Itinerant Air-Cooled

My daughter just graduated from college and, like all recent college graduates, came home to live with me. When I informed her that if she found a job, I would buy another car that she could use for said work and on other occasions, she found employment with great haste. I had about $6000 or so in the bank from the insurance payout of a previous car of mine (a 1999 Honda CRV) that my daughter had totaled on the Seattle freeway system a couple years ago, so the budget wasn't huge. I thought we should look for something small (my daughter is all of 5'1") and fuel efficient, but fun to drive, because life is just too short to drive boring cars.

My daughter had only one stipulation: it had to be a hatchback because she has trouble seeing out the back of a sedan. I entertained the VW Golf and the New Beetle, used, of course, but they seem to have considerable reliability issues. The Honda Fit, the Toyota Matrix, and the Mazda 3 were also on my list, but I couldn't find any that were in my neighborhood and not salvage titled vehicles. The Scion XA seemed the right size, but I couldn't locate one. The Toyota Yaris seemed too small and stripped down even for me, a person who could pretty much be comfortable driving a 1943 Willis Jeep for short trips.

Then I found a guy selling this car only a few blocks away:



A 2003 Mini Cooper base model hard top with 90,100 miles for $7500. Now that sounds like fun. I did some research and found out the 2003 model was pretty reliable except for the 5 speed manual transmission. The current owner of this Mini bought the car with a blown 5 speed transmission at 63,000 miles and had it replaced by a BMW mechanic a couple years ago and has had happy motoring since then. After a test drive, I was sold; this thing is like driving a go-kart on rails. And, needless to say, my daughter was sold too.

Now that I own a Mini, I guess I have become a member of a huge Mini fan club, one that rivals the club of air-cooled Beetle owners. I had no idea the original Mini was so popular around the world, and that it was made pretty much in its original form clear into the 1990s. Maybe there is a special wave or hand signal I'm supposed to perform when I pass other Mini drivers. Hope I don't screw up.

I know the Mini can be expensive to maintain, especially at the dealer, but I have learned to do a lot of car maint. myself and hope to be able to tackle most jobs. Included with the car I also got three sets of rims (15", 16" and 18") with tires mounted, which should help defray some costs down the road should I choose to sell them.

Tell me what y'all think. Tim

Overall Mini's -...
Ok, let's call it as it is.

Overall the micro BMW's aren't bad at all. The chassis is very well made, and there is quite a few people in the enthusiast circles that do a lot of tuning - and some of them perform very well too.
Too bad the diesel engine wasn't allowed into the US, you would've had a kicking Toyota diesel... Same thing was in the Yaris, and the damn thing was a rocket.

Had to read up on the engine, the numbers are looking pretty damn good for putting around, shouldn't be too bad on gas either. I couldn't find the gear ratios, however I hope that the tranny is as light as my Civic's.

I'm a bit worried about blowing transmissions... It's a bit odd to hear something like that, and it leaves me curious about the life of tranny.

satchmo wrote: A 2003 Mini Cooper base model hard top with 90,100 miles for $7500.

It is not a real Mini. It is to a real Mini as a New Beetle is to a 1967 Beetle.
So say I.
Maintain it excruciatingly well. Buy the factory manual (CD?) and if you need, I will put on my "BMW" hat to help you.
Colin

Amskeptic wrote:

satchmo wrote: I will put on my "BMW" hat to help you.
Colin

Lesseee..... I know it's here somewhere. Should be filed on the hats shelf before "Lexus" and "Lincoln"

Nice ride, Tim. Should be good on Mulholland Drive.

Amskeptic wrote:

satchmo wrote: A 2003 Mini Cooper base model hard top with 90,100 miles for $7500.

Maintain it excruciatingly well. Buy the factory manual (CD?)
Colin

Ohhh yeah, forgot about that...

I always thought they were cool except for the reliability/durability issues. Bet it's fun to drive though.
Looks like your daughter is one of the 4% that can still drive a manual tranny? Bravo for her!
(Probably no one will ask to borrow her car because they can't drive it. LOL)

(I have seen (stumbled onto) the Mini forums....there are fan/techincal forums for everything on wheels. I think the Jeep Wrangler forum I'm on is busier than The Samba, and it's only one of several.)

Hippie wrote:Jeep Wrangler forum I'm on is busier than The Samba

"Busy" doesn't necessarily equate to "good". What's the signal-to-noise ratio like? For my money, The Samba's is depressingly low.

