Hi all,

I'm thinking about trading in my Miata for a new MINI in a year or two - while I really like RWD, the power and practicality of the Cooper S seem like a winning combination.

But.

I'm a big fan of doing my own maintenance. It's not that I'm that good - far from it. But I like to learn. To me, wrench turning is part of what makes owning a sports car fun. And, quite frankly, I'm not into paying someone else to do something I could do myself.

It seems from what I've read, the MINI is kind of "hands off - take it to the dealer" kind of car. From the lack of a proper service manual, to the included dealer maintenance to the code data stored in your key that only the dealer can read, I'm not sure I'd be able to do much maintenance myself.

Thoughts?

 

As long as you get a good repair manual, and the right tools, you;re good to go.

The Bentley Press manual for the 2002-06 Mini is tremendous. The 2007+ book is probably in the wroks.

 

Repair manual? You can't even get a good owner's manual.

I love my car though.

 

Gromit’s right, get the Bentley manual, it’s a very good resource.

For some reason, the Mini tends to intimidate many mechanics. But fundamentally, it’s just like most small cars these days, with a lot more personality.

 

It is still a car and like most cars, you can fix most stuff with standard hand tools.

You can't do any computer diagnostics under the shade tree, but you can do regular maintenance and mods quite easily.

If you are the kind of guy that wants to change his own oil, spark plugs, brake pads, etc, and install simple bolt-on mods, you will be happy with a MINI

 

Its no more intimidating than any small modern car.
That being said, most people aren't doing their own wrenching (other than oil changes) because,

A) the car is still under warranty
or
B) These cars don't need much wrenching...

that being said there are quite a few good How-To write ups for Mods and Maint.

 

You evidently haven't seen the Bentley manual! It's three inches thick.

I've found the Mini owners manual to be very good.

Are you referencing classic Mini's?

 

There is no Bentley manual for the R56 and the owner's manual doesn't even cover oil changes or spark plug replacement.

This is the only automobile I have ever owned in my life where I could not get a proper service/repair/technical manual for it the day I bought the car.

I got one for my new model Lexus IS250. And that car had only been shipping 2 weeks when I bought it. That is one area the Japanese auto manufacturer's simply blow everyone else out of the water. They love to document thier cars. The documentation is absolutely wonderful.

I just assumed (yes, I know) all car makers had tech reference manuals. DOH!

 

And yet, we still can't get a repair manual for our 2004 Honda Element!

 

BMW is just TOO efficient - they don't do paper, that is soooooo 70's...

But you can subscribe to the online service documentation... for $$$...

And, yeah, I love taking my MINI apart and putting it back together again. Just see my blog...

 

You need to read more...

The Bentley Manual for the MINI is pretty good. Great? No... but it's not bad... Much of the Bentley manual is copied straight out of the BMW Technical Information System (which sort of works like an advanced version of realoem.com) , and with that in mind, there is a certain assumption regarding the ability of the user as well as a lot of references to BMW-specific tools. But that said, there is little on the car that cannot be figured out with experience.

There are a few dealer-only functions at this time involving the computer. I keep hoping that something like VAG-COM will come along for the MINI... One of my other cars is a VW TDI, so I know what can be done... Regardless, the MINI is an OBD-II car like everything else and most issues can be diagnosed using that. Of course, there are always those occasional problems that don't throw a code... and those can be frustrating... but will be that way in any car...

Ross-tech (makers of the VAG-COM software) was working on a "BIM-COM" version that covered the MINI as well, but unfortunately it never made it past the beta-testing phase due to (IIRC) difficulties in dealing with BMW's constant protocol variations. One of the developer/testers (andy@ross-tech) has (had?) a MINI but I haven't heard from or seen him in years (their office isn't far from me and I used to see Andy at gatherings from time to time). A friend and I have been hoping to get our hands on a copy of BIM-COM since it seemed to work well on the '03's we have when Andy was testing it.

So no, a MINI is not that bad to work on. I've had a good portion of our '03 apart quite a few times - brakes, suspension, etc... I wouldn't really consider it all that much different than wrenching on any modern car.

 

I wrench my MINI. It's as easy as any other car I've owned in 40+ years. Luckily I bought metric wrenches and sockets long ago.

 

I'd say that the MINI is easy to work on. You can find a ton of info on NAM. Where are you located? You can always hook up with a NAMer and I'm sure they'll help you out.

 

Really? Odd that. I got a tech ref manual from Honda for my son's Civic. He is clueless when it comes to cars. As long as the stereo goes boom-boom-boom he is a happy camper.

I had to get the tech ref so I could install a subwoofer for him. One of those stealth installations. His sister knows more about cars then he does and she will not hesitate to pull something apart. Yet, dear ole Dad was looking for his shotgun the night she came out all dolled up for her Senior Prom. OY! I had no idea how pretty my daughter had gotten until that moment.

