There is another thread like this, but after the doom-saying session my friend had with me about convertibles (leaks, noise, etc. etc. etc. you name it he listed it) I figured I'd ask the question in a more region-specific format:

Am I nuts to be considering (very strongly) the Cooper S Roadster as a Commuter car in the Northwest? More specifically, I drive about 60 miles a day from my home to downtown Portland, OR., and I drive a lot on top of that.

My 2010 Mazda 3 GT has 53k miles on it already.

Am I nuts? Sure, I could go with the Coupe, but doesn't that sort of defeat the purpose of a two-seater?

This would be a year-round car for me. I'm not up in the hills, so snow isn't much of a worry. If I get enough snow to shut me down, everything else would be shut down, too. :P

I know this is a newer car, so many of you probably haven't driven it threw the winter yet, but I'm hoping that you have a good-enough understanding of it by now to give me some good advice

Thanks!

 

Your 'friend' probably had a bad experience with his '51 Morgan +4 when he didn't get all the snaps secured when he ran up the head. If you want to enjoy MOTORING in a MINI, go with the roadster. Tops have come a long way. If you are worried about cold weather, my lowest limit to date for top down is 28°, that's what hats, coats, gloves and heaters are made for. Besides, the comments and looks on people's faces is well worth it.

 

^That's my thought. I just feel like I spend way too much time in my car not to have it be fun, and driving the Roadster was kind of this "Nuoh mah gawd" experience.

With the top up, it seemed exceptionally sealed and quiet. I can't imagine this thing would have any trouble heating and cooling with the top up if need be.

 

Tell your buddy you're not buying a P.O.S. '98 Sebring convertible.

Our MINI convertible top never leaked, didn't have any whistling noise, no excessive road noise, or anything like that. Had one problem with the top not opening, covered under warranty.

The roadster would make a great commute car !

 

Your friend's counsel seemed to be about convertibles/roadsters in general, not MINI-specific. I'll jump in then.

In 1999, I purchased on off-lease Miata as my daily commuter. I drove myself to/from work every day, errands and such on weekends, and I was usually by myself or with a +1 kid at the most. So a two-seater would work, it was easy on fuel, and a blast to drive. Hmmm...sounds like a good formula :-).

I drove it...the next 12 years, to 180,000 miles, before replacing it with my 2012 MCS. Fun to have the top down, quiet enough (until that set of Toyos got really worn, OMG what a racket!, I wore motorcycling earplugs until I replaced them), on-ramps were a blast, and it was still fun even with the top up. It never leaked, AT ALL, and the only caution was *running it through the car wash* where the jet-force water could indeed make it through that split in the window rubber that accommodates that middle hinge (again, on a Miata). And could be avoided by just holding a hand towel on each side as you rode through.

I might have waited for a Roadster, and love the feel of them: but, we tend to want to take at least one German shepherd with us most of the time, and the Hardtop with folded seats worked best for the 130-lbs of usual traveller.

I wouldn't be scared off by dire predictions of roadster ownership, being hard to live with, etc. Mine was not. At all.

 

We've got a little Corgi that probably won't ever get a ride in the Roadster (she's small for her breed, but I still dont think it'd be a great fit, maybe on the shelf? Maybe the boothshoot open? lol)

We don't have any plans for kids at this time, and we've got another Mazda 3 hatch if we need to haul things/people.

The real attraction of this car for me is that in addition to looking great and driving great, it has known reliability, fairly good gas mileage, and the boot on it should be able to fit enough stuff for a road trip

 

Funny you should mention that car. I determined that 66 mph was the magic number for driving top down in the rain. I was on the Garden state parkway in slight rain doing about 70. Then the rain came but I could see sun up ahead. Now the torrential downpour came. Still dry as a bone. Slow down to 65 and you get wet. 66mph or higher and dry as could be. We drove right through it into beautiful sunshine. Lots of crazy looks though. But if I pulled over to put the top up, I would have gotten soaked. I haven't experienced this yet in the roadster.
The people that bad mouth convertibles are just not convertible people. To each his or her own.

