My MINI, Cosmo, as she's rarely called, came home from the dealership exactly one year today! And I'm still smiling about as big as the day I bought her. Within a years' time I put on 29,956 miles on the odometer , have already been through the first and second inspections, and burned through the original runflat tire set! The brakes are ok for the time being, but will probably be changed before I go Dragon huntin'! So, here's 'MINI: A Year In Review'!

Likes:
- Handling!!!! Pure bone-stock suspension, and it still outhandles the vast majority of what's on the road!
- Speed. Granted, it's certainly not the fastest thing on the road, but those 115 horses do work their butt off! Plus, you don't need too much speed when chucking her around corners and bends! Plus, on the highways, she's surprisingly speedy, and of course agile enough to get around those SUV's!
- Looks. It's a MINI! You can't mistake it for anything else on the roads. And you gotta love how it (still!) brings smiles to young and old! (You ever seen a small kid smile and wave at a Civic?! )
- Small, yet big. You gotta love squeezing it into little tiny parallel parking spaces! Yet, somehow, when you're inside, it seems like the interior is twice the size of the outside of the car! I just had a 6'2" buddy of mine go for a ride for the first time in a MINI, and he couldn't believe how roomy it was! (Must be the 'spacial distortion field' put out by the box behind the sunroof on the headliner! )
- It's just plain fun! The car really does handle and drive like an oversized go-kart! How could you not love that? Much nicer than that tank of a Nissan Maxima I drove for 9 months!
- DCMM. Making sure that I squeeze every last drop of fun from the car! (And helping me rack up those miles! )

But of course, to every yin, there's a yang:

Dislikes:
- Windshield. A relatively upright windshield, the rigidity of the MINI, and crappy OEM glass = broken windshields. I'm on my second, and I suspect it won't be my last.
- Rattles. When I find and stop one, I hear another! It seemed to be the worst in winter, though. And all of the big ones are gone.
- Paint. It's waaaay too soft. Granted, I do a lot of highway driving, but the front of the bonnet looks like it was sandblasted! Plus, I have a handful of hairline scratches of unknown origin. Oh well - next time I don't skimp on the clear-bra!
- Umm, it runs on gas which costs money?

So far, she's been to the Dragon once, upstate NY a couple times, NYC a couple times, Richmond, VA once, NJ a bunch of times, and all around the DC / Baltimore greater areas nearly every day! No wonder I have 30k miles!

Service wise, I've had a minor collection of warranty issues. I had the ECU updated twice (once for stalling, then again for the emissions recall), twice for a non-functioning speaker (first time, the speaker was cracked and replaced, the second time, they securely plugged the speaker back in ), and once for a coolant flush. Certainly not major items in any way! Oh yeah, and a windshield that the dealership wouldn't cover due to the crack being from a rock impact, not a stress crack ( ). *coughBScough* I didn't fight it much though, as I wanted aftermarket glass anyway, and besides, my windshield was so pock-marked it was getting hard to see through!

So, all in all, I gotta say that I'm at least as happy with my MINI now as when I first drove it home! Hope you all are having at least as much fun!

-Paul!

 

Paul,

That's an interesting read. Sorry to see the windshield mentioned.

I put together a similar post back in 2003 about my first year with my '02. My mileage in the first year was pretty close to yours (29004) and like you I had windshield problems (5 windshields in the first year. ) Fortunately my windshield problems ended at #5 when I had a PPG windshield installed. Also, for all of my problems in the first year (10 trips to the dealer for warranty work), I haven't had any probelms with the car since then.

Dave

 

Thanks for the great review Paul! Happy Birthday Cosmo...

Donna
02' CR/W MCS (gone to MINI heaven)
05' Cool Blue MCSC

 

I notice that you don't mention the fact that when you leave your car a touch dirty and show up at any sort of a MINI gathering --- you tend to find things written on the car??? Hmmm would that be a like or a dislike?

I'm betting on like ---since we all know that Cosmo likes the attention.

Congrats on a year old!!!

Hugs,
PB

 

My 2004 MCS turned one year old on 30 March. I gave the Lil Red Rocket a spring cleaning inside and out and filled the tank up and went for a long drive with the sunroof open listening to my favorite tunes. Is this a good B-Day present or what? BTW I only have 6650 miles on her. Like new and no problems yet.