SlowLane wrote:What's the signal-to-noise ratio like? For my money, The Samba's is depressingly low.

=D>

Right. The new Mini is to the old Mini as the New Beetle is to a 1967 Beetle. However, the new Mini has achieved a level of success, style, and reputation as a Driver's vehicle that the New Beetle could only hope for. As far as I know, no one auto-crosses the New Beetle or takes it to the track, nor are there huge New Beetle rallies, etc, etc. (like I said, as far as I know). I'm not sure it is a fair comparison.

Reliability and repair costs are big question marks with the Mini. The same is true, however, with high end BMWs and Audis, but they continue to sell well and maintain a high resale value. The Mini also has a good resale value. I bought this 2003 Mini because it is in excellent condition body-wise; not a single door ding on it. The underside is, well, let's just say it lived its whole life in So. California. It is a base base model (doesn't even have cruise control) and has never been altered from stock configuration. Interestingly, the price for insurance was about half what it would have cost me for a Toyota Yaris. The transmission on this car was replaced, that's true, but that was in 2011 and I hope the replacement transmission has the original problem solved. I'm pretty confident it will last a good while, especially the way I drive.

Not so sure about the way my daughter drives, though. She learned to use a manual transmission on a Toyota RAV4. Then she had a Subaru Legacy for a while. She is too short to enjoy driving my bus, but she has driven it on occasion. The Mini is an altogether different experience for both of us. The clutch engages mere centimeters away from fully depressed. We spent last Saturday practicing our double clutch motion in an empty parking lot. She is getting the hang of it. Her learning curve took a sharp upswing when I told her how much a clutch replacement costs on this vehicle. So, the new law is: no slipping the clutch.

I have done some reading on the Mini forums and SlowLane is right; the signal to noise ratio is way too low. Everyone there is all about appearance or performance tuning/alterations. I couldn't care less. In fact, I already sold the 18 inch rims that came with the car. Even in stock configuration, the Mini Cooper is great fun to drive, especially when you consider the engine is just 1600cc, the same as I had in my 1973 beetle. So Mulholland drive (or Glendora Mountain Road more likely), here I come.

Tim

Hippie wrote: I think the Jeep Wrangler forum I'm on is busier than The Samba, and it's only one of several.)

Which one do you frequent? I use Jeepforum.com, usually the TJ Technical forum. I think it's a great place, but I haven't visited much in the past few years.

Well its a beautiful little car, Tim.

SlowLane wrote:What's the signal-to-noise ratio like? For my money, The Samba's is depressingly low.

I agree. Wrangler forum is pretty good.

yondermtn wrote:Which one do you frequent? I use Jeepforum.com, usually the TJ Technical forum. I think it's a great place, but I haven't visited much in the past few years.

I'm usually on http://www.wranglerforum.com/ but am a member of Jeepforum too. Wranler forum is...well...model specific. I don't need to discuss Grand Cherokees.

satchmo wrote:Right. The new Mini is to the old Mini as the New Beetle is to a 1967 Beetle. However, the new Mini has achieved a level of success, style, and reputation as a Driver's vehicle that the New Beetle could only hope for.

I'm pretty confident it will last a good while, especially the way I drive.
Not so sure about the way my daughter drives, though.

True, Tim. The new Mini has a foundation of "ultimate driving machine" that far and away exceeds VWs "necrophiliac marketing" warm-over of a Golf platform.

I believe (straighten me out as necessary) that the upgraded transmission for the Mini comes from Getrag. Getrag is my all-time favorite transmission for shifting precision, but in the earlier BMWs I owned, they all were sensitive to accelerated wear in 2nd gear. Nobody in a BMW seems to have enough time in their busy day to pause between 1st and 2nd that critical amount of time to allow the input shaft to slow down. From what I have read, Getrag finally put in a trick double-cone synchronizer for 2nd if not the others.

If your daughter and you have any "signal to noise" ratio issues with advanced driving techniques, I am happy to oblige with a low-pressure fun informative dynamic double-clutching driving lesson just before a fly-free barbeque < hint.
Colin

Amskeptic wrote:
If your daughter and you have any "signal to noise" ratio issues with advanced driving techniques, I am happy to oblige with a low-pressure fun informative dynamic double-clutching driving lesson just before a fly-free barbeque < hint.
Colin

That sounds like a good trade. You know where to find me

Tim

What are those big white things on the hood for?

glasseye wrote:What are those big white things on the hood for?

Each one gives you five more horse power.

Nice car Tim. I've always wanted one in S trim.