Mini Cooper S

DezUk

DezUk

DezUk

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Joined
20 Sep 2003
Posts
2,386
Location
Scotland
Hi all,

given the really bad snow up here in the past 2 years and increased running costs the wife and I are thinking of downsizing our BMW 330ci M sport convertable (2003) in favour of a 02-06 Mini Cooper S.

Whats the score re. running costs such as fuel, service, tyres, road tax performance etc.

What are the things to look out for on them?

Finally what are they like to drive and own?

Will I be disappointed in my change?

Just newly married and have a mortgage to pay.

Any other cars along this line which we should consider?
 
A 2003 Cooper S is not going to be any cheaper to run than a 330Ci. The tyres wont be much cheaper, it will have similar fuel economy, the road tax is the same, and servicing costs are similar.
 
What Fox said.

My GF has an 02 Cooper, and its expensive. New tyre was £160, same BMW servicing costs as a 3 series, and official Mini parts are official BMW parts therefore the same official BMW prices as a 3 series.

Its effectively going to be the same as your 330, just funkier looking, and slower, with less space inside it.

If your downsizing a BMW because of costs, you are going to have to look elsewhere than just another BMW...
 
I probably got unlucky but my Mini Cooper S cost me more to run in the 18 months that I had it than my 911 C2S did! I don't really understand why BMW attach their name to these, I found mine to be *very* poorly built and the spares/parts are outrageously expensive over here, almost up there with Porsche.
 
[ui]ICEMAN;18245156 said:
I probably got unlucky but my Mini Cooper S cost me more to run in the 18 months that I had it than my 911 C2S did! I don't really understand why BMW attach their name to these, I found mine to be *very* poorly built and the spares/parts are outrageously expensive over here, almost up there with Porsche.
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Wow!

I never considered these to cost that much to run!

Personally I actually didn't like the Cooper S, I drove one of the newer turbo'd ones but found the other stuff I drove at the same time (Focus ST and Golf GTi to be better).
 
i never liked the look of the Cooper S so i never even bothered test driving it when hot hatch hunting.

Are parts/servicing really that expensive on them?
 
Ok well thanks for the replies thats put me right of one of those. The budget for a replacement would be about 4k with the idea of hopefully getting 9k for the BMW. Want something with lower running costs that works in the snow and has some of the nice comforts of the 330. Any suggestions?
 
The snow? Do you have much at the moment? Seems pretty kneejerky to me. Isnt it easier to just buy a car you want and have some more suitable tyres on hand for if it snows?
 
[TW]Fox;18247427 said:
The snow? Do you have much at the moment? Seems pretty kneejerky to me. Isnt it easier to just buy a car you want and have some more suitable tyres on hand for if it snows?
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Well, he does live in scotland :p
 
My ex had a JCW and it was so thirsty!

Her tax was £250 a year I think. Servicing was quite cheap, as at that age you get the fixed service costs so it's £99 for a standard service.

Tyres were £90 a corner when she stayed with the run flats, and then £70 when she didn't on 17"

They're a hoot to drive, very run and definitely do handle brilliantly. I love the whine you get from the supercharger. But I wouldn't want to be in there for long journeys. Being a passenger isn't much fun either especially if you're tall. And being in the back is even worse, if you're quite tall then expect to be very uncomfortable after a while

Oil leaks on the sub gasket are apparently quite common and she had to go in several times for hers. But other than that it's been great for her. No other work needed at all
 
Steedie where are those figures from? None of them look right at all. Only £90 for a 17" Mini Cooper S RFT? Really? They are loads more than this?

There is no such thing as a 'Standard Service' on a Cooper S, they use the same Inspection style regieme as say an E46. None of them are £99 under Value Service - the cheapest is the oil service was £109, an Inspection II for example is £270?
 
Ah sorry, I still had the number from the service in my head, god knows why I wrote £90. Yeah you're right, they were £145 for Pirelli Euforia tyres. Don't ask, she wanted to stick what was previously on there. But non run flats were definitely 70 each or around there

And I know for a fact we definitely paid £99 for a service. On the mini dealership in Oxford, they advertise for any Mini older than a certain age, you have a fixed price plan and for a standard service it's £99. This was last summer we last paid that
 
Steedie said:
And I know for a fact we definitely paid £99 for a service. On the mini dealership in Oxford, they advertise for any Mini older than a certain age, you have a fixed price plan and for a standard service it's £99. This was last summer we last paid that
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This is the BMW Value Service product range but there is no such thing as a 'Standard Service' on a Mini and there never has been. I've already posted the prices of the Value Service range - they should be standardised across dealers as thats the point in this particular product range (Though you can sometimes haggle individually).

It applies to any Mk1 Mini - ie, 2001-2006.

If you think they were offering a 'Standard Service' then I can only assume you were mistaken. As I said, even the lowest service, the Oil Service, costs more than £99 (Though with some chatting you could probably get it done for £99).

Edit: Infact actually the Mini dealer in Oxford has the prices on the website:

http://www.oxfordmini.co.uk/our_services/value_service/

As you can see, no 'Standard Service' and no £99 options either.

It's important to get things right when giving people advice.
 
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It definitely wasn't more than £99, I remember as I was the one that had to fork out for it as she forgot her card. We didn't haggle either as that was the price we saw it advertised at on a sign up in the dealership. And yeah sorry, not standard service, it was just an oil service.

Can we not go into another multi post debate until one of us just gives up again? I've done it before with you and it is so frustrating. I know how much I paid, and whether that was wrong on their part or some sort of offer they had on at the time, it was definitely what I paid. I'll even go as far as to go find my receipt and post it up here if you think I'm mistaken
 
Ah, so you've now said it was actually just the Oil Service. Perfectly possible that you'd get that for £99 - but as I've said it's the lowest and cheapest service anyway, the other two types of service are more expensive.
 
I've just told you I got that wrong, it was an oil service.

And fine, I will do that as soon as I'm home

And it is important to get things right yes, good job I have then isn't it :)
 
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