I live in Northern New England and we had over 200" of snow this winter! Currently I drive a '01 325xiT (sport, premium, cold, MT) winters and a z3 coupe summers. Wife drives '98 Volvo V70. Our thought is to turn the Volvo over to our teen drivers and have Wife drive the xiT year-round. That will leave me without a winter car. So I am considering a Mini. I would appreciate your experience and thoughts.

My thoughts are as follows - confirm or challenge please!

Since it's a winter car and will be wearing winter tires, and since I drive a lot and want the best gas mileage, I would want the base Mini and not the S. Ideally I would want to find one with Xenons, fog lights, winter package. Any other must-have options? Options to avoid? I have seen the Chrono package, I understand that's pretty rare.

Is there a mileage range to avoid? There seem to be lots of one-owner cars out there, which is good for finding out service history.

Any help you can give - thanks!

 

My MINI drives in the horrible New England weather you mention but truth be told, my previous Audi was a far better winter car. All wheel drive was but one thing, good snows on the MINI will compensate a lot if the roads you drive are well plowed, etc.

The issue with the MINI for me is that though the roads get plowed around me, it's sometimes not with the greatest speed and the MINI (at least 06 and older?) don't exact tower above the road surface.

Never got stuck but did hear snow along the car bottom more often than I would have liked. The Audi was like a tractor, nothing seemed to stop it (with snow tires too) but it was a little more thirsty than the MINI is...

 

I don't go out into more than 6" of unplowed snow even with my four snows mounted...
On the other hand, if it's packed snow on a plowed road, the MINI will go. I remember passing SUVs on the highways here (in the days when we used to get snow, lol).

 

bird- you need a awd car for that. my MCS hibernates even in chicago
weather.

 

Agreed, that a vehicle with more ground clearance would be better for going through unplowed stuff... Going over the ridges between the tire tracks and having chunks of ice hit off the under-carriage makes me cringe...

 

I've had no problem in the winter, however, I'm sure that Ohio winters are a lot less severe than New England.
28 mpg in an MCS, typically.

 

Obviously BMW (it looks like X3 in your sig rather than 325xiT) with snows on will be far more superior in the snow, but if you put some good winter tire on MINI, preferably Nokians, you should be good to go. Generally you should not get stuck unless there is totally unplowed road and you pack the snow in front of the car once you drive, eventually driving on top of that packed snow and bottoming out.
But if there is enough snow to do that, it usually means that the schools are closed and work is called off too
If you have drive to the store or somewhere, you still have BMW. I wouldn't go out of my way more than buying set of snows for MINI.

 

Well, I know Ohio winters aren't nearly as bad as New England winters, but my Cooper S did wonderful this past winter (which was one of the worse ones recently speaking). I have a pretty steep and long driveway and Turkish made it up while my brother's Impreza WRX had to be parked around mid-way.
If you want to just go with a Cooper, I would recommend getting the dynamic stability control (DSC).

Edit: Turkish didn't even have snow tires either, so I can only imagine how much better it would have been with them.

 

Your brother's impreza probably has stock RE092 tires which are absolutely horrible in any condition.

 

I'm not sure what tire brand he uses or if they are all season, or more performance aimed but yeah, they do seem to suck pretty hardcore.

 

I drove my 06 S for the last 2 winters in VT, the first on the stock Dunlop all seasons and the second on new Continental winters (both runflats). I had no problems in snow at all and I'm not by any means an experienced winter driver (having moved from Kent where the entire county shuts down if it snows more than an inch).

 

I always refer people to http://www.arcticmini.com for a true view on the MINI in winter conditions. It will go through most conditions as well as AWD. I think the max depth is about 8-10" though (I've done 8" of fresh snow without an issue). One recommendation is to equip it it with an after market skid plate. I wouldn't be without mine.

