for combined city and highway driving, is the mini base model adequate, or is it really better to go for the S model? i love the look of the car, and its good gas mileage, but am indecisive on if the base will be adequate or if i should go for the S model. any comments would be appreciated!
in england we have a mini one,its the base model over here,it has a 1.4 litre engine with only 95 bhp,its adequate.but most people go for the cooper 1.6 for its better performance.sure the cooper s is better still,with a turbo,so if you can afford the s then go for it!the mini one costs ?12000 here,the cooper ?14000,and the cooper s ?16000.but air con is an option here!!also the mini over here keeps its value better than any other car,70 percent value retention after 3 years!
I would skip the turbo version. The base Mini is reasonably reliable, and will be just as much fun to drive.
thanks for the info, i do love the car, and have narrowed it down to the mini, or the scion (do you have those in england? it’s a toyota subsidiary, but not as boring as their regular models). if i go for the mini, it’ll probably be the turbo S. what do you drive?
Get the s model!!! You know if you do not you will wish you had.
Buy the model you want and can afford. In all reality there is no such thing anymore as a weak base engine that can barely get your car moving up hills like the 80’s and before.
It is all personal preference.
The most expensive thing is not really the extra purchase price but the day you decide to sell your car if early and get killed with depreciation. I will say Mini does not depreciate much though.
The Smart and it’s 13 second 0-60 run begs to differ :). With that said the Base Mini engine, while not overly powerful is fine for most people, it offers an excellent combination of power and fuel econonomy.
no we dont have scion in the uk.i drive a 2002 ford puma,have you heard of them? they stopped production in 2002,and i bought one brand new.its only a 1.6 litre but will do 120 mph!and handles like a go-kart.its only done 35,000 miles now!aparantly before the new mini came out,they took a ford puma to bits and copied the suspension,because they wanted the mini to handle as good as the puma,and i think they did a good job!how much is a mini in the usa?ive just checked out the scion tc on the website and it looks really nice!
I take my statement back. ANNOYING hybrids on the highway and steep long hills. Once they expel their batteries a weak gasoline engine is left to power the car. I think hybrids do work okay when they have electric and gasoline engine working in unison.
When I was younger, I enjoyed driving cars that were considered “underpowered” provided that the car had a manual transmission. I thought it was a challenge to use the gears to make up for the underpowered engine. I enjoyed driving the Morris 850, Volkswagen Beetle and Austin Healy Sprite automobiles. I doubt that the base model of the Mini is underpowered. It certainly has more power than the cars from the late 1950’s and early 1960’s that I just mentioned.
I would accomodate you and go to the Mini dealer and drive both models and report my opinion, but I’m afraid that I would end up buying a Mini. My interests dictate that I have a minivan, and I don’t need another vehicle.
i had an original mini 850cc!it was a 1979 model with 33bhp!!bought it for ?500,but sold it a month later because it would only do 65mph!!the mini 1000cc was much better,with 40 bhp it could reach 80 mph! those original minis were great fun to drive,and they were so tiny!most of them have rusted away,thanks to the uk s wet climate
haven’t heard of the ford puma, but they often have different model names over here. perhaps it’s a ford focus? i need to test drive the scion; when i tested the honda civic it felt like a tin can. but i do love the look and feel of the mini! sheesh, i’m so indecisive! the base mini here is $18,550 MSRP (manuf. suggested retail price), and probably $20,950 out the door. The S model (has over 170 hp) is $21,200 MSRP, and about $24,350 out the door. those are prices with automatic transmission and air conditioning(for 2008 models) and no other packages/extras. the mini usa website lets you “build” your own mini. the convertibles are more expensive. the website is really cool. The scion is probably just under $17,000 out the door. i tend to dither, then inertia sets in and i do nothing for another year and just keep driving my old boring 1998 V6 camry.
i test drove both the manual and automatic mini, but can’t face all that shifting in stop and go rush hour traffic. the stick handled like a dream, though, especially on the S model, but i’ll probably go w/the automatic if it get a mini.
if you google ford puma it will show you that it was a cute 2 door coupe that handled like a go kart!it was made for the european market,but ceased production in 2002.we have the ford focus over here,with engines from a weedy 1.4,to a very rapid 2.5 turbo!!
Get the S. It sounds cool.
Seriously, the extra oomph is great. I use regular unleaded gas, skipped the run flats, got the stick. It is WAY too much fun. I drove base and S model, and the same with the Clubman. Get the Clubman if you really think you might actually put people with legs in the back seats - otherwise, stick with the MCS. The pillars in the back doors of the Clubman really block an already very small line of sight out the rear.
How long have you been driving a stick??? After driving a stick for a while…it’s so second nature you don’t even notice that you’re shifting.