I am strongly considering the purchase of an '06 MCS or JCW to use as a primary car. Currently, I have a commute of about 60 miles (120 miles roundtrip, everyday), which takes about a little less than an hour in my Explorer. How do y'all think the Mini will work with that long of a commute? From a day to day perspective? From a long term perspective?

Any opinions on putting that many miles, approximately 30k in just highway miles (not to mention miles around town), on a brand new Cooper?

Thanks.

 

Although my drive is not quite as far, I drive about 15 miles each way, my commute takes any where from 45 minutes to an hour on average, not counting any bad accidents!

We have both an MCS JCW and anMCc. Both are stick. I have not had any problems with my commute what so ever, its actually quite comfortable. Its also easy to move about in traffic!

I have my IPOD hooked up and I dont even think about the drive, the MINI makes it fun!

 

I agree, the drive is fun. For me it is 47 Miles each way and it is not bad at all. Go for it!

 

i have a 70 mile commute and hit alot of traffic i just got my mcs 2 weeks ago and went from a hummer h2 as my primary driver and i"m loving the maneuverability along with the speed plus the h2 used to cost 90.00 to fill up the mcs costs 30.00. go for it you won"t be sorry.

 

Wow from a Hummer H2...congrats.......

I bought my car in Miami over two years ago and got in and "commuted" home to Atlanta with no problems.....(a little more than 70 mi)

 

Simple answer YES !! All lot of MINI owners use there MINI to comute to work and go on road trips.
MI to AZ last thanksgiving 4500mile round trip
MI to NC twice 05=1500miles 06 2000miles

I have the sport package so i have the sport seats

 

You'll get better mileage with the MC if you're going to do primarily commuting - My MCS JCW is not the most thrifty with my aggressive foot! :-)

 

I purchased my 06 MCS primarily as a daily commuter. I have a 22 mile commute on mostly freeways in SoCal with a 6 speed. Luckily I commute the opposite direction of peak traffic flow so commute time is generally under 30 minutes. Most of the tiime I'm in six gear sailing down the road listening to my ipod. As SoCal commutes go it's pretty painless. With the MINI I actually look forward to it. My primary commuter was a SUV that's now a secondary vehicle.

In the MCS commuting has never been so much fun. I even take the long way home sometimes via the local canyon roads. The route has light traffic in the direction I'm headed and even a few tight twisties. My wife always knows when I've taken to long way, not because of how long it takes me to get home, but by the ear to ear grin that's on my face when I walk in the door. Oops, busted yet again.

 

For such a small car it is great, especially the manuverability , go for it!!! I do agree that the MC will get you better gas mileage, we just went from a MC to a MCS, and the MCS doesn't get quite the mileage as the MC

 

Myt JCW 25 city 35 hyw heavy right foot 187.7wHP

 

It will be the most fun commute you've ever had....

Donna

 

:impatient
Isn't that about 20mph? Do you drive like a grandma, or is your commute really that bad?

(note to self: don't ever live where you live; I couldn't stand owning such a great car and only driving 20mph or 45 minutes to an hour!)

 

I got my '05 in December '04 and I now have 44,800 miles on it. I commute 110 miles per day. The MINI makes the long drive much more enjoyable. I could drive my Ram pickup once in a while to keep the miles off MINI, but I just don't want to drive anything else!

 

I've put a little over 10K miles on my '06 JCW since late December when we got it. It is my primary car and was bought as such. It isd a blast and fun to drive in most any situation.

Like most manual transmissions it can get a little old in really heavy traffic, but that small bit of inconvienence is a small price to pay for the fun of a stick. If you opt for the JCW suspension the ride can get rough after about 4 hours, so it's not the best road trip car (I love the car, but 14-15 hours of driving a JCW w/JCW suspension and Perf run-flats makes me want to consider something else for trips, or just break them up...).

The gas milage is a reflection on the driving. If you shift by 4K and keep it around 2400 (+/-, you'd have to experiment to find your "sweet spot") while accelerating with "normal" traffic your milage will be pretty good. I drive "spirited" about half the time and am running around 25mpg. Even when I don't drive spiritied I could drive a little more conservatively and still match traffic alright.

As for longevity, I'll let you know in 6 years

 

If you're gonna do it, you might as well enjoy it. Depending on what you want/expect in the mpg, comfort, performance equation...a Cooper, an MCS, or a JCW would all be perfectly suited. Now you just have to decide which factors to weigh your decision by and that's a personal thing.

I have two friends who choose to commute in a MC CVT and love it....one is even a local classic Mini expert!

 

Thanks for all of the feedback!

As far as fuel economy goes, I will say that the MPG of a car has become more important to me than it use to, and that's independent of me being an SUV driver. Its more from my becoming greener in my thinking and funding less terrorism than from a wallet issue. That said, I know that there are certainly better options than the Mini if you want to maximize fuel economy. But, I'm young and fuel economy is just higher on my priority list than before, still not the highest.

My understanding from searching and reading on these forums is that if you drive an MCS and a JCW the same way, you will end up with roughly the same MPG.

 

In my original post, I guess I was wondering about not just the wear and tear effect created by putting that many miles per year on a mini, but also the value, depreciation, etc. effect. From the latter perspective, is it stupid to put that many miles on a new car?

 

The simplest thing to do is go to http://kbb.com or something like that. Plug the number in for an 06 car configured like your going to buy and plug in 30000 miles to see the how much its going to be worth. Its going to take a hit. Average person drives 10 - 12K/year.

 

If you're going to spend that much seat time every day, think about the amenities as much as performance. I'd definitely get an armrest and the H/K Audio upgrade and the multi-function steering wheel.

 

Great commuting car. I do roughly 140 miles per day, plus around town driving, and any road trips our family takes. Since I've got the MINI I've never not looked forward to driving it. It can take what has been a bad day and make it better on the drive home . Most of my miles are highway and I'm getting around 30 to 32 mpg.

Nik

 

All I have to say is: "3 years 128K miles, 100k miles of the 128k as a JCW upgrade, engine seal not broken since the upgrade, car was only towed to dealer once, that was last december when the map sensor failed, no other problems just regular maintainance, this car also has about 70 tracks days and its still going strong"

Go ahead get a MINI and enjoy

 

Traffic in the Los Angeles Basin IS that bad. There've been times when it's taken me 45 minutes to drive the 8-mile trip home from work. Trying to move about 10 million vehicles through the Freeway networks here isn't an easy task.

 

My job requires me to travel, so that's all I do. My MCc is 14 months old and has over 25K HAPPY commuting miles.

I agree with the MC statement earlier as opposed to the MCS JCW, but get what ya like and want, regardless it will be fun.

-Sarah

 

My commute is 57 miles each way, all highway. I get to work from home sometimes, so I don't do it every day. But I wouldn't want to do this in any other car. My car is 3.5 yrs old, 79K miles. I will say this - you might want to get used to doing your own oil changes...

I skipped the sport package and I think the car has a slightly softer ride with the 16" rims - losing the run flats would help even more. In winter I run snows on 15" holies.

 

It my Mini arrives in time, its maiden voyage will be a trip from the Washington DC area to Temagami, ON, CA. 800 miles each way. I think it will be a fine christening for the car.