My mini is my daily driver, I've put 20k miles in over a year and a half. I commute 50 miles a day and the mini has been great so far.

 

'03 Cooper 30kmiles in 13 months. Use everyday and in severe north east US weather,snow, ice, salt on roads. Car is perfect.. don't worry car is just as good as any modern vehicle. but higher quality. If you like the MINI's looks and can enjoy the small size and releted idiosyncrasies you will not be dissapointed. I took a chance on the MINI with faith that BMW would not make a bad car. The MINI has not let me down, always starts in all weather even 15 below zero and I have driven in -24 f! No rattles, you can let go of steering wheel and it still goes straight down the road,no vibrations either. Heats like a sauna, defroest evenly, goes great in snow. 29-34 mpg.

 

I agree. My MCS is so much fun that my partner and I debate which one of us gets to drive it, even in the snow and salt of upstate NY. What would anyone want to drive something less fun, unless they didn't really want to drive at all?
>>Why would anyone own a second car? If I had one it would only sit in the garage collecting dust.
>>
>>My wife owns a van, but all I drive is the MCS. And when we go out as a family (9 and 11 year old boys) we take the MCS...except for overnights with luggage.

 

>>I agree. My MCS is so much fun that my partner and I debate which one of us gets to drive it ...

Perhaps you should consider of getting another one. I think partners having matching cars is quite romantic. :smile:

 

Between my wife and me, we have 4 cars and 2 sports bikes. By far, MINI is the most fun to drive, except for the bikes.

 

It's definietly an everydayt car. It is not my only car. My other car is a Z06 Corvette. My MCS is more of an everyday car than that. It great that it's a hatchback because you can fold the rear seats down and carry a lot. I'm an ice hockey goalie and my two large hockey bags and sticks fit perfectly in the back.

I drive a lot for my job, I drive between 500 and 1,000 miles a week and it's great as an everyday car. Drives great in the rain and very well in the snow with snow tires, and most importantly is a BLAST to drive.

Stick with the Mini,

RaceCarDriver

 

She's my everyday, and only, car. 17,300 miles in 10 wonderful months of ownership. She still makes me smile every time I start her up!

I am a single person so she's plenty big for my needs. I've had two full grown men sitting in the back seats at the same time, one of whom was over 6'3", and both were surprised and impressed with the amount of room. I wouldn't keep them there for more than 30 minutes, but for getting around town it's just fine. (I'm only 5'2" so there was plenty of leg room for the guy sitting behind me.)

Likewise I've had my sister-in-law and two nephews, with two boogie boards, towels, pails, sunhats, a very large beach bag, etc. all packed in the car with room to spare. This car holds an amazing amount of stuff!

And of course you can't beat a MINI for fun! She's been in the shop a few times (bumper replacement from two different fender-benders) and every time I have to drive a rental car I hate it! And one of my loaners was a BMW 3 series! The last time I got her back from the shop she put just as big a grin on my face as the first time I picked her up from the dealer. In fact, I'd say that the biggest detriment to owning a MINI is the number of miles you'll put on it!

 

That's the plan!

>>>>I agree. My MCS is so much fun that my partner and I debate which one of us gets to drive it ...
>>
>>Perhaps you should consider of getting another one. I think partners having matching cars is quite romantic. :smile:
:smile:

 

My MC is my only daily driver (12 months,14K miles). In fact, since I take some cool back roads to work every day, its one of my big motivators for getting out of bed at 5 a.m.! I have another car but my daughter drives it....so the MINI is ALL MINE!!!! BWAHAAHAA!

_________________
'03 IB/W Cooper

 

Mines a daily-driver. The only thing I disagree with in any of these posts are the comments about rear seat space. The rear seat is fine for 2 adults, only downside is the trunk. That said I did take both my parents golfing with all 3 of our golf bags (just drop one rear seat and the bags slide in just fine.

I would suggest taking seriously the comments in various posts about getting 16" wheels not 17s. I ignored these comments, and feel that the ride improvements would be worth the minor loss in handling. Frankly the handling is so far beyond outrageous that the difference between the MCS with 16" rims and 17" is like the difference between a Marenelo and an F40....

 

MCS in the good weather and Expedition in this weather.
East coast roads are already full of pot holes and not getting any better.

 

My Audi Allroad is my daily driver...and the Mini is for fun...and I do drive it a lot each week.

Cheers
jon

 

The only time I don't drive my MINI is if My wife and I need to haul something to large for the MINI. If that is the case, we take her Izusu Rodeo. It's nice to have both options, but the MINI is for sure an everyday car if you need it to be.

 

it is my everyday car. I still have my old car but it never gets driven!

