Do many of you have a winter car in order to keep your mini in tip top shape? I often wish I would have kept the Vibe I traded in, just for winter use. After needing new tires after just 14K miles on my mini, I have been thinking of a "beater" car for winters.

 

Yes I am going to a winter car, or two this year. Thinking about a $200/month lease on a MINI for me and the wife would like to have a Fiat 500c which we will probably go test drive soon. I just sold my 08 MCS LOADED to get my GP and I could kick myself in the behind for not keeping it for days when it rains or when winter rolls around.

 

My MINI was purchased for the purpose of being my winter car, or beater, as some collector car people refer to them. It's actually more of a commuter, since I also have a pickup. But two funny things happened: One, I prefer the way the MINI drives in the snow (with dedicated tires) to my 4X4 2500 Ram. Two, I found myself thinking more about what I want to do to the MINI, than I did about my V8 project car I was working on. So I sold the project car, and now the MINI is my toy AND transportation. I like it too much to deprive myself of driving it year round. In fact, that's why I replaced my trusty TDI with it - I wanted fun for every day.

Yeah, if I had something like a GP, I wouldn't drive it in bad weather. But even a brand new MINI would be my daily, if I had one.

 

My '11 MCS is my daily driver (every day, regardless of weather) in Cleveland. I've had (and still foolishly have) other garage queens and decided as I've gotten older that that is crazy and I should be driving the cars I want to drive and enjoying them rather than "saving" them for someone else. Hey, you never know the future or how long you're going to be here, so just enjoy the moment. Just my opinion and no offense meant! Matt

 

No... I drove a '87 Honda CRX (front-wheeled drive, two seater) up and down the mountains of Colorado going to work every day for years without issues. My Mini Cooper S Coupe will be my primary vehicle for Minnesota driving even during the winter. The local car wash has always been a good friend to have during the winter to keep the salt build up to a minimum... and will keep my MINI looking great.

 

That's pretty much my take. About 8 years ago I was using my '67 Dart as a four season daily. I didn't drive as many miles back then, though.

 

No stone throwing please but my MINI is my winter car, my 1 of 57 Pontiac GP spends November through April in a storage unit. The GP is 20 yrs old this year so it now has Hagerty collector insurance and will be getting MD "Historic" tags. I had no issues with the Cooper this past winter, I have snow tires for it but we never got any snow, just a bit of ice, so I cant speak to its heavy weather capabilities, but I dont think with snows, DSC and ABS that it'll be any major issue as long as the snow isnt 18" deep. That'll be when I miss my Pathfinder majorly. Yea, Im kinda sad in a way to have to beat it up but right now I cant afford 2 summer toys and as was noted earlier, since its not a GP model or anything else rare, its a driver and when its all done, I'll replace it. Prob with a '12 or somesuch, since the prelim pix of the 3rd gen are not filling me with hope. What I really want is them to do a Clubman with suicide doors both sides. That would be nice. They also need to produce a street-version of the Countryman WRC like the red pic thats floating around the internet right now. That would kick major ..........

 

Just got my MCS last weekend, and yes we plan to make it our nice weather only car. My wife and I are going to share it, but we each have other cars we use. I'll drive it a lot more than my wife. She has an '08 Honda Fit she really likes. My current DD is a '96 Volvo wagon. I bought it cheap, but it's a really nice car. It's perfect as a beater, it's worth more to me than anyone else. When I bought it, it came with a set of dedicated snow tires and rims. It's awesome in the snow. So, sure I'll drive my MCS in Dec, Jan, Feb on a cold sunny day. But if it's snowing or the roads are nasty with salt, it's staying in the garage.

 

Like others have said, my MINI is my daily driver. Neither rain, nor snow, nor gloom of night seems to bother my little car. Most days in winter I prefer the MINI to my wife's crossover, even in the Michigan snow (of course having winter tires helps with that).

 

Another +1 to Mini as all year round driver. I bought MCS All4 for the "inclement winters in Minnesota" & also have a garage queen for those rare moments in summer. ('93 M5)

 

My clubman doesn't hide from the cold and snow of a Manitoba winter. With dedicated snows it's been great. During the summer it only gets driven a few times per week as I spent loads of time on my mountain bike including my daily commute. If my wife allowed me to buy a second car, it wouldn't be to get a winter beater, rather I'd love to get a miata again to have as a fun toy.

 

My '36 Chevy Coupe Streetrod is my garage queen, so when I bought my MCS 2-1/2 years ago it was to use as a daily year round driver here in upstate NY. I had been driving boring Buick Regal and my son needed a car for college so I offered him the Regal so I could buy a MINI (justification for the wife). Since it was going to see NY winters I didn't want to spend the money on a new MINI so I bought a fairly low mileage '02 MCS from down south. It only cost about 1/3 that of a new one and I didn't have to deal with rust issues of a typical 8 year old NY car. Since it was an older car and I didn't pay a lot for it I don't feel guilty driving it year round. That said, I enjoy my MCS so much I have thought about getting a highly optioned '06 MCS to keep my '36 Coupe company during the long winters and using the '02 MCS as a winter only ride.

 

I chose my MINI because it would be good in snow, being FWD, and I'd fit some proper winter tires.

So...no.

My wife's Z06 does stay garaged when it gets cr@ppy, and she then relies on our Mazda 5 dog-hauler.

My MINI, and the Miata before it, has/had daily driver duty, all seasons. Tip-top shaping is a bit more challenging, just more chances to show some "love" :-).

 

I've been through 10 winters with my MINI, if I counted correctly. Not a lick of rust under there. Lincoln uses some kind of spray on the roads in winter that keeps ice away, but doesn't hurt cars.

 

I drive my 2003 Jetta for the office, mountains (for winter) and for home improvement runs...



- Erik

 

None of my MINIs see salt or snow. That's what I have a Scion xB for. However, I will be ditching the Toaster, as I call it, for a Countryman Cooper All 4 Coupe this fall, which will become the winter daily driver.

 

At first I felt a little bad about driving the MINI in the winter as it is the most expensive car we've ever owned.
I got over that real quick once I realized it was also the safest car we owned. And besides that, it handles great with a set of snows! Better than my AWD Mitsubishi Outlander in fact.

 

Not sure how unique my situation is but I have three vehicles for myself. A small 4 X 4 pickup, the MINI and a 1971 Triumph TR6. Of course the TR6 goes away once cold weather strikes. I have not yet purchased a set of winter tires for this MINI. I had a set for my previous MINI and will not drive this one in snowy conditions without it. But considering I plow with the truck I end up taking that most of the time there is inclement weather. I also have the benefit of only putting around 10K miles on all three vehicles for a single year since I only live about 3 miles from my work. So the truck works well for Home Depot runs, dump runs, etc. The MINI gets used year round, particularly for longer runs of a half hour or longer and the TR6 is the top down, fun car. Life is tough!

 

^ Pretty close to my situation. The MINI is the gf's year round, the 'Stang is my summer car and the Mitsu is the hauler and winter vehicle for me.