Not sure if I should drive my 2003 MINI Cooper S with only 18,000 miles in the winter? Which means buying $585 of winter tires and steel rims, or find a winter beater for $1000-$1500? I really havent figured out if keeping this thing in top notch condition or driving it until it dies is the best approach. I seem to have wasted a lot money moving from car to car over the last 5 years, and really wrestling with direction. Any thoughts?

 

Get a beater. I don't drive my Mini during winter and neither my BMW when it snows or until the road is cleared from snow. I have a Honda CRV for all year round .

 

For me it would be buy a winter tire package & keep enjoying your MINI year round. With proper tires MINI's do well in winter.

 

is just a car.. enjoy it.
the above poster is right.. winter tires and rims .. these things go GREAT in the snow.. prettty fun to drive..

if its that bad out.. call in sick ..LOL

 

Its the damage winter does to the car that I am worried about, not the driving ability in winter. It would be nice to hear from soemone who drives their MINI every winter, and hopefully they dont have a lot of damage issues. Like how well does the paint hold up? Any major issues with the car when it really gets cold?

 

I've only have one Connecticut winter under my belt so far ...but my MINI escaped unscathed with the exception of one tiny rock chip, which I am just as likely to pick up any time of year.

I bought some cheap wheels and Blizzaks from TireRack and they are just as much fun to ride as the runcraps that came with the car (that I have since ditched).

So, I say go for the tires/wheels. You'll have more fun and spend less money. A $1,000 beater is likely to guzzle gas, have some reliability issues and unless you put snows on it, it might suck in bad weather.

Best of luck in the decision making process.

 

Did you go with 15, 16, 17 inch setup? I figured 15 would probably be best in winter...

 

Based on the advice of the folks on this forum, I went with 15's. I live in a very hilly area and this past winter I could go anywhere an all-wheel drive vehicle could go. In fact, I did better than some of them.

Here's my MINI all bundled up for winter.

 

I drive Emily ('02 MCS, 6-speed,35,000 moles) 366 days a year. Around the middle of December I mount the 16" plain-Jane steel wheels with Bridgestone Blizzaks.
The ride quality goes up, the handling goes down, but life's full of little trade-offs, right?
With the Blizzaks on, I think the car could climb trees, the traction's so good. These cars are amazing to drive in the white stuff.
The paint holds up just fine, and there are no issues due to the cold.
She gets thoroughly detailed frequently.
When the temperature gets above freezing, I take her to the do-it-yourself car wash, and rinse the crud and corruption off.

 

I do drive my MINI every winter. Well only 2 so far. I bought a set of 15 inch Holie wheels & mounted a set of 185/65/15 Hakka 2 snow tires on them. They have worked very well for me. I've found no damage from driving my MINI in the winter. Driving it is a whole lot more fun that sealing it in storage for the winter. It's a car & cars get driven rain or shine or snow. Just my .02 here.

 

The mini can be a great winter car, and lots of fun in the snow.

 

I don't think you will notice any real issues regarding degradation driving the Mini in the winter. I've done 3 winters and the exeterior looks still in near concours shape. Keep in mind since I work out of my house I'm not on the road everyday and I think the clear bra application on the front has probably helped.

There is a small amount of rust on the rear control arms and maybe one other steel bit under the car.

If you decide to drive it in the winter my advice is find a place to wash it every few weeks. Here on the seacoast of New Hampshire it usually gets warm enough to wash the car once in my driveway at least every week or two. I also took a great hint off this board and use an oscillating lawn sprinkler to rinse the underbody.

For wheels I have used the original 16" Xlite alloys mounted with Michelin M3 runflats which while not the greatest in snow are good and provide surprisingly good performance on dry roads. The alloys have held up fine and clear my big brake kit as well.

Obvously those that drive more frequently in the winter are going to have more detrimental effects on their car than I but even then if you are committed to doing a focused car wash paying particular attention to the hatch, wheels, and underbody, as often as weather permits then you shouldn't see any real issues.

I would say modern cars in general and premium cars in particular deal with salt, sand, and corrossion very well. Over the summer I purchased a E39 M5 that had been traded in at a dealer and sent off to auction that probably was a daily driver from Minnesota and judging by its underbody it was not taken great care of or at least not what I would have done-Caked on dirt, cosmolene, rust on Koni shocks and dinan springs, some pitting on wheels. However once the underneath was cleaned up the only obvious issues were a spot of rust on a steel cross brace, pitting on the Dinan rear trunk badge, and the aforementioned rust on shocks and springs and the wheels The exterior looks great. Short story is that a modern car that receives average care will still weather winters well.