 

The first day I had my MINI I realized that I'd never drive my old Acura Integra again! My original plan was to trade off and save miles on the MINI. So within a few weeks I bought another MCS!! Used, totally modded out. Traded my old Acura for some landscaping work.

Normally I do about 20K miles a year. Due to work and all the MINI activities I've done 24K in 7 months!!!

Love my MINI's!!

 

One of the downsides of being self-employed is that your car doubles as a company car. My MINI wears many hats - a delivery vehicle, a mobile office, transport for clients - and it handles all of its duties with aplomb. I see no reason why it cannot be used as a "everyday" or primary car.

I tend to put a load of miles on my vehicles. In June of 2003 I had purchased a new 2003 Honda Accord sedan. I sold it in November with nearly 17k miles on it. Nearly all city stop-and-go miles. The Subaru Forester 2.5XT I bought in November on Thanksgiving weekend had 3,750 miles on it when I traded it in on the MCS the week after Christmas. Now, coming up on a month in the MCS, I have nearly 2,600 miles on it.

The MINI is not my only car, though. I also have a 1992 GMC Sierra C1500 for hauling big things, a 1988 Dodge Shadow ES Turbo for when I want to go fast (don't get cocky, MINI owners, because the Chrysler 2.2 can put down a reliable 350 horsepower for 1/3 the cost of a JCW kit), and a 1983 VW Rabbit Cabriolet for when Michelle (a.k.a. She Who Must Be Obeyed) wants to go driving around topless. .

 

Daaaaaaaaang! That's a lot of cars, my friend. How do you manage to put so many miles on the MINI with so many other vehicles at hand?

 

My Mini is one of the daily drivers in my house. It's 48 miles round trip to work. For those of you in the mid-atlantic and new england area you can attest too that I tend to put a lot of miles on my mini attending mini meets in all sorts of places!
Example: you will see me at Deal's Gap for sure this year!

So far 23K miles and my one year anniversary of ownership is coming up on Feb 13th, 2004! I've averaged about 22-25K miles a year on a car for the last 6 years or so. Have no complaints about using my Mini as a daily driver, other than she gets dirty often
:???:

 

It will be our third car- 2000 Saturn SL & 2000 Dodge full-size van. The Saturn is the wife's car & the MINI will be mine (the van will then be "the beater" for when the waether is bad & the MINI gets to stay nice and warm in the garage). I imagine I'm going to have a bit of shock to deal with going from a full-size van to a MINI! :smile:

 

My MCS is my only car (besides the wife's Passat). If I had enough $$$ for two cars I'd probably own a Nissan pickup and a Miata. The MCS is the best blend between the two - hauls butt and is fun to drive but with the hatch back it's also functional enough for the occasional Home Depot trip.

 

The MINI is my daily driver. It has served me incredibly well for a year and a half. :smile:

 

The MINI is an ideal car for commuting, IMHO. Good mileage, fun, slices up the traffic and gets away from stoplights in a hurry. When we had to get some work done on our other car last week, I had to commute in our friend's 92 Pathfinder while my wife drove the MCS. All I can say is that the trip to and from work is about 1,000 times more fun in the MCS than in the truck.

 

Daily Driver = Daily Delight!
36k, 17 months of pure driving satisfaction.

God speed.

 

I commute 50 miles one way at least 5 days a week. My mini had some issues initially , but those were taken care of under warranty no problem. I've put 10k miles on it since august. And it isn't my only car. But it is quite practical, and for me I do drive it pretty much every day. When the weather is crappy and snowy or I need to haul stuff, I drive an old toyota 4x4 pickup. My baby is a 79 landcruiser fj40, totally not practical, but I will never part with it. So it's safe to say the mini IS a good daily driver by my book. If you never need to haul mass quantities of cargo or people, a mini is practical, but more importantly fun choice.

 

The Mini hasn't worked out as a daily driver for me. I was planning to use it for running my boys around (they are two and four), but their safety seats pushed them so far forward that they were always kicking the backs of the front seats. Plus, the Mini isn't really a very good highway car. I picked up a Honda Civic for the times when I have to run the boys around. The Honda is also a great car for long interstate trips (good ride, good climate control, big trunk, decent stereo, excellent cruise control, doesn't use much gas).

If I weren't a convertible junkie, I wouldn't need any other cars. My Miata is my daily driver for the times when I don't have any passengers or cargo and the weather is nice enough (not raining, temperature over about 50 degrees and less than about 95). The MCS is the A car for inclement weather and carrying things. (Yes, it's stupid for us to have three cars in addition to the wife's minivan. She is a very understanding girl to let me get away with it.)