Greetings from seaside, NJ. I'm a first time mini owner. My other car, 2010 smart ( the micro) has over 200,000 miles and running great.
My sister told me about this mini. It is a lease return, 2012 with only 2600 miles! So it's like new and is great to be able to drive in the fast lane once again!
It's a base hard top non turbo that I'm happy with. I hope it too will last over 200,000 miles. First thing I did was install an ultra gauge. I like to know things like temp and voltage. My mini runs a bit hotter than the smart. But much faster too.
I never took my smart to the dealer and hope for the same with the mini. I do all my own maintence, oil every 5k, plugs around 30k brake pads at about 30k and fluid change around 50k. I also add gas treatment at every other fillup worked great for my smart so I'll do the same with the mini.
Frank

 

Never having ridden or driven a Smartcar, or knowing anyone with over 200,000 maintenance free miles, I expect your Mini experience will not be the same. I have a 2011 non turbo Mini will over 50,000 miles. It has been a reliable car but it has made several trips to the dealer for electronic issues. The car relies a lot on electrics/computer monitored systems. I got an electric warning to take it to the dealer. I tried to add fog lights and now have a computer generated warning that stay on. You can't just make mods without having to wonder how the computer will respond. The non-turbo engine is more reliable than the turbo. Mine has required only oil changes. Overall I am happy with the car, but wish I could work on it more myself.

 

Same with smart can't even replace lamps with LED's.

And if the battery is disconnected... Fa get about it! Poor shifting, speedo swings back and forth, loss of power it takes a good 20 miles for it to learn that it's a car.

Haven't read anything like that about the mini. Any learning curve if the battery is disconnected?

 

Welcome to NAM, Seasidenj and congrats on your new MINI. How about a few pics? 200,000 miles on a SmartCar? That's a lot of miles, like 50,000 a year. Well, happy motoring and please don't forget to wave.

 

Congrats and welcome. I think the MINI will feel much better in ride and quality. In my opinion. Post up some pics.