 

I would like to know what happens to the automatic window jog when there's snow and ice on the car. If the window can't move will the door open/close properly and how does the motor and mechanism hold up.
The best bet would be a garage but that space is already occupied.

 

With good tires winter driving is really fun. Just go easy on the handbrake...

Edit:

The window motor is powerful enough to break through any of that. Only once when it looked bad did I lightly pound the exterior window to break the ice seal. This car has survived 5 winters so far with only 2 winter accidents; only one of which was my fault, they were minor at that.

 

its not a collector car, 4 real snow tires work great, the narrower is better, smaller wheels that clear the brakes and are the correct load rating, if you can afford it park it, i sure hope they are built for year around use because everyone dont have excess money laying around

 

Ok, done deal....ordered up a set of 15" steel wheels and Blizzak WS-60 tires for the MINI from TireRack. Thanks guys for talking some sense into me...lets hope my OCD clean and damage free car habit doesnt kill me during the winter months.

 

Well I hope TireRack's suggestion for my car fits, I would assume they tested the wheels or they wouldnt have had them as a package for my car.

 

Just wash your car, claybar it, and get a good coat of wax on before the first snow hits.

When spring comes and you wash your car, you will be horrified to see spots of surface corrosion. However, since you had a good coat of wax, all of that is on that coat of wax and can be easily claybared off.

 

I used to live in Troy,MI (tell me about harsh winters), and I've always used the excuse of a winter beater to get myself a project car to drive in winter and fix it in spring. I did that several times, sometimes selling the car for more than what I paid for initially including the investment of new parts/repair. I had a '78 T-bird and a '79 Lincoln Mark V. those things were like tanks, really held up to harsh weather, rode like clouds even if they were falling apart, and now thaty are kinda sought after by several people, so I managed to fix them good, and sell them for a profit, even though I bought them for next to nothing.

 

Take a window scraper in the house. Clean the window before you open the door if it is a big concern.

 

got my car in March '03. first snow was in yup, March '03. Car has been great. i bought some holies in summer of '03 with stock Continentals. then just got some pirelli 185/65R-15 snow tires last winter. Just keep up the detailing at least once or twice a year (claybar, polish, wax etc.) and it'll be fine. i just bought myself a $500 beater which i will putting a couple hundred bucks into this year to save some mileage on the MINI (have about 70k on it), and i just installed my coilovers this summer and don't know how the car will react yet being lowered with snows. BTW no accidents in any winter so far.

 

nabeshin, thanks for your feedback.

I got my MINI to replace my pickup truck but with its worthlessness in the current economy I will be hanging onto it for the foreseeable future and will use it instead of the MINI if we get really bad weather here in the Northeast.

 

Good choice! To be honest I wish I had the luxury to have a second car and keep my MINI garaged over the winter, but I'm not so fortunate and from my experience it holds up well. I live in the burbs of Boston and in the late fall I replace its shoes with a set of Michelin Pilot Alpins and it does great. I've never worried about the wiper arms as they're strong and I always clear the windshield first. The 02s and early 03s (my last MINI) had a tendency of their door mechanisms freezing. You may say that this is possible on any car, but on my early 03 MCS it was a weekly occurrence and I got used to crawling in through the passenger door or the boot. In regards to wear, I noticed after this past winter that one of the mufflers had much more rust that I previously remember. Additionally the power-steering fan had failed due to it being iced and the emergency-brake cable seized and rusted necessitating its replacement. The emergency brake cable was probably out of the norm, but definitely check the under-body when the warmer spring weather comes around and make sure the power-steering fan hasn't locked up.

Otherwise, please thoroughly wax it prior to the winter and wash it regularly and try to enjoy it. The MINI with snow tires in the winter puts almost as much of a grin on my face as it does in the summer months; it really is a lot of fun. Oh, and where in western, MA if you don't mind me asking?

 

too lowww for snowww, that's all i've got to say.

 

get a beater...$500 Geo Metro or something.
I busted my front airdam, radiator mount on GP....$1800 plus car rental.