 

OK, dropheads and rain, stationed in Key West back in '68 for a few months so I drove my TR down there. It rained nearly every afternoon so instead of running the top up and down every day I just drilled some holes in the floor boards. The Lucas part of it was gonna snap, crackle and pop anyway so what the heck.

 

Good old Joe Lucas,"the Prince of Darkness". I had a 65 healey 3000. I know exactly what you mean!!

 

^There is an extremely good argument (in my mind at least) for a convertible that has the "big deal, just hose me out" attitude of some of the old Jeeps, and early Honda Element. Just pull out the plug and hose it down.

We've got to be in a realm of technology where we could have comfortable seats that will dry out without getting.... disgusting.... right? Sometimes rain feels pretty darn good.

 

2 months of driving in FL during the rainy season. When it rains here, it's some serious rain, like 2" an hour serious. Not a drop of water has entered anywhere around the roof or windows.

 

I still drool over those 3000's. (but from a short, respectful distance...)

 

Ahh this is exactly what I was hoping to elicit: Some one who can relate to the type of downpours we are prone to getting in the Pacific NW It'll rain so hard that you literally have to come almost to a complete stop because you can't see more than a car length or so ahead of you.

I was already sold on this car, but at least now I don't have anything to worry about - except I guess what I'll charge my friends when they ask for a ride

 

Nitpick. Sorry.

Honda Element never had the hose it out ability. From the beginning to the end of it's production run, it had electronics installed in nooks UNDER the rubber flooring. Some Honda salespeople exaggerated the quick clean ability of the rubber floors.

Okay, back on topic, I say go for it. Modern convertibles don't have nearly the problems with leaks that older cars do.

 

For those that have a lot of rain, and possibley icy conditions: what did you do for the tire option?

I'm thinking I might not select the all-weather tire option so that it ships with performance tires and then get a pair of Continental DWS Extreme Contact if they make em in the right size. Are the factory all-weather tires pretty decent? What route did you all go?


@Leftfield - I'm glad I never bought one. I just stopped by to look at it out of curiosity when it first launched and they had signage and everything advertising how you could just flush it out. I wonder how many people had problems later on from that.

 

I have purchased 4 convertible in the last ten years and drove two of them through some brutal midwest winters. Never had a leak or issues on major noise or heating issues. Our 2012 MCS convertible is great, but will park it for the winter-- but not for any performance issues. I just want to keep it away from the liberal amount of salt applied to the roads.
You will not regret purchasing the roadster. Good luck

 

Go for. I drive 25k miles per year and my roadster is my everyday car. Love it!

 

...and find and apply that sticker that says "Yes it's fast, no you can't drive it" and don't waver in your conviction.

 

I spec'd the all season tires on my MCS that I received 3/28/12, thinking that if I didn't manage to get dedicated winter tires for some reason year 1, they'd get me by till next summer, when I'd replace them with rims/performance tires and mount winter tires on the stock rims.

It came with Conti ProContact SSRs. I've just had them in rain so far, they're ok, and I've not pushed them. I think they have enough dry grip to be entertaining, of course there as many others with more stick. Just looking at the tread pattern, I wouldn't trust them in the 4-6" snowfalls we have here 2-3 times each winter. They're just "normal looking" tires, straight ribs, like a typical summer / touring tire would be. I'm getting a set of real snow tires this winter and will retire these.

I have Conti DWS's on our Mazda 5, love them. Others have reported decent snow performance, I'm convinced enough to forego mounting the I-Pikes I ran last winter.

HTH.

 

Thanks for the feedback. I'll just go with all-weathers and, once I'm past the break-in period on the car, not worry about them too much for a year or so and work my way through them...I'm sure I can encourage their wear and tear somehow ;-)