The 05 is going to have much lower gearing than the 04. I'm not sure of the exact change, but 1st and 2nd gears have been made much shorter to improve off the line acceleration. At 75-80 MPH cruising on the highway I'm between 3k and 3200 RPM's.

As others have said, it certainly makes you need to shift out of first and second much quicker than on the old car, but I enjoy the peppy acceleration . My 04 was HEAVILY modified, so I never got to experiance the 04 gearbox by itself. I actually had shortened gears as part of those modifications.

 

Improve off line is another way to say 'too many people stall it' .... aka the stumbling problem....

First thing I was told when I went in to test drive an S in Oct '02: slip the clutch off the line..... if ya don't know how to do dat w/out burning da clutch ya probably dun't want an 02

IMPOSSIBLE to slip and not burn you say? ... wellllllll, I got 65k on my clutch and it is FINE thank you. The clutch on my 110k Miata is doing fine too..... need someone to explain double clutch or heel and toe?

I expose myself*&*: I think the 02 was a driver's car and the down-tuning started almost immediately....sad really. Soften the suspension....change the gearing.

Hey, guess what? There ain't a SINGLE cup holder in my '79. Damn...sell that puppy, huh?

 

I would lean towards the 05-06 models. The bugs are all worked out, better gearboxes, etc.

 

Wow, thanks for the feedback guys!
I didnt expect such a huge response where do i start...

Ok well the warranty situation is figured out because im pretty close to a MINI dealer (one hour tops) and prices actually arent that bad there.

As for model year, I dont think I can ge beyond 03 because of how much the insurance jacks up for the newer car being bought by an 18-year-old-single-male .:cringe:., and also because of the price increase of the newer models (past 03 takes every certified pre-owned mini above $20k, which is past my budget)

Upon seeing someone mention heel/toe shifting, I got really interested. Im definitely obsessed with driving technique and cars and now Minis, and I have NEVER thought about the pedal layout and i was too nervous to try it while test-driving. How is the layout for heel and toe? I do know that the throttle is *perfect* for blip-downshifting... I did it without thinking in a test drive and i got the gears all synced with no problem on the first try I dont know thats because of the mini's awesome gearbox or my driving!

Again, thanks for all the help and to answer one persons response about my attitude towards minis: there is no other choice. I think I'm just doing all of this research so i can tell my parents that its ok that im blowing all my cash on a liittle hatchback! I'm not the so-so type, I cant freaking WAIT! thanks guys

 

well,
I bought my '06 MCS about 2 weeks ago...
It had 8200 mi on it (built in Aug '05, Del. in Sept. '05)
The car now has 9800 mi on it...

All that has been done are....
Break-in oil change (according to dealer records)
And then Service 1 (when I picked it up)

Other than that, gas was added when needed...

But then again, my time of ownership has been rather small

 

Dare I ask where you got your Dark Silver Owners Club roundel?

TIA!

 

HOW DARE YOU ASK!

only kidding...

Here you are... all the badges you want AND more!

https://www.northamericanmotoring.co...ad.php?t=71218

 

I never had any issues with stalling it when I test drove one, but it certainly was slow off the line, first gear just went on forever. They shortened it to improve the off the line characteristics, and make it faster (And did, it was nearly a half second faster in the 0-60 just from the gearing change and a 5 HP bump)

 

Heel-toe works fine . As with most cars, it's not so much heel toe, as left side of your foot, right side of your foot, haha. I rev match all my downshifts, and use heel-toe braking when i'm coming up to a stop that i'll need to slow down at and turn in a lower gear.

 

Ok, you sound a lot like me. I'm 22 and have the MINI as my college car. I was double clutching and heel-toe downshifting by 18 . The pedal layout is pretty nice. You will have to roll the outer half of your shoe over to the accelerator pedal instead of using your heel. It is a bit of a pain due to the slow throttle response but it seems to work out perfectly when you REALLY need to do it. It hardly ever works out out when your just BS-ing around town and try a heel-toe.

While I wouldn't mind the lower gears of the newer models, the tall 6th on '02 and 03's is nice for highway cruising. It gives you an extra mpg or two. Launching can be a bit of a pain to get right sometimes without slipping the clutch too much (at least IMO). I don't launch hard (I try to do my hard driving in gears, not between them) and I've found the MINI can launch pretty well without bogging or excess slipping at just above idle. It's not great for drag races but I want to avoid a new clutch for as long as possible.

As was already pointed out, the early cars also had stiffer suspensions which is a plus in my book.

 

To continue with the MINI's reliability, would the problems experienced if happened out of warranty be "big ticket" items or more on order of what serviceable items would run (like brakes, shocks, etc....in terms of cost)

 

Awesome, it does sound like youre the guy to talk to! yeah im a freshman going to Daniel Webster College in New Hampshire, while my home is in southern CT, so I need a car right away so I can actually move around. Im definitely a driver, my dad's been teaching me how to drive stick since I was 13, so I'm pretty good at all the heel-toe, rev-matching, and double clutching stuff! Glad to hear the Mini is a good drivers car though, Im getting reeeally sick of driving my 95 volvo 850 glt wagon. At least its got a 5 speed

 

I like my 04 MCS very much, it's not the fastest car I've ever own but definitely one of the most enjoyable car I ever drive.

 

There are a few "big ticket" items I have heard of..
power steering motor is one of them.$500 to $600 repair w part (independant MINI shop) a friend of mine had to replace on an a used 2002 MCS he had for 1 day..
This car will cost you more to service and repair than most other makes IMHO. If money is a concern, I would not look to the MINI as they are far from economical...(even with a non dealer mechanic)

 

It's too late now...I'm too much of a driver and this car is too much fun! I cant wait till June when I can buy one!