I am just wondering how reliable the new minis are. i might look into getting a 2003 mini cooper and does anyone know how many miles they can do. i know a bmw 3 series can go up to 200k, would a new mini be that reliable?

I've heard they are pretty poor. I know of 3 people who have had them and quickly got rid because the repair bills were mounting up. Although my mums best friend has had 3 of them so....?!

Right, i can only tell you my experience.

I own a old mini and suring the winter i needed somthing a little bit more comfy and relaible and as my insurance company is a little strange the only thing i could get insured on was a new mini or an old one...

I bought a 2003 mini cooper white "s" wheels white roof and mirror caps the car looked great!!

To cut a long story short i hated it, it didnt have any poke below 4500 rpm and when it did it was doing silly mpg which resulted in me driving it below 2000 everywhere and still getting bad mpg

The ride was to stiff and didnt handle very well although i am comparing it to my old one..

When i wanted to just sit back relax and potter around the clutch is hard the brakes were awful it just seems like a very heavy car..

The interior was the worst though everything creaks and is made from shit quality plastics not a nice place to be i had the half leathers and they were comfy to be fair!

All of these points made me get rid after around 4 weeks I've wanted one since they were released but having owned one (this one could have just been a bad one) i would not buy or want to drive one again!

As ror relaibility mine developed a alternator squeek a lack of power and possibly not minis fault but the factory painted wheels started flaking (not from kurbing) and gave me slow punctures all in the space of 4 weeks

I did do alot of miles and it never actually "broke down"

I work for Audi and to be honest the german quality is second to none in my opinion!

I would like to stress that these are my experiences. your or other peoples on here may be good ones. i dont want to start a argument which is where alot of these threads go unfortunatly.

The reliability (if it's an older new mini make sure it's not the batch with exploding brakes!) on them will be up to BMW standards so very good but IMO (looked at alot Of convertible hatches when the bird was deciding which car to get!) they aren't worth the money they demand! You don't get as much as say a mg tf or 206 cc or similar. But if your after a hard top I feel it's even worse as there's more hatches to choose from!

Edited 27 June, 201016 yr by Pepe

used to drive a remapped cooper S [the earlier supercharged one] at my old job and driving wise i thought it was really good

pretty damn fast and stuck to the road, plus the noise of the charger was mint

however it was crampt [i'm 5ft 9 and my legs barely fit under the steering column], the interior was 'quirky' but in real life when trying to use it, pretty shit coz nothing was where u expect it to be, and the ride was very very harsh

that said if you want something to rip around in id go for one, just tint the windows harshly lol

also a mate of mine has had 1 cooper, and 2 cooper S's, and the one that was very unreliable is his facelifted shape cooper S with the turbo'd pug engine. has had 10k + of warranty work done to it!

http://www.clubpolo.co.uk/forum/index.php?...p;#entry1795850

thats not really got much to do with anybody's opinion who has owned or driven one, just you getting irate about how well they hold their value

Edited 28 June, 201016 yr by doug

I looked into these..only the JCW ones though. Fancied some of that supercharger whine in my life! BUT have you ever been in one?! There so plasticy and flimbsy. Put me right off to say its a bmw.

With some research, on the owners club forums they do have there faults, Headgasket failures at 50k, Gearbox issues just like a polo GTI. If you do buy one make sure its a cherished mini!