I digress....

I find it odd you cannot get a tech ref manual for your Element. Chalk it up as a first for me. Every Japanese car I ever owned has been easy to get the factory tech ref manual.

 

it's true the japanese are much nerdier about their car stuff. when i had my rx-7, mazda itself published and sold shop manuals AND wiring diagrams AND service overviews AND parts catalogs for EVERY SINGLE model year even when there were only minor changes

note also however that most people in this country who buy european cars don't work on them themselves 'cuz most european cars are somewhat premium and expensive. people expect to take them into a shop if they're somewhat new or recent

 

The owner's manual for my 1962 real Mini explains how to check the oil in the carburetor. My R56 manual doesn't explain how to operate the wipers or turn on the ignition.

 

I went from a Miata to a Mini also. I did all the maintenance on my Miata with no problems... although as you probably know there really wasn't much to do. The oil change on the Mini is a pain in the butt as it is on the Miata. Where the Miata oil filter is in a horrible "use the force Luke" spot, the Mini has one that is just plain fiddly.
Plugs and wires are easy on both. Neither really require all that much in regards to either.
The Mini is pretty lego like in regards to taking apart and putting back together. I had the bumper cover off mine in about 15 minutes, and back on 5 minutes later. It's pretty intuitive.
I think the drawback is that a lot of cars are still under warranty or just out of warranty so there aren't a lot of people working on them compared to the Miata. You won't find the same resources here that you'll find on Miata.net. That said, as more and more people work on the Mini at home the knowledge base will grow.
Good thing is that this car is OBDII, so you can use a reader to find codes and clear them. As others have said, getting a Bentley Manual will be a big help. Also parts are pretty easy to find. There are some good vendors here for both factory and aftermarket parts. Prices aren't all that out of line.. I've seen worse thats for sure!
Good luck! We're here for ya!

 

All those ever-increasing electronics don't bother you?

I mean, c'mon--ELECTRIC turn signals?

 

The official shop manual for our '98 Legacy GT is ~$500 _per volume_, so I make do with a cheap imitation. I've always been able to get Honda manuals in the past tho' from HELM.

 

My old '90 Ford van was similar. One manual for the engines, another for the chassis/body, yet another for the electrics/vacuum, and still yet another for the emissions systems. And all are an absolute joy to use. Wonderful documentation and diagnostic procedures. And also not cheap. I only managed to collect 3 of the 4 and even well-used they cost me over $200 off sleaze-bay (and took constant searching to find)- but worth every penny during the time I owned the van (still have the manuals... just in case).

A good manual is not cheap. But I still plan to pick up the Haynes manual for the MINI. Mainly because sometimes it's helpful to get a second opinion on some tasks. That said, I've done enough work on the MINI that I mainly just use the manual for looking up torque settings.

 

I've been servicing and tinkering with my car almost since I first brought it home. I got the Haynes manual first and it has just a bit more than the owners manual should. I got the Bentley manual and it's fairly complete, well worth the $89 I paid for it. The only down side to "shade tree mechanics" on a MINI is that you have very limited access to the computer in the car. A scanner will only get you so far and then you have to visit the dealer. I'm hoping that some one sells an interface for a PC before my warranty runs out, so I can adjust or modify or repair what I need to.

 

If you can do typical service work on any other car, you can do it on the MINI. The lack of proper service information (factory manuals) for me was a bit of a stickler, but the Bentley manual covers about 90% of what I would even need in the way of info. I find the MINI to be less needing of specialized tools compared to many other makes. Typical mods and fixes can be done with normal hand tools. Since the major difference from the earlier cars to the '07s is the engine, it will take a bit of time before Bentley and other publishers get new versions out. Thing is, as far as repairs go, the warranty period is there before you'd have to tackle it yourself.

The biggest stumbling block for the typical shadetree tuner/mechanic is the closed-off nature of the powertrain electronics. The blame for this is BMW. Still, in most cases, this is not an issue for typical tinkering with the car.

 

Part of me is hoping for an enterprising and computer savvy MINI/BMW Service Tech with questionable scruples... ...although I think the actual software is run off a BMW-USA server and the dealers just have satellite access...

 

Actually it's CD (or DVD) based, and often can be found on eBay. Prices do vary. Thing is, it's fairly ponderous software, as it covers the entire BMW lineup.

 

My wife wants a plan b for a certain Christmas present. I was wondering about the Bentley Manual. It's a little pricey, as I could just as happily have a Whalen shifter. (or even the leather downtube thinghy) I used to do a little work on the 65 Fairlane (replacing the water pump was about the extent of that) and I'm wondering if this book will turn me into a MINI motorhead, if I even want to go in that direction.

I would like to be able to do my brakes, oil and such. If all I wanted was information, I'd spend all of my time here. Short of forwarding her the link, I just thought I'd ask.