 

Having lived and worked at multiple ski resorts in Maine and New Hampshire-- Get a subaru for the winters. Great in snow and good mileage

 

which subaru?
They all have pretty bad MPG because of AWD, although they do handle sweet in the snow especially with 4 winter tires

 

I live in New England, and right after I bought Emily ('02 MCS), I bought a set of 16" plain-Jane steel rims with Bridgestone Blizzaks. She is almost un-stoppable in the white stuff. Could probably climb trees....
I love driving in the snow, except for the clue-less ***-hats in SUV's that think because they have 4WD, they can stop better (don't get me started)
The only car I've had that drove mo' bettah in the snow was my Audi A4.

 

I lived in Bangor, Maine, for 18 years, and I now live in Connecticut. I bought my MINI back in November and have now been through one winter here with it as a year-round car. The only way I could recommend a MINi to someone in northern New England would be if you do not take it out unless the roads have been plowed. As far as handling is concerned, the car handles fine just like it always does, but it's the clearance that I would be concerned about. If you absolutely must go out while it's still snowing, then do not go out in anything deeper than 6 inches. AND DO NOT back up in anything over about 3-4 inches. Backing up in deeper snow will rip off the plastic spray guard under the engine. I learned that the hard way.

 

I took mine on some high-end Dunlop Snow tires this winter and had only occasional trouble when it snowed - and that was 11" fresh LAST WEEK (WTF?). I'd say keep the 325iX for when its really bad but not to be afraid of driving the Mini with a good set of tires.

One recommendation - if you want a good snow car, avoid the xenons. Here's the thing. The HID bulbs are too efficient at making light. They don't produce enough heat to melt the snow that hits the headlight so you are left A)blind or B)out of washer fluid and blind some time later. Also, the headlight washers only pop up when the car thinks they need to, so you don't get a really good spray on there when you are hitting the washer every 5 minutes. Using the fog lights helps, but I'd say no xenons or get aftermarket driving lights for snow.

 

We live in Maryland, which, sadly didn't get much snow this year. But, we did buy a set of used 15" Holies and put Pirelli Winter Carvings on them. When it did snow, they gripped like nothing else and were excellent in freezing rain, on ice, and torrential rain. This is all on our '06 MCSa.

 

I agree! My 03S goes everywhere and anywhere, including right passed the SUVs that dont know how to drive.

The ground clearance is plenty for driving through New England where i am (western MA in the mountains near the Berkshires), with even just the plain ol stock runflats. Although, ive noticed that it goes better when not using the ATC. Have only been stuck once this past winter (stuffed in a snow bank while parked).

Besides, cant beat the 25+mpgs in the winter/ 30+ in the summer!

 

Minis bite it in the snow.I put on snows(X-ice) all four corners.
Store the car and get a winter car.Might I suggest a diesel Golf or Jetta.
Awsome snow cars and tons of info at
TDICLUB.com

 

I'd say that diesel VWs are some of the most overpriced used cars on the market. I also fail to see the fundamental difference between diesel VWs and the Mini that would make it better in the snow. Care to enlighten us?

Are there better snow cars than a Mini? Yes, but with a good set of tires they are capable of giving you daily transportation in moderately bad conditions.

 

You are calling a VW over priced and you drive a Mini?
The VW has more clearance and the way the power is delivered to the road
gives less wheel spin.Being a diesel the engine doesnt rev up as high or as fast so the wheels dont spin.My wife and I have a Mini and a VW TDI,I drive both and we both prefer the VW in the snow.The mini had new name brand
snows for the winter and the Jetta only had all seasons and the Jetta is a way better car in the snow,ice and slush.

 

http://toronto.kijiji.ca/c-cars-vehi...QAdIdZ40123515

 

http://toronto.kijiji.ca/c-cars-vehi...QAdIdZ49307819

 

both are in the same ball park price wise and condition.
these are the first two ads I saw,Im sure I could spend all day to find one
cheaper or more costly but both cars are pretty close in value.