Hey all!

I'm in the market for a MINI. I know exactly what I want, and have built my car on miniusa.com about a million times. I've searched through these forums trying to gather as much information about these cars as I possibly could. I'm really trying to decide whether or not to lease or to buy? Here are my concerns:

I obviously want my own custom MINI, it's a Justa but with a lot of my own personal touches, not just one off the lot. I'm fairly certain I'll be overly attached to it. Will I want to hand that baby in after 3 years?

I've never leased a car before. What I like about it is the low monthly payments and knowing I'll always be under warranty, especially since I've read about so many issues (although I find most issues I read about are ones on the Countryman or Sport models, correct?). And what about the mileage restrictions and what are all of the fees included? My family has always been able to fix or replace most things on a car, but they've mostly owned American brands. If I want to buy, how different is it to work under the hood of these? I've also heard dealing with MINI dealerships is a hassle.

I'm young, I've only owned 2 cars. One was a side of the road car I bought when I was 16, and the other was a Dodge Stratus off the lot, finally paid that off a couple years ago. I like the idea of having a car forever, I just don't want a hole in my pocket a couple years down the road. Are the horror stories on here just odd encounters? Can I make this car last me a good while? I'm very handy and good at taking care of and maintaining cars, but I'm not exactly a mechanic either. And like I said, my family might not exactly know their way around a MINI.

Any advice or opinion would be greatly appreciated! Tell me your stories, good or bad...I wanna know!

Thanks!

 

We have 3. 370+k km. Nil problems just regular services. MINIs are exotics. They will not tolerate missed or bad services. Many other makes will. How much do you like your cars/wallet?

 

I would say I keep my cars well maintained. Regular oil/oil filter changes (very 3000 miles for my current car), tune ups, tire rotations, tire changes, brake changes. I've kept up with it pretty well. I live in New England, so the roads/climate isn't always ideal.( A lot of fun roads though!) Will those bumpy roads really wear down the mini? And does it fare well in the snow? I heard the run flats are awful. I was looking at the all season tires...hopefully better performance. So with these kinds of maintenance tasks, will the car maintain itself pretty well for the long haul? And do these tasks happen at crazy intervals?

 

Good to hear your maintenance thoughts. Roads not a prob to MINI's - if they will handle Australia they should be good any where. RFT's are harsh but sooo safe where daughter and MINIMotherFigure are concerned. Flat tyre - drive home. Ripped out side wall? Drive home. Yes some people have problems but I don't know how they treat their cars - it seems that respect is repaid.