Any Mini Owners? Would you recommend?

[Cheeseandolivesplease]

Just that really! I have one 6 yo and my husband's car would remain as the family car for long journeys.
I use my car for work - short distances to various locations - and basically as a run-around.

Love love love my mini countryman. Had it 6 years, passes MOT with flying colours. 2 car seats in the back (isofix). Yes it’s a bigger ‘mini’, perhaps when children are grown I’ll go for a mini John cooper works! P.s - I have interior on blue lights setting, however pink is an option too! ;)

@Victorius19 And that's exactly how I want to feel. I've never in my life chosen a car for me!

We had a petrol Cooper it was a great car to drive, to me they feel quite go-cart like with excellent handling and acceleration, we used an independent specialist for most work on it which was cheaper than main dealership. We replaced it with an Electric mini, which is even more fun to drive, and as a second car that rarely goes more than its 100 mile range, so is nearly always home charged, its very cheap to run. (New ones have bigger batteries and longer range).

@Orchidgrower I would have considered an electric, but definitely don't want a 3 door.

You can make the interior lights in mine pink, and put your own photo on it.
I have a very serious and important person Harry Styles
You can talk to it too, so I can say, Hey Mini heat up, and it will turn up the heating.
Mine's an auto and I absolutely love driving it, it's just so fun.

I had a 5 door cooper S 2019, special edition and I loved loved loved that car, soooo much fun to drive. I then 'upgraded' to 2023 cooper sport, JCW kit and seats - bloody awful. Suspension was so hard and the seats gave me back ache. I sold it within 12 months!. I would 100% have another in the future but make sure you go on a proper test drive!

I love mine and on my 3rd. Mini Cooper. Had Minis for nearly 20 years. Such fun cars to drive. I got a 5 door one this time, so I could drive my aging parents around (they stood no chance of getting in the back of my 3 door…) I wouldn’t have anything else. They do get expensive on repairs around 10 years in though.

I owned seven of the original Minis over the years I wouldn’t have one of the BMW imposters if they paid me. And, yes I have driven some.

A proper Italian Job Mini maybe, not the BMW shite that is bigger than my normal hatchback.

I absolutely loved mine, I had a 2016 Mini Cooper and it was fab!! Had to sell it because having two kids under two and a three door mini didn’t quite work. Would absolutely get another mini one day when the kids are older and out of car seats

We have a mini clubman cooper S for the last 3 or 4 years and I love it. Boot is surprisingly big, works well for our family of 4 (including camping and ferry trips - although we do use a roof box). DH is usually on Autotrader within a year of us buying a car and he hasn't shown me a single listing since we got it.

2016 model, I should have said. DH aware that I am typing this and is muttering something. Ah, he speaks:

Avoid anything before 2014 (you will see great deals) as before that date they have a Peugeot engine that is not very reliable.

Mini Cooper S. Dreaded having to drive it after we returned our lease car. It was going to be my first time driving an automatic. Shit scared because it’s a bigger engine than I’m used to. OMG I bloody love it! It’s like a go-kart and pulls away so quickly if you need it to. So pleased to have it and wtf was all that ‘gears’ business about? 🤣

I had two minis, loved them but needed a sensible grown up car with big boot so don't have one now. I would go back to one in a heartbeat as long as it was a 5 door with the pack that includes the floating boot floor. I was able to keep all sorts of bits 'under' the boot with it. I also had heated seats, now I would also be looking for heated steering wheel and windscreen as it makes a huge difference in winter for defrosting and keeping cosy!

I had the sensible v car that makes me smile dilemma over Christmas and chose the happy option of a 22 plate Mini Clubman - I love it! Its my first mini, I love the doors at the back, I love the Union Jack style rear lights,I love the size of the boot and the space front and back for my adult children, I love the way the little mini sign appears on the ground like the batman sign does in the sky, when I blip the keys and its dark, and I love that I have changed the lights inside to my favourite purple. My mini was definitely the right choice!

I have a 71 plate Cooper S, absolutely love it. It’s lovely to drive.

Downside, as a pp pointed out, is the visibility can be poor, but I’ve got round this by adding blind spot mirrors to the wing mirrors and now it is fine.

Definite upsides - it’s nippy and fun to drive, not as small as it looks and just bloody good fun!

21 plate metallic green Clubman here. It's my second Clubman - the first was because I couldn't really get in and out of my MX5 any more and I wanted a car with some character. I absolutely love it and I'm absolutely gutted that they have ceased production of the Clubman now - it's such a practical car for me - for example, the boot has no sill so you never have to lift anything higher than necessary, and as I have quite bad arthritis that's a huge plus for me. It takes about a minute to lay the rear seats flat if you need to put something big in the back.

In terms of space, I have taken my two nephews and my mum on a 12-day holiday to France in it, and it was fine. There's loads of legroom in the front and it's more than adequate in the back.

I had a 48 hour test drive in a Mini Cooper convertible a few Months back: I liked the drive, but it felt plasticky, and cramped with the roof up. The voice control was useful which was just as well because the control system was incomprehensible. Everything (heated seats, air con, navigation, media) was controlled digitally, which was a faff when you’re driving. The back seats have about two inches of legroom, and I think you’d struggle to get a baby out of a car seat in the back if the roof was up.

friend has one and it feels very solid, my mechanic did say that some bits are very hard to replace and a whole lot of items need to come out to get to a part so repairs can be pricey due to the access issues.

I have the F56 model. I only buy Mini’s actually don’t buy any other car now. Always puts a smile on my face, I find it reliable, economical, good on the motorway etc

My Cooper S convertible had run flats which I had to change immediately if I wanted to keep my fillings. It was never really comfortable. It wasn’t until I sat in the back that I realised how claustrophobic it felt.

It was expensive to maintain, although the garage provided good service.

Yeah. I LOVE mine.
was a bit of a change from a Q7, but it’s definitely saving a lot of money. 🤣
A lot of fun to drive.

@Cheeseandolivesplease just to seal the deal, you’ll be pleased to know that you can cycle the colour changes so they continually change automatically. And yes, the Batman style mini logo that beams on the ground is awesome, as is the starter button which looks like it fires a missle😁. There are loads of Tik Tok and You tube videos about starting them up being like starting an aeroplane. The little mini logo on the dash winks at you when you start the ignition. I think you that get I love it 😂. I’ve got a F56 Clubman 20 plate. Like you, it’s the first car I actually chose. No regrets.

(ps as a practical side note, I have small feet (size 3), and I had to opt for an automatic as I found that I couldn’t rest my foot on the floorpan when changing gear in a manual. This is really uncomfortable, especially in traffic when changing gear a lot. Appreciate this is a small girl problem. It does have parking sensors all round and a reversing camera.

I love my mini! I have a countryman all4, and it’s fab to drive and has been so reliable. I’ve had it over 10 years now and intend to keep it till it drops. No visibility issues at all.

I have a countryman and before this one I had a Cooper. And my 6’1” son also drives a Cooper. They’re fun and they feel very safe. I don’t think I’d ever drive anything else now!