Picked up a Mini last night...and I must admit this purchase did not follow my usual approach to car-buying, so there's actually quite a lot I don't know about the car I now own. It's a 2018 Cooper (F55, I guess?) with the 3-cylinder and a six-speed manual.

But it was in nice shape, the right color (green with white), had the correct number of pedals (three) and doors (four), close to home (as in halfway between my house and my office), and I was able to get it for a price I liked.

'Course, it's just coming on to mud season here in Vermont so, having driven it home last night, it's probably stranded in my driveway for the next several weeks. (Not truly stranded, but it's not built for muddy roads, and my Tacoma is...so...why beat it up?)

Anyway, it's a toy car for me and my wife...and hopefully a decent compromise of cute (for her), fun (for me) and practical (i.e. four doors so we can load the dog).


Have to say I am NOT looking forward to working on it...I'm a decent shade-tree mechanic, but it does not look like a good time to do much of anything on this thing. But we'll deal with that as it comes, I guess. Might need to upgrade my OBD-2 bluetooth dongle for the fancy German stuff, too...if I can remember where I put the one I have.

Meanwhile, I need to figure out what options this car has, and how they work. And do some reading on the sunroof...the switch is taped off, and neither the selling dealer nor I dared test it to see why at this time of year. (I do plan to pull the fuse rather than rely on the tape, until I can do some diagnostics.)

 

There's a lot of joy in knowing how to row through the manual box and getting the best out of a small, lower powered car. Being in VT I expect you'll have plenty of quieter roads to enjoy.

It is tight in there but you'll find your way around it. I'd recommend the dedicated BMW/MINI/Rolls code reader from one of our site sponsors ~$200 or some might recommend a bluetooth OBD dongle and the appropriate software. having the full gamut of codes available is essential. I look forward to plugging mine into a Rolls one day...

Working on my now gone R56, I found good Youtube tutorials really helpful, better than the manual I also bought. Not sure how things are for the F56 series in comparison though.

So welcome and good luck.

cheers
MacMini34

 

Congrats! Dont forget to post up some pics and we can tell you what options it has.

 

Dirty, but here:



Haven't been able to drive it much on account of muddy roads, but I like it so far.

As for equipment, now that I've done a bit of reading and looking the thing over...I think it's a pretty bare-bones spec. Non-S, manual. Panoramic sunroof (inop, but there) and heated seats seem to be the only add-ons....besides the hood stripes, I guess. Only option I really miss is proximity unlock, though....it's not like these were available in a truly stripped-down version.