My first car was an orange 1975 850 Mini - it smoked, and leaked oil, overheated, misfired when the front mounted distributer got a little wet, clucking universal joints and CV joints, .........and it was fun to drive.

Recently we bought a 2012 Mini Cooper Hardtop, like new, with 25K miles on the clock - it is great, and I have done the first (for me) service last weekend and plan on keeping this up every 5K miles.

Many, not all, the horror stories I read here are a result of poor maintenance/upkeep - generally folks join a forum such as this when they've run into trouble, ....so it creates the impression that almost every owner has some issue with their Mini.

1975 Mini 850

 

My 2010 Clubman is a car that I ordered brand new and painfully waited almost 12 weeks to get. I have never been happier with a car. I love this little guy! It has had its share of fixes, all under warranty and all completed by a great dealership that takes pride in the brand.

I cannot say enough great things about the car, fun, fast, always gets attention.

It's not my daily driver, so it sits dry and under a cover most all of the winter months. Car has not seen the rain since 2012. I won't even take it out if there is a threat of rain. OCD I guess!

Love the car.

 

I purchased a 2007 MCS in December. It had 113000 miles on it. Now I've got 123000 miles on it. Most of my repairs have been delayed service. I've owned and daily driven 30 year old Porsches. The trick is keeping up on the service as they come due. Having started with dead cars and gotten them to reliable drivers that I've take. 50-70000 miles down the road I can tell you this is the trick. Learn where your car sits now and what comes next.

 

I got my 06 R53 within the last month - and it's been a blast. Loving the exhaust. Finding some things that need to be addressed, but that was expected. It has been fun thus far. Looking forward to a summer full of cruisin'

 

This is one of my favorite threads.

I just got back from a three hour round trip from. Waterfall. Super relaxing and did it solo. Not one hiccup

 

Nice.

 

Positive: After taking my car off the road on 2nd May 2015 due to a broken ring land on the piston, I have finished fully rebuilding it to a high forged spec and have completed 865miles of the 1,000 running in miles as of this morning.


Great to be back behind the wheel rather than just working on the engine like an engineering project :-)


Steven RW

 

Very glad to hear it's back on the road too. Very positive.

 

This is great. I am about to pass 50K on my 2013 S and I absolutely love it. Not one single problem other than some broken wires in the rear bumper causing the TPMS to fail, fixed under warranty.

Definitely keep up on maintenance and it will run forever. Also, don't be afraid to really DRIVE the car. It seems like most of the people on here who have all the problems especially with carbon buildup and misfires and whatnot always baby the car. By driving it hard it acts like a self cleaning oven and burns out all the stuff that causes problems. We have an 09 convertible that has 110K miles on it and never once needed a carbon cleaning and has been to the track at least 4 times.

Just replaced the turbo on it which was easier than expected and it runs like new. That was a freak thing where the waste gate actuator broke, but worse things have happened. So, instead of complaining I saw it as a great chance to dive into the N14 engine. Saved 3K over what the dealer wanted to charge...

I also run the pilot super sports on my 2013 hardtop and will never switch to anything else for the summer. The grip is unbreakable and honestly with this capable of a stock setup, it absolutely rips.

Running JB+, Alta hot side resonator delete boost tube, Alta cold air intake, GP2 rear diffuser, GP2 steering wheel, JCW carbon fiber shift ****, 8mm spacers.

Save the wave!

 

Speaking of the wave .. I been waving to other Mini owners - wave back dammit!

 

What I love about my Chili Pepper red '06 MCS 6spd is the fact that every drive feels exciting and fun. Even mundane trips to the store or whatever, always fun to drive and I am very happy with it.

 

It's Friday :D

 

Protons!

But on a serious note...I have a couple fun road trips planned for this summer in my Clubman

 

Everytime i wave to another MINI and they don't wave i think in my head well ****** you too. lol Glad to see people are enjoying this thread! Keep it up.

 

There's basically two different kinds of mini drivers, gear heads and sheep. I can usually spot the difference pretty easily and wave or nod to the gear heads and ignore the sheeple.

As for posting something positive I would really like to the only silver lining to my mini cooper is it still runs and smells good when it's not trying to kill me via carbon monoxide poisoning..

 

If your not a gearhead you are unworthy of a wave. What's up in your world?

 

I'm proud/happy when driving my JCW around.
And yeah I do all my own work maybe something
to that.
I get what ur saying - I think.
95% of other MINIs drivers could care less when
I beep or wave.

 

Positives for the justa:
Added FSDs last year - really nice improvement to ride and handling
Added Hotchkis competition RSB on mid setting same time as FSDs - wow...HUGE improvement
This year, replaced front and rear sway bar endlinks with beefier adjustable ones - hmmmm...seems a little bit better
Just before the Dragon, installed an Xbrace - combined with everything else = holy &$@%@&% @&#%!!!!!
Absolutely the most fun I've had in the almost 2 years I've owned it. Doesn't need to be an S to tear those curves apart. I look forward to upgrading some bushings up front for even more fun.

 

My 2013 JCW just turned 50K with no issues, and is still a scream to drive.
Finally got a chance to put it up on the lift today, QuickJack, and just go over it for the joy of just going over it. It's looking really clean right now.
I want to put the mud flaps on, front and rear, and found a fix to get around the JCW aero kit to fit up the rears, so I'm going to give it a go. Should give it a little bit of squatty, fat a_ ,look.

 

Post pictures when you do... I have the JCW body kit on my S and wanted to do mudflaps too... Also think about running some spacers. I run 8mm all the way around and its a nice fit. Really adds to the JCW look.

 

Would you mind posting a picture of your mini on the quickjack. Im thinking about getting one but am curious the lift height, etc etc, Thanks!

 

No problem. It is a nice setup.
I can do a more complete review if you, or anyone else, is interested. It's kind of a crappy picture, sorry.

 

Please do!
I only caught wind of these the past few months , been wanting one since

 

I'd be scared to crawl under that. How solid is it if someone leaned against the car while it is in the air?

 

...something positive.

Well I sold my 2008 JCW Mini. It only had 32,000 miles but died, DIED.
So yeah, after being really pissed and angry I am now happy to have it out of my life.

Bought a Toyota TRD TRuck w/ a 5yr 55,000 waranty! whew hoo....