THSCC Forums

Anyone have information on the car as a daily driver? How about typical repairs needed? I'm looking for something to replace my 2006 Acura TL which now has 210k miles. Still a fine car but not sure I want to run it for another 100k miles.

I would use the Mini for daily driving and not for the track....at all!

Thanks

Ron

$400 will replace a lot of parts on an Acura TL.

$400 isn't enough to cover just the cost of a power steering pump for a Mini.

I'd personally err on the side of caution and keep the Acura.

Its a very fun daily driver for sure. Don't expect great gas mileage out of an R53 car, despite their size. We get about 24 our of ours (2006 JCW). The turbo's do a lot better.

As for repair costs, it is expensive when things break, but so are lots of nice things. Read up, avoid the known issues, and you should be ok though.

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2012 MX-5 Sport SUV

Why do German car owners rationalize expensive repair costs? Does nice = often broken? How much trouble did your old Mazda 3 give you? I have the same 2.3L drive train in my Fusion, and after 9 years and 180K miles (and counting), I've replaced an idler pulley, thermostat, and door handle. Total for all three was less than $200.

Chuck is the only person to own a German car with no problems, but he's a unicorn.

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Vincent Keene
'06 Ford Mustang GT (track rat)
'15 Dodge Charger R/T (yeah, it's got a HEMI!)
'07 Ford Fusion SE (205,000 miles and counting)
'98 Chevy Z-24 (retired)
'93 Acura Integra (Team SWB 24HOL Car)

German cars CAN be expensive to maintain, but they're expensive cars to buy when new, made up of expensive parts.

But keep on spreading the gospel about how they are sooooo expensive to keep on the road, it makes it easy for me to buy cheap ones and keep them running for peanuts.

Its true that my mazda3 was a bulletproof reliable car. However, it was an appliance compared to the Mini. The sounds and experience are totally different. Nice=premium materials, an incredibly torque engine in a small package, the most balanced FWD car I've ever driven, classic/retro styling, and an overall more engaging driving experience.

We had one major repair that was covered under warranty (flywheel had to be replaced due to a casting defect). Otherwise, its been just regular service along with repair of an exhaust leak from where a hanger got torn off (likely from a cone).

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2012 MX-5 Sport SUV

You just need my magic touch!

Speaking of which, the 2011 M3 is still under the extended factory warranty until November of this year when it turns six years old. Never a warranty claim or repair needed so far since it was new. At this point I'm not sure whether hope it blows up before November or continues with zero issues. My E39 M5 had a number of warranty claims by the time it was four years old Vincent, so no great story there...then again, it's a car that was designed almost 20 years ago and hence quite aged. I've put $0 into that car in the last 6-7 years, but it's time for a clutch which I'm doing at Brian Mark's shop soon, then I'm going to sell the car. An M5 with the low miles and condition mine is in has appreciated about 50% in the past 6 years, so I'm glad I held onto it!

On another subject...I bought a 2007 E91 328i wagon with 102k miles on it recently for $10k. It needed a number of things -- radio screen replaced (sent to place in CA $169 including return shipping); HVAC blower squeaking -- $0, I removed it and put penetrating oil into the bearing, so far so good after 4 months; rear diff bearing whine -- replaced with used diff which cost $175, which I thought was reasonable for a used one, so far it's fine. Oh and I replaced an interior door handle that was disintegrating which took about 45min and $60.

I would assume it's the same with Minis, but with a BMW if you do the work yourself and order parts from the on-line dealers who sell at 25-35% off real MSRP (as opposed to paying Leith's marked up well above MSRP prices!), it's not too bad. Next up for this E91 is a manual 6MT swap since neither my wife or myself can stand driving a slushbox car.

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Current stable:
2019 BMW M2 Competition slicktop 6MT
2011 BMW M3 sedan slicktop 6MT
2007 BMW 328i wagon (slushbox for now)
1975 CanAm 125MX2

My brother bought a Mini for his son to use as a daily driver. Apparently it's a good car, but he did complain that getting it worked on was very expensive. It had several minor issues and the bill was pretty high.

After my Audi, I decided not to buy another German car unless it was under factory warranty. Then I bought an old BMW convertible for my daughter because it was cute. She won't drive it because it has a manual transmission. I don't have any sense at all.

For my daily driver, I stick to domestic (Ford) or Japanese (Honda, Mazda). I can get cheap, reliable, and fun without ludicrous maintenance/repair pricing.

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"Every ship is a minesweeper, once."

I think I'd stay w/ either the '05 or '06 SC'd cars. Those seem to be pretty reliable. After '07, they had some serious issues w/ the new turbo motors. I think in '14 that started using the new turbo motors from BMW. As far as I know those seem to be holding up.

