I'm wondering how many of you have taken your minis on long trips (400 mi. or more) or used them for daily commuting. I'm close to pulling the trigger on buying a 2004 "S" and on the short test drive it seemed to me to be surprisingly comfortable at cruising speeds for such a small, great handling car (particularly with the 16in. wheels). It won't be my only car, but I would probably do fwy. commute once or twice a week, and I like to drive long distances on recreational use, where reasonably quiet/comfortable is important.

thanks

 

10,039 miles.

Is that a long enough trip?

So, when I'm not driving cross country and back, I motor frequently between PA, VA, NY and CT. And when I'm not doing that, I'm just using my MCS for basic commuting purposes--it's my daily driver. In all situations, I don't think I could have asked for a more perfect car. I'm always comfey--never cramped--it's not terribly loud, the ride is a bit bracing (but then, that's at least half the fun of driving one of these little beasties), has the requisite spunk to tackle daily city commutes, and is efficient and fun on the freeways.

I can't complain.

 

Less than a month after I got my car I took it on a 2600 mile trip. It was probably the most pleasurable drive I have ever taken for that distance. The car loves to cruise at highway speeds, and it's very comfortable, though some would think a tad stiff riding. I dont mind a bit. In fact, I prefer to feel 'a part of the road' during a long trip rather than a dull ride in some floaty boat. I feel more alert for longer periods of time. This weekend I will add close to another 1000 miles on my car. I'm looking forward to it.

 

I drive my mini 50 miles to school and back everyday and I've done a couple road trips, the mini is fine for daily driving and for long trips with no more then 2 people. :smile:

 

whoa, that's definitely long enough - given your proclivity for long trips, what kind of mpg do you experience?

 

Go to Andre's MINI Adventure link in my sig, that tells about my 700 mile trip from Jacksonville, fl to daytona to orlando to lakeland to tallahassee and then back to jacksonville. Very comfortable, the only car I've ever been able to drive for any length of time without falling asleep. I drove all the way to lakeland the first day with 1 hour of sleep and didnt feel tired one bit because the MINI just kept me awake, then I drove all the way to Tallahassee the next day.

Oh, and besides me there were both my parents and my mom decided to buy a piece of furnitre along the way that took up the whole rear left side of the car with the seat folded down.

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ANDRE:2004 EB/EB MCSAndre's MINI adventure My MINI Site

 

Mine has been from Denver to Freeland, MI and back as well as Denver to San Diego and back. It was fine on both trips. Mine is an S but I had no trouble averaging over 30 mpg on the trip to CA. The weather was a bit of a bear on the MI trip, so it was more in the upper 20s. I now commute every day with it and my only observation is that bumps that are bad in most cars are very bad in the MINI, but it's easier to avoid them with the MINI compared to other cars I've driven.

But do make sure and get cruise control no matter what you get. It's a must on long trips.

 

I have a friend that has over 63,000 miles on his MINI already. Pretty impressive. His name is Pilgrim on Sunshine MINIs Cannot think of anyone else that has that kind of mileage. All in just over a year.

 

<<<given your proclivity for long trips, what kind of mpg do you experience?>>>

While road-tripping I average 34mpg. I don't use the cruise (it puts me to sleep and I'm never sure what to do with my feet), and travel at about 75-80mph in 6th. I'm just pleased as you can be with those figures, considering how much fun the car is.

Commuting, however, is another story entirely. In and out of the city in moderate to heavy traffic has lately been earning me a whopping mid-20s. I know it's not horrible, I just wish it was better. Oh well.

 

My mini doesnt even have cruise control! My foot gets cramped on long road trips, I usually prop my leg against the down tube by the radio and try to keep a stable speed. Not as good as cruise control but it works!

 

I've done two real long trips since we've gotten the MINI, and in between it was my daily driver until recently (now the wife has it).

First trip was a drive from Northern VA to South Florida, straight through 16 hours with a 5 month pregnant passenger. The ride was fine, except that I have yet to find a car where my butt doesn't go numb after 10 hours of driving. We didn't take the return trip straight through!

Trip 2 was Northern VA to Cape Cod and back. Got punchy from sitting in traffic, but other than that no complaints.

This weekend will be trip 3, I'll be taking the MINI from Northern VA to South Carolina....

