Keen to hear the pro's & con's of a Cooper S; manual vs auto. Had a look at the weekend - not alot of boot space though.Any other car recommendations/comparisons for the price range of Cooper S. Thanks :)
rob_man,
Sep 20, 6:04pm
The late 60s models were awesome. Never saw an auto.
kenw1,
Sep 20, 6:06pm
The real mini cooper S was never made in an auto, just the fake copies.
gadgit3,
Sep 20, 6:08pm
Sweet little cars. not to many good examples of the S round these days. Can't say I'v ever seen an auto either
cjohnw,
Sep 20, 7:05pm
The new BMW Mini Cooper S!
I had a 2003 and had it for about four years. Sold it at about 55,000km. Never missed a beat. Fun little car to drive, awesome handling especially on the open road. One drawback in my view is the run-flat tyres - which Make for a hard ride and are very expensive to replace. And of course reasonably expensive parts and servicing. But a lot of fun, and they are a bit of a head turner. Mine was a manual, as all of them were at that vintage.
smac,
Sep 20, 7:45pm
Nice car. Over priced.
fordcrzy,
Sep 20, 7:47pm
i take it you were talking about the cooper!
pebbles61,
Sep 20, 7:47pm
Get a Riley Elf or Wolseley Hornet. A mini with a little class!
smac,
Sep 21, 6:19am
Well i had an Elf, and believe me there was nothing classy about it!
gedo1,
Sep 21, 6:41am
Hmmmmsmac!I think he perhaps mis-spelt the word class!Too many letters!
kcf,
Sep 21, 7:19am
My Riley Elf was always out to kill me.Kept bashing my head on that stupid freakin hanging down grill, and the boot was near impossible to get into without it mousetrapping closed on me.
Oh how I hated that car.
smac,
Sep 21, 7:43am
Why were you trying to get into the boot!!
richardmayes,
Sep 21, 9:59am
I had a ride in a Riley Elf once. Gorgeous little car.
Something very right about roaring along the highway at 100km/h in a mini with a polished wooden dash and nice chrome-rimmed instruments!
socram,
Sep 21, 3:01pm
OP Hasn't confirmed old or new S. As regards Elf/Hornet, I detached the rad grille from the bonnet and mounted it to the front panel.Easy fix.Doing the same to the project V8. Modern S - had mine (new) since Dec 2002 and still treat it like a new car as it was the first new car I had ever owned.Only hiccup to date has been the BMW(!) steering rack that needed sorting.A known weakness I am told. As for run flat tyres.I hit a rock or something on the Waikato Expressway in May.Wrecked the front tyre but got me home OK.Older tyres no longer available so had to get two new ones - they are now directional.Total cost was about $540 for the two, fitted (I think).No more expensive than any other decent branded tyre of that size.Boot space is small, but rear seats fold flat so no issue for me. Extremely economical driven sensibly with 6th gear able to be used at a very modest speed indeed.Economy to date7L/100 overall. Still on the original battery. Even survived a three month lay off though I had left the battery on a modern charger.Fired first kick even on the crap fuel until I could add some fresh. According to my accountant, it is now valued at about $2,300 with the claimed depreciation.I think I'd get a fair bit more than that for it if I sold it.
sw20,
Sep 21, 4:54pm
Don't waste your money on the new Mini Cooper.
Buy a Renault Clio Sport 2.0 . They run rings around the Mini for half the price.
mandy1971,
Sep 25, 2:45pm
I have a 2003 Mini cooper S and luv it, a fast zippy lovely car to drive, I would have a mini over a Renault anyday :)
kcf,
Sep 27, 7:01am
Have you driven the Renault mentioned!How did it compare to the Mini that you own!
fordcrzy,
Sep 27, 4:03pm
if you have 25K to spend on a sports car. but a new shape 2006+ Mazda MX5.
at least it has a bigger boot than a new mini.:)
stevo2,
Nov 26, 5:45pm
And drives a whole heap better
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