MINIS are not very well built cars, but I love mine & will keep it for a long time. I have an R53, used it as a daily commuter for the first year & a half that I owned it, but realized that it just wasn't meant for that kind of use. Something would break every two months or so, and I started to get pissed. I bought an 8 year old Honda Civic with a 100,000 miles on it, have used it as my daily commuter for two years, put another 50,000 miles on it and nothing has gone wrong with it. The MINI lives in my garage, I take her out on the weekend to play & that has worked out great, no unforseen problems. She's happy, I'm happy, and driving a Civic everyday makes the MINI experience that much better, it feels so tight & responsive and is just plain exciting when I drive it now. Every nite when I get home I go in the garage, give her a pat on the roof & look over my shoulder for one last look & think about the fun I'll have once the weekend comes. Would I recommend one to a friend? Depends on the person & how they'll use it. Ad a daily driver, no, as a toy or a project car? Most definitely. Would I buy again? In a heartbeat.

 

I've had my R56 for exactly 2 weeks and LOVING it! Granted, it's still early though, but I always look forward eagerly to driving it . I don't think I had that with my last car (Saturn SC2), even through it was fun to drive.

Maybe it'll wear off, but somehow I doubt it.

Would I buy again? If the car get totalled (perish the thought! ) today, I'd order exactly the same thing, except maybe throw in NAV, if only to access more settings via NAV that I can't via OBC. And if I get NAV, may as well as throw in PDC too.