 

I did 1000 miles last weekend, and commute more than 60m/day. This car is ALL wheelbase, and travels high-speed and long-distance just fine. It's no Caddy for the highway, and it's no diesel for the daily grind, but it's a great car for both. I get low to mid 30's for the long hauls (including 38mpg for a 300 mile stretch last weekend. Must've been downhill the whole way!). I get mid to high 20's in mixed city/hwy driving daily. I weave through moderate traffic like no other car can. It's great! My only complaint is that I'm 6 feet tall and 230 pounds, and feel like I'm a little big for the sport seats...my lumbar gets tight no matter where I adjust the lumbar support. Good thigh support in the sport seats, though. And the heated seats can help on long drives...relaxes your back muscles.

 

Well I drive my mini to work everyday. I have driven it to Ohio, St Louis, Maine, Vermonrt, Delaware, Pennsylvania, New Jersey, Upsate NY, and I live on Long island.

I recently took a new job and my territory covers from Virginia to Maine. I have had the car for almost 9 months and put on over 19k miles.

I can't drive it enough.

 

Chicago IL <----> Ft Lauderdale Fl in a '03 MCS in June (HOT!). All fun, all the way. Averaged about 75MPH w/ AC and got 30MPG. No problems except I had to share the road!

 

No long trips yet but i drive it to work(60k) everyday...so far so good.

 

Hi, Kayak - welcome to MCO!

I do most of my driving in daily commutes - 10 miles each way with about half of that on freeway and half on city street; the MINI handles itself well for all my urban guerrilla/urban assault vehical needs ... but as has been mentioned, the milage isn't as good when used to accelerate away from stop lights rapidly.

I also do a fair amout of touring (when time permits) and blasted across the country this last summer - 7100 miles in 15 days; the Mini was Great for 14 hour days whether pouring on miles on the Interstates, or weaving through the backroads. Milage varied a lot but was most dependant on speed with things like terrain being secondary - at 65 to 75 the milage was quite good, at 80 to 85 it dropped quite a bit, but at 95 rose significantly again.

This is a fun and versitile car - you can't haul a couch home from the furnature store, but you'll be suprised at all that it Can do! ... take the plunge and Motor!

 

My 5-speed MC is my commuting car (75 miles each way). No complaints here. Leatherette sport seats and cruise control are both great. I've read that some people think the leatherette gets too hot, but I haven't experienced that.

If yours will be a commuting car (as opposed to a racing car), you might want to consider the 15" radials rather than the 16"/17" runflats. It's a less stiff ride and you still can have fun on the twisties.

 

Cheers!
Clover

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clover@northamericanmotoring.com | MCO Moderator | "Wicked Wanda" '03 All Jet Black MCS!!!

 

>>I'm wondering how many of you have taken your minis on long trips (400 mi. or more) or used them for daily commuting. I'm close to pulling the trigger on buying a 2004 "S" and on the short test drive it seemed to me to be surprisingly comfortable at cruising speeds for such a small, great handling car (particularly with the 16in. wheels). It won't be my only car, but I would probably do fwy. commute once or twice a week, and I like to drive long distances on recreational use, where reasonably quiet/comfortable is important.
>>
>>thanks

I did 4,551 miles in 11 days in my 03 MC about a month ago. Since then I'm already up to 6,200 miles, and just a few thousand miles from my first oil change. The MINI was very comfortable. I did spring for the Leather seats since I wanted the Lumbar support which I felt was worth the extra cost.

I picked up my MINI on Sept. 5 from Roadshow MINI in Memphis, TN, and drove down to New Orleans to Mississippi, and back up to Nashville, to Chicago, to South Dakota, to Iowa, to Nevada, to California, and everywhere in between. It was just my wife and I in the car, and we had a blast!

How quiet the ride is, is highly dependent on the condition of the road. If the road is smooth and newly paved, the ride will be surprisingly quiet. Trust me, I drove at 110mph on such a road, and about 90mph over a much older highway, and there was a night and day difference to the amount of road noise.

But it wasn't unbearable, just noticeably more noisy! I love the noise though. I love to hear the engine purr, to hear the tires squealing around mountain passes, to hear the steering motor whine in parking lots!

 

This weekend we will be taking a road trip to the Blue Ridge Mountains in Virginia from Miami. The journey is about 2000 miles roundtrip. We'll take my wife's 2002 Cooper CVT. It should be fun to use the Steptronic mode when driving up in the mountains, can't wait!.

We have taken the CVT in various roadtrips and the car has been comfortable and smooth as silk. No issues to report at 15K miles on the odo.

My new '04 MCS will stay home. I prefer to take it easy during the break in period as the car only has 500+ miles on the odo since I picked it up from the dealer 2 weeks ago. Next roadtrip will be in the S .