 

Bringing up BoCRon's accident brings up another aspect of a MINI's safety. Avoidance. MINIs have great turn in, grip, acceleration, and great brakes. That gives you many more ways to avoid an accident than a bigger bulkier car.

 

This Mini/Ford crash test has been floating around the net for a while. More of a complaint to the Ford but the Mini looks like it handled the impact well.

 

That is a pretty good likeness of how El Kabong did. I talked to my MA after the accident and he told me that the MINI does a few cool things in the event of this type of crash. The engine separates from the mounts so the engine falls down and doesn't get shoved in the passenger compartment, the fuel pump disengages and shuts off gas to prevent an explosion, the doors all unlock and the hazard lights come on automatically. My accident occurred in a 55mph zone, so I'm sure we were doing more than 40mph as shown in the above document, imagine the F150 with 10 more mph!
And like Agarwaen said, I'm pretty sure I wouldn't have been able to dodge and weave the way I did in any of my previous vehicles!

 

What constitutes a "better" car?

Bigger? Obviously, lots of cars bigger than the Mini are available for less. But if you need bigger, you wouldn't be looking at a Mini.

Faster? Yep, you can get more power for cheaper, in some pretty decent cars. But they don't handle or look as good as a Mini! And really, how fast do you need?

Handling? Aside from a Miata, nothing in it's price range beats a Mini.

Resale value? Really hard to beat Mini on this one.

Gas mileage? Again, Mini does very well here.

As for reliability, stay away from the turbo and they're pretty good. In 11,000 miles I've had one problem, dealer fixed it. Not saying turbos are bad, just more complex, and some had fuel pump issues in the past.

If you can afford it, and can live with the limited interior space, go for it! We love ours!

 

Sounds like they were hoping you'd "get it out of your system" by renting a MINI and maybe decide it wasn't as great as you imagined it would be....well I can tell you that's what my exwife thought would happen to me as well, ...thus she's my EX now.

I guess my question would center around how old are you? Are you a 16 year old looking for your first car? If you're over 21, why do you need permission from your family to buy a MINI?

MINIs are safe cars, are easy to mod, have a lot more space than they look, are as much fun as they look, lets you become a part of a worldwide community of enthusiasts, it might even reveal an inner car person that you never knew you had inside, but they are by no means "cheap" cars to own..91 or 93 Octane gets expensive if you drive a lot..that's about $50/week over here in California for me. $100+ oil changes and $600+ brake jobs at BMW/MINI dealerships can seem astronomical compared to Honda dealerships..but that's what you have to do to maintain a car as finely tuned as a MINI....Fortunately there are much worse manufacturers to compare to like a Jaguar or Land Rover that have much worse service track records, lol. Or you can learn to maintain your own car...like many of us have done.

Good luck!

Richard

 

When I bought my MINI new, my dealership was right around the same distance!!! It was a pain in the *** to bring it over but five years later they opened a dealership less than 15 mins from where I live. Can't guarantee that but 30 miles is not THAT bad.

 

Regarding reliability, here's a good thread about the Clubman. Aside from the barn door issues, should be relevant to the hardtop. I forgot about the sunroof problems, ours has been trouble-free but that hasn't been true for everyone.
https://www.northamericanmotoring.co...olding-up.html

 

My dealer is 2 hours away. Go with your heart! We only live once!

 

Exactly! I've avoided several collisions with inattentative drivers by using the Mini's quick reflexes.

 

- I'd disagree, unless you get hit head on by a large truck or something. They're pretty safe.

- I'd agree with this. There are "better" cars for the same or less money. Insurance on my S is also about $100 per 6 months more than my VW R32 which is a much more valuable car.

- COMPLETELY agree! The base cooper isn't too bad from what I hear, but a lot of us here have had a lot of troubles with our cars. Seems like some people never have or never notice problems and some have nothing but problems. I've had problems with: Carbon build up, timing chain, fuel pump, clutch/flywheel, sunroof 7x times and LOTS of rattles.

 

alot of fun to drive, good gas mileage, plenty of power (JCW), handles great but all this comes at a price....check all the reliabilty issue posts with cold start clatter and carbon build-up with these engines. I have had my 2010 JCW back to the dealer 3 times for yet another cold start clatter trouble... will this car last 50,000 miles? I got 330,000 miles on my 1998 BMW 3 series and it still had the original clutch!

 

A dealership that is 30 miles away..... and that's what the objection is? Seriously....? When I lived in Woodland, WA (BFE!) the closest MINI dealer was in Portland, Oregon. Which was about 60+miles away. NO excuse!!!

 

 

I think we have adequately covered MINIs being safe especially with BoCRon's experience with El Kabong.
I haven't yet had an emergency experience with the MINI, but it's responsiveness will keep you out of trouble.

About getting a "better" car for the money- if you value the "fun factor", not a lot is going to compare. Pocket rockets on rails, are our MINIs.

Regarding reliability, people on this board are NOT representative!
So let's forget the anecdotal evidence and use the representative stats, (flawed no doubt,but the best I could google) for what they're worth.
JD Power latest three-year survey (2010).
The best, Porsche has 1.1 problems per vehicle, Toyota, 1.28, Honda 1.32. Mini? - 2.05.
So that's not even 1 more problem in 3 years, on average vs a Honda or Toyota or even a Porsche.

I think you can make one "extra" 60-mile dealer trip in 3 yrs

Oh yes, one more thing- you said you drove the base model. Do test an S and a JCW, and drag any objecting family members along! They'll see the errors of their ways soon enough. Of course, you now run the risk of having them try and borrow your MINI at every opportunity.