Hi everyone... first post here. I am currently leasing a 3 series and will expire in a few months. I have never thought about getting a Mini but my wife wants a Countryman. I test drove a S All 4 and was impressed so we decided to get one when we return the BMW.

I am doing research on the car and get a few questions hope you current owners can help.

1. I know Mini is high maintenance but is it cheaper or more expensive than a BMW? I recently paid $1000 to replace the brakes/rotors on my base BMW only after 24000 miles (not at dealership), and the mechanic told me Mini is worse because fewer people drive Mini compared to BMW. Should I start learning replacing some basic parts on YouTube once I get the car?

2. This probably is already asked 1 million times. Is Mini generally a good car to buy and keep? My wife does not drive much but we still hope Mini can stay relatively trouble free for 100K miles. Consumer reports does not rate the Countryman too well but I do not believe its rating now. 2019 Countryman gets 'red' reliability rating while almost all the individual testing areas are green

3. Is there a pricing thread? It seems all the Mini forums I searched on the internet only focus on the car, but not many people talk about price. The BMW I leased was $200 over invoice but Edmunds says the 'True Market Value' price for a 2020 Countryman is $2000 over invoice... is this car really that hot?

4. I am not sure why all the Countryman in my area come fully loaded. If I build and order one from Mini directly, how long I need to wait to get the car shipped to the dealer?

Thanks everyone hope I will become part of the Mini family soon!

 

Hello and welcome to the family or well soon to be family member.. hehe.. i'm now a 2nd MINI Cooper owner. My first was a 2013 MINI Cooper S Coupe (R58) that i had custom built / ordered from the UK/Factory. I'll try to do the best i can, btw I just got a brand new 2020 JCW Countryman at the end of Oct 2019 that i also had custom built. and now to your questions; this is mainly off of my own experience and based on reading about other MINIs here and on the Facebook Countryman groups

1. I'd say cheaper and the new MINIs (aka Fxx series) are much much better than the previous Rxx generations. The new 2020 Countrymans are literally a BMW X2 with a MINI Skinned exterior/interior and a MINI Tune job. I have now purchased the extended maintenance for 3 years (so 6 years total) on both of my MINIs and have ZERO regrets. Included all oil changes, rotations, brakes, etc.

2. i can't really say for the new Countrymans but most prev Rxx MINIs were pretty solid up to about the 100K mark. I was at around 96K on my R58 and decided to trade her in for a F60/Countryman (also life dictated that i needed ability to fit 4 adults now too!). Safety wise though, the Countrymans i believe get some of the best crash ratings for SUVs.

3. For me, i paid MSRP but then again I don't really think one has much negotiation pricing pull when one is going in and basically ordering a pure custom car. My 2020 JCW w/every check box checked ran MSRP about $53,000 before titles, fees, taxes, service maintenance extension and 100K extended warranty.

4. A pure custom ordered MINI usually takes about 2 1/2 to 3 months from the day you put in the order. The waiting is the hardest part!!!! However they finally fixed the owners lounge so you can literally check a website to see where your build is at.

good luck and happy shopping!!! i feel we are going to see more and more BMW owners becoming MINI owners w/the new 2020 Countryman's! Esp the JCW.. 300HP baby!! it def goes!!!

 

Thanks for answering my questions! Were you able to apply the incentive ($1,000 if I remember correctly back to October) on your custom order, or the incentive only applies to in stock cars?

 

Yes. i did get the $1,000 off and also got another $1,000 just for being a 2nd brand new MINI owner from the same dealership too!

 

Thanks! I will try order one maybe sometime February next year and see if the dealer accepts my offer. I ordered my BMW and flew to Munich to pick it up, really did not like the wait, but it seems that’s the only way to avoid paying on the features I don’t use

 

I'll say this. I have had many cars in the last several years. From Shelby's to Mustangs, Hellcat, Scat pak, wide body scat to GT350 for toys and 7 SRT Grand Cherokees, Limited X, Altitude, Trailhawk, Veloster,WRX, 15,16 Countryman S. as daily drivers. My new 19 CMS is the most comfortable, agile fun DD I have ever owned. The one regret now is that I did not get the JCW and I still might trade my new 19 for one. The only thing I would say is the 19 is definitely underpowered. I will be getting the Elite shortly and installing my CAI tomorrow, rims and tires next week. I would love to see what the 300+ hp feels like in this car. Congrats!

 

I bought my 2019 Countryman S, MSRP $38,500 for $31,330. I did this by working multiple dealers in the LA area. It is my second Mini and I've had it for about 6 months. It is usually never cost effective to buy extended warranties or service extensions. If the dealers weren't making money on them, they wouldn't sell them, so they sell them for their profit, not your benefit.

 

yea 300hp feels so good in it. if you regret not getting jcw i would say trade it for a 2020 jcw nonetheless i’m guessing either one will still be fun

 

You can always get the JCW Tuning Kit, it's worth the price just for the exhaust alone and the power bump is a nice bonus.

 

Well, I'm definitely going for the Elite tune as of now. Would love to purchase one from somebody who doesn't have a mini anymore before I plop down $700

 

this price is beyond imagination...I think you are 2000 lower than the invoice after incentives. I really admire your negotiation skill.

 

Thank VitH, the Mini Countryman S, I made the deal on was sitting on their lot for about 6 months, it had only 14 miles on it.. They wanted to move it, I basically offered an insane number, $30,500. They came back with $33,000, I told them no. The internet manager contacted me and they offered it for $32K, I told him $31K and we ended up at final number. There must of been trunk money and/or sales goals back in June. The power is really with the buyer, especially in a large market like LA. I believe most car buyers give in too easily and the dealers know this.