Hi All,
I'm new and considering purchasing a MINI. This looks like a great site where I can pick up lots of information before buying a car.
I drive an F150 and am thinking about purchasing a car for commuting to work. I've narrowed my search down to a MINI Cooper S, a GTI, or a Honda Accord. I have a family and was leaning towards the Accord as it's comfortable and would be more reliable and cheaper to maintain. I miss fun driving though!!! I've owned an '05 Infinity G35 sport 6 sp., an '86 Porsche 911 and a '99 Civic Si. I was heavily into Auto X'ing with the civic and 911, then I started going to the track with the 911. That is a blast and everyone who loves driving should try a couple days at the track! Ripping around a turn at 80 right on the edge of traction... man it's fun!
Anyway, I'm leaning towards a MINI or GTI as they'll be a lot more fun to drive than an Accord. I'm hoping to spend $10-13k, but may go a little higher. I've seen some nice 2012-2013 Cooper S's in that range, but they have 90-130k miles on them. I've done some reading on the MINI and my concern is getting a car with that many miles I could be in for some big repairs. The water pump, turbo and some other things sound expensive and fairly common to have to replace. I saw a 2014 Cooper S with ~75k miles, but it was almost $17k. Would that be more reliable than the 2012-13's that I'm looking at? If I spend $13k on a 2012, then another 2-3k in repairs I'm wondering if I shouldn't just push myself to get a 2014-15 car.
I'd love some of your thoughts and advise please.
I plan to put ~10k miles/yr. on the car and am hoping for something pretty reliable and that isn't going to cost $600-800 (or more)in repairs each year.
Thanks in advance.
-Tony

 

I don't have any track experience. I do have a 2014 Accord with over 100,000 miles on it. Oil changes, bleed the brakes, brake pads (no rotors), transmission fluid change, just did coolant, plugs, and serpentine belt. It's ready to go another 100,000 miles (with some more fluid changes, of course). My 2019 Mini JCW has 22,750 on it. More often oil changes, not quite tackled the transmission/transfer case/differential fluids, but did bleed the brakes and put new rotors and ceramic pads on it....not that the OEM's were worn out, but, couldn't get them to stop squealing, and like the must lower dust levels of ceramic pads. But, you have to work around the electric parking brake release, either with a computer, or like I did, by taking the electronic brake apart and manually retracting it. With the Accord, it's a simple twist-it-back-off procedure. The Accord is an appliance. The Mini is a pleasure to drive. I expect to have MUCH higher costs running the Mini, so, if I have to drop a few thousand to tackle an AWD malfunction or hard-to-reach coolant leak from a plastic housing in the oil filter assembly, I'm prepared. The Mini Battery must be "coded" when replaced, the Accord battery you just disconnect and drop the new one in. Everything seems a bit more expensive and touchy on the Mini...as to be expected....they are essentially BMW X1's with some fancy English bits mixed in for visual stimulation.

I do all the work on my cars that I can...which helps keep costs down, but, I'm not going to pull the engine or really big jobs...so, I probably won't keep this Mini as my main daily for much more than 150,000. By then, if I have the room, I may keep it as a fun weekend car. The Accord: it will probably run 250,000 miles without much problem...which reminds me, they are know to have a bad starter...I did replace that. I'm not sure if I can get to the starter on the Mini if it went bad.

 

I've had a 2011 Cooper S (R56 with the newer engine), a 2019 JCW (F56. It was actually just an S with the JCW bits added on) and currently a 2021 JCW GP3. My Girlfriend has a 2016 GTI with a tune and coilovers. It's pretty sweet, actually

The 2011 S out of the box was more fun to drive than the GTI. However, I only had it a year before I needed a new engine...thus I got the 2019. The 2019 will be very similar to a 2014/5 in terms of setup, so this is still relevant. In order to get the fun factor of the 2011, I had to put on the JCW sport suspension and BBK. All this could be done aftermarket for probably less, but, I wanted to keep the warranty intact. I've tracked the 2019. OMG it was a blast! And it was more fun than the GTI for regular day-to-day driving, too.

The downside: They're 2 door hatchbacks . If you have a family, a 4 door (the GTI) might make more sense, and it's still a fun little car. It's just not nearly as nimble as the Mini coopers. And the Mini's can be expensive, even if just the parts and you do the labor yourself.

If "fun" is the only requirement: Mini Cooper.
If cost and family are a consideration: GTI.

 

MINI is more fun, GTI after a while might feel like a rental car.

 

Welcome to the forum ! good luck finding the one that suits you

 

My advice is to never, ever buy any car without a warranty. Pay more money and get a certified pre owned Mini Cooper (or a Mini with the original manufacturers warranty still remaining for at least one year). Since you have a family, consider the four door version.