My wife and I moved recently and now her commute is going to be at least 130 miles per day or at least 35K miles per year. I have nothing against the Mini, but does it make sense to use the Mini as a commuter in your opinion? My main concern is owning a high mileage turbo, out of warranty expenses, reliability, etc...

Please prove me wrong and tell me these things are bullet proof and relatively affordable to maintain...

 

I commute 120 miles a day in my '08 MCS and it is great. I have had my car for just over two years and in addition to driving to and from work I have taken lots of trips, logged many MINI event miles and a handful of track days. My odometer will trip 110K miles within the next two days! I do a lot of preventative maintenance myself like oil changes, tire rotation, brake work, etc. My car has been to the dealer once for an oil change under warranty and once to replace a failed thermostat out of pocket, that's it. With the amount of fun I get out of driving the MINI and an average of 35 miles per gallon it's hard to beat. If you have to go a long way to get to work you just as well enjoy the drive. Hope your wife's commute includes some twisty roads!

 

just be gentil on the go peddle, and the gas mileage will be pretty good. If it's freeway driving, you can get 40 MPG if the roads aren't too hilly and one keeps to sane speeds.

On our Justa Clubbie, we often get well over 40 MPG on flat freeways. We have hills around here, with speeds around 70. The S will get a bit less, but not lots.

Matt

 

They have turbo engineering down pat nowadays.

I have two other vehicles, one with 220,000 miles and the other with about 180,000 miles, both with their original turbos. Never any problems with the engines.

Keep a light touch on the go pedal and you'll get great mileage.

Dave

 

Sounds great. Got my fingers crossed!

 

The only downside of driving a mini for that kind of commute is that it'll end.
The mini is a perfect car for commutes like that but if you have a lot of stop and go traffic, you may want to check out an automatic.

And before you groan "automatic", the autos in a mini are 6 speeds and a FREAKIN' blast.

Mark

 

and what trans do you have?

 

My only reservation is, if you have runflats, ditch them ASAP. A long commute is no place for tires that essentially feel like they came from a '70's plastic "Big-Wheel".

 

a long commute away from home is exactly the place you would want runflats.

They may be bumpy but they offer safety regular tires don't.

 

That's a lot of mileage spent in discomfort. A blowout is still a blowout. You won't be going very far on the runflats either. ...Get a AAA card and a Slime kit, ditch the wooden tires, and never look back. I'm sure you'll promptly chime in with some roadside flat-tire horror story of your very own, but the reality is blowouts are rare (obviously, bikers don't lose much sleep worrying about them), and the odds are just not worth dealing with many miles of vertabrae abuse.

 

The Continental run flats are way different from the other brands, they don't feel harsh at all!

Dave

 

I'd rather ride in discomfort (and frankly on 17" runflats I wouldn't call it discomfort) than have to walk 10 miles at night along a strange road because I had a flat without a spare in the middle of nowhere.

My story? Not mine, my wife's. Two pothole blowouts (separate times) and she didn't have to do anything but wait for me to get home and take it to the shop the next day. She wasn't in a dangerous place but she didn't have to go through the trouble of changing a tire.

 

Not at all true in my experience. In fact, if you like them so much, maybe you'll want to buy the set I took off my MCS last year. Only about 2k miles on them.

 

No problem long term with 130 mile commute, go for it.

 

The main problem with such a commute is that you'll blow through your maintenance and warranty rather quickly. At least, that's the case with my commute.

 

I have (smartazz..lol) a manual BUT that's ONLY because I started spending more and more time on the track.

If I didn't spend time on the track, I'd have an auto in a heartbeat. Mini's autos is probably one of the best automatics on the market...IMO.

Mark

 

It's probably easier and cheaper to have her get a job closer to where you live...lol

On a more serious note, how close is the place where the car will be serviced? If it's a long way, perhaps you should think of getting a Honda or Toyota what can be serviced anywhere. Parts and labor will be cheaper too.

 

Blashphemy!!!

Just kidding. I commute 80 miles a day in stop and go traffic with a manual and have taken a few road trips (added apx 6k in 2 months). The only thing that drives me up the wall about the car is the fact that I have to keep slowing it down. For the sake of your sanity, an auto would be easier... but less fun on the weekends.

Bear in mind that you will (as someone said) blow through the warranty pretty quickly and may want to consider oil changes yourself since the service intervals are kinda long. I have not serviced mine myself buuuuut I feel guilty every time I think about it.

 

I also have an 80 + mile commute each day in my MCSCm and I've been using the MINI as a daily commuter for about 5 months. No problems with it other than SUV tailgaters and a slightly rough ride on VA's less than well maintained interstates. From what I've read in the various postings I could probably improve the ride by ditching the run flats but it goes against my grain to get ride of nearly new tires! I'm slightly concerned about using up the extended warrenty before the car is paid off but I did purchase the 100K option so I guess we will see how it goes!

 

You will never find me commuting that much. I would kill a b**** on the road. I commute about 10 to 15 minute to and from work. I would lose my mind if I had to deal with being on the road for an hour.

 

I can appreciate the optimism of the replies here, but long term you have to keep in mind that BMW parts are no doubt more expensive than many other manufacturers. I've used my R56 as a daily driver for 31,000 miles and it's coming to the end since I'm going to be using the MINI as a track/summer fun ride. Yes, what type of driving you expose the MINI too does determine long term reliability, but I know better that track driving 3-5 times a year will accelerate part breakdowns.

If I was not tracking my MINI at all I would use it as a daily driver and take the risk. It's so much fun as a daily driver. Going from driving my R56 to driving my Neon is a gigantic difference in driving quality and fun

Also, buy the manual trans. I put up with Detroit traffic every weekday just fine. There is just no substitute on a MINI.

 

Right now, we have the Mini Cooper S, a 2008 Scion XB, and desperately still need to buy an SUV (preferably a used Denali in the $16K - $19K range). I was trying to convince the wife to trade in the Mini to help buy the Denali and then buy a used Yaris so we would both have two cheap econo cars for high mileage commutes, but she won't budge.

After a long talk of going back to forth, we decided to keep the Mini Cooper S ($12K left in payments), and either payoff the XB ($6,900 left in payments) or trade it in for used Justa-Clubbie. I guess my main concern was commuting with the Mini. If the overall consensus is that it is somewhat reliable, then I'd be willing to to trade in the XB for a clubman as well to have two Minis in the family. Does that seem like a bad idea? Right now, the XB easily transports 4 of us comfortably, is super reliable, and get about 30mgp on the freeway.

 

I've had my Clubman S since Oct 08, was driving 120 RT Detroit Metro, now driving 180 RT daily, I bought the extended warranty (no self maintenance here), I have a manual and have driven the autos, but I DO NOT LIKE the auto shifting on the loaner Clubmans I've driven. My car handles well in the snow (haven't had to drive in more than the 6" of clearance of the suspension, but have driven it in 4" and it does great). I've had to drive the Auto shifter loaner in an inch of snow and was MISERABLE! I get 30mpg reliably, but I'm usually doing 80-85mph, surely would do better at lower speeds, but that's not how we drive here.
Other than brake dust, chrome scoop issues and initial rear doors popping open for no reason, no real problems. My runflats went about 30K before swapping em out for the next set ($900- OUCH!), but I don't want to be out in the boonies when a tire goes.

 

How much for the extended warranty?

 

I need to clarify, it's not really an extended warranty, more of an extended service agreement... I can't remember how much I paid, however it did leave a bit of a mark.