As for costs, yeah, parts for these are expensive. We had to replace the alternator and crank pulley on Jordan's old car and both were pricey.

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Rodney

'08 Bullitt mustang, CAM 7
Autox VP '09-'10, President '11-'12, interim President 2nd half of ‘14
proud recipient of the Bowie Grey service award '12
Now just a guy driving a mustang....

I've had 4 mini's, 2 R56's and 2 R53's I still own both R53s, I would avoid the N14 engine cars, the R56s from 07-11 ? lotta issues with those, like timing chain failures that kill the motor for good.

I prefer the r53 but what makes it great makes it not as good a daily driver, it's more of a drivers car, feedback/feel is better but there's rattles and it's not as "refined" as the r56. I daily drive ours once or twice a week.

Parts are not bad IMO compared to my other cars. The power steering pumps were finally recalled, my silver car is awaiting me getting it up to raleigh.

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2008 135i
2005 mini S
1999 540i aka valdez

As with most German brands it's probably the labor at the dealer which really makes them expensive to maintain. Even BMWs aren't too bad as long as you don't go to the dealer for parts and labor.

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2017 Autocross Chief of Tech

2000 E Street Miata
2015 Focus SE EcoBoost 6 speed
2015 Fiesta ST (Wife's ride)
2012 Yamaha FZ1 sorta crotch rocket? All I know is 150HP and 487 lbs is fun!

After dealing with several '92-'00 Civics, as well as some Ford Tauruses and Crown Vics, I will say that some cars have cheap parts. I'm currently building a '95 Civic Sedan for my daughter's first car, and parts are dirt cheap. Tie rod ends cost $7. Complete upper control arms with bushings and ball joints included cost $14. A full set of Monroe Quick-Struts (pre-assembled shocks with springs and upper mounts) costs $130. New rear hub assemblies with wheel bearings cost $17. I could go on, but my BMW and Audi parts cost much more.

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"Every ship is a minesweeper, once."

Yeah, it really just depends on the vehicle.

The Cherokee I have is dirt cheap parts as well, two new reman front calipers cost me $50. Yet a new window switch for the Miata costs $70, other parts for the Miata are cheap though.

I think it mostly boils down to how many of those particular vehicles were sold, the more sold, the more market for cheap parts to maintain them.

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2017 Autocross Chief of Tech

2000 E Street Miata
2015 Focus SE EcoBoost 6 speed
2015 Fiesta ST (Wife's ride)
2012 Yamaha FZ1 sorta crotch rocket? All I know is 150HP and 487 lbs is fun!

I thought that I would re-ignite the German car controversy. My son, Eric, just sold his 2008 Mini Cooper S for $2,500. It still looks like brand new. What you can't see is a lot of electrical gremlins. Did you know that in a hard rain or car wash, the sun roof overflows into the A pillar, which in turn forms a perfect funnel that discharges into the dashboard computer. It has had many expensive parts, such as the turbo and the clutch, replaced during it's life. In general, it has been babied. Best of all, it has two inches of receipts for repairs and maintenance. At 140K miles, the head gasket blew or it burned a hole in the piston. The lowest bill to repair the car from a non-Mini garage was $3,500. Apparently they are hard to work on too. Well it ain’t a Honda, that's why it was replaced by a 2010 Civic with 185K miles with only regular maintenance. When I was in Germany a year and a half ago, I noticed that there weren’t many Mini's there. A friend who was a car enthusiast said that all Germans know that it's a crappy car. Following on my son's German car theme, VW is buying his Jetta wagon back from him at pre diesel fiasco retail pricing. He's looking for a Mazda to replace it. My last German car was a 1975 VW Rabbit which I bought just before I got married because my future wife was embarrassed to be seen drive to work in my Plymouth Duster. It was 1.5 years old with 10K miles. Over the next 40K miles, it broke down 30 times. Three letters to VW begging for help were not answered. It burned one quart of oil every 150 miles when I sold it 3 years later. At that time our reliable car that never broke down, but did burn a little oil, was a 1971 MGB. I bet that Duster is still running.

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Mike Miller
AutoX VP 2016/2017
Just a C Stock Miata DD
Mazda Speed 3 Family Car
Corvette Z06 Toy

there are sunroof drain lines, pretty much all cars have them and if they clog the water goes somewhere else

I HATE sunroofs, unfortunately 95 % of minis are sold with them, the N14 the 2008 had are real lemons thats why I got rid of ours

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2008 135i
2005 mini S
1999 540i aka valdez