I don’t know a single person I know who’s bought one (and that’s quite a few) who hasnt ended up regretting it.
I’ve seen more than enough horror stories first hand to never go anywhere near one.
A few friends of mine rate them, and one chap used to trade a few of them, who I keep in touch with quite well. He's had a couple for a while. The R56s I'd agree with. I don't know of almost anyone who was happy with one. Another friend with the 2.0 S lump really rates his. I don't like the styling of that one, but I can't deny, when I've driven it, it's a nice place to be, and it has been pretty reliable.
The TDLR version of what I'm going to say next is
-R50s had some build quality issues (I think the Rover design was more embedded in these and it showed)
-R53s seem to be the sweet spot to buy, but they are old, and a few issues I've seen above would go towards neglected cars with patchy histories at times.
-R56s MCSs I'd avoid by a country mile. The PSA 1.6 Turbo unit is terrible in them.
-The Mk3s seem to be fairly reliable in MCS tune, going by a couple of friends. They are well maintained however, and they haven't changed anything 'repair' worthy.
I've always fancied an R53 MCS, and several friends I known have owned one. Why?
-I liked the concept and styling. I was always a bit iffy about the loyalties, but the Longbridge boffins did have quite a bit of involvement in its design. A premium feel in a small car. It' something which would pave the way for other SuperMinis to follow. Some have tried and failed since, like the Vauxhall Adam.
-It's nice to have a British built car, supporting the local firms
-The Mini Coopers I've driven in R50 and R53 format have been a good drive. OK, not fast, but for insurance purposes, pretty good.
-They're a nice all rounder dynamically. They're pleasant enough on motorway journeys etc. for what they are, with the compromises to some degree. They're not as boring as an A3 8P to drive. The driving position is leagues ahead of what the Fiat 500 offers and makes the Pug 106 look like a joke.
-In terms of rustproofing, they're better than their contemporaries. Yes I know they rust now, but they are 20 years old now remember in R50/53 form.
I've said the good things? What about the bad?
-Midlands box as said was poor on early cars. It was carried over from the Rover 200/400.
-Some jobs are a nightmare on them. Gearbox/clutch almost requires the front end to be removed. Wishbones require the subframe lowering. That said, alot of cars have silly means for which to do things.
-The PSA unit in the R56s is a steaming pile of curse word. I'm sure some do live on, but it seems they don't take neglect very well at all. The folks I knew with them to be fair wouldn't probably maintain them as well as some folks would. But that's probably alot of folks out there that at can be said for, which will be reflected in the cars that often come up for sale. The non Supercharged versions don't seem too bad in comparison.
-When I was trying to buy an R53 MCS or R50/53 Cooper, many weren't maintained well. Several cars I'd see would not have been run with coolant, never serviced etc. It's part and parcel of cars in this range I supposed. But it does mean finding a good car out there will be tricky.
As an example.
Friend I mentioned above had an '04 Cooper, in good nick bar the clutch being a little high. It was on 132k, but with a good history, with things like brake fluid changes done, oil changes, the odd bush here and there etc. He had a few people offering to buy it off him in the car circles. One guy scoffed when my friend said he wanted £1.3k. His argument was with those miles, it wasn't worth it.
He then went and bought a 90k one with a patchy history etc. etc. for £800. That's now a £2.1k car. A mutual friend of my friend said to the chap, "Well, you should have bought our friend's". The mutual friend did, and it's serving him well
.
My ST220 was a good example. It had oil changes, but the rest of the car was neglected. I would end up changing alot of the cooling system, and braking system was poor as it had never seen brake fluid changes (fluid had dried onto the pistons and made them seize in, along with many coolant hoses being poor as well). But I did buy the car cheap enough to fix that up, and I was under no illusions on what I was buying.
Should have been called a BMW 0 Series, because they sure ain't Minis.
Here we go again....
I'm going to take the
Andrew Frankel view here regarding what he said about the new Defender (L663) and politely disagree, mainly as.
-The Original Mini in its last days was costly for Rover to make, and arguably was a failure when it was made (i.e it made no money). It was never going to last
-It also had changed alot from what the 50s design was meant to represent anyway. From a spartan interior, most late ones had walnut, and J cars even had AC.
There was a duality in what the car was towards the end. From someone wanting something cheap to drive about in, to the other extreme of a quick car or a style icon in city centres. Making a replacement was always going to be hard.
Rover were involved in the design of it. I think the first cars may have spent quite some time at Longbridge during their development. That IMHO shows with the flaws they had on the R50s, the gearbox and stupid designs on some areas.
Speaking to ex Rover and BL guys I've worked with in the industry, BMW did take a few things from Rover, including the Mini. It's rumoured the X5 and the 1 series were taken from Rover as well, the latter which was meant to replace the 200 and 400. But Rover didn't help themselves with relationships between Honda and BMW, from what I've been told from folks who were there, and seeing the legacy of what is left (the latter I'm not going to go into on a forum for pretty obvious reasons (i.e work impacts).
If you need a 4 seater small hatchback with a usable boot, I'd suggest that you look elsewhere. However, if you want something that looks cool and is a fashionable car, it's great. It's an opinion I have,based on having had a number of friends and work colleagues who've owned them. BMW themselves market it as following the Mini Brand, and every advert I see for it shows young people enjoying themselves with it. If that isn't all about style then I don't know what is.
