[Astonandy]

Hi all. Just a quick introduction. I'm a long-term MINI semi-loyalist having been away to BMW a couple of times when two MINIs in the household turned out to be one too many. I had an R53 CooperS, R56 CooperS and a Clubman, my wife has an R55 (three hoods...not the best but great fun) and then a Countryman CooperS which was "meh" and not a patch on my current X1. But having driven the F56 Cooper I'm tempted to make a return. Love the new quality level inside and while not quite VW levels of fit and finish a lot of the rough edges of the previous models have been polished off.

I'm alway a lightly used buyer because the deals are always that bit sweeter and the car available when I want to change and not in 14 weeks time (or more...). The downside is often some spec. compromise but the cars I'm looking at are pretty close to ideal (why does no one ever order heated seats - they are an inexpensive option and my wife loves them). I'd put a plea out for some unbiased encouragement to help make the change decision but the F56 forum isn't really the place to do it

I drove the S and Cooper back to back and have to say the Cooper felt more agile and I think the revvy engine and noise gives a real feel of performance. If the Cooper had 20 more hp the S would probably be entirely unnecessary but as it is I'm heading towards a Cooper at the moment - the £5000 extra for an ex-demo is pretty hard to justify.

Decisions, decisions!

 

[lawrothegreat]

Welcome to the forum and welcome back to the world of MINI!


I haven't driven the F56 Cooper yet just my own Cooper S which now has nearly 4,500 miles on the clock. I can certainly imagine that the Cooper is a sweet spot in the range in terms of fun, performance, price and economy. I just wanted the extra torque; in my view the F56 MCS is punchier than the R56.


Quality is a significant improvement but it wouldn't be a MINI without something somewhere. The additional driver's side sun visor feels cheap to me.


With demand high and supply not as high as many would like you may find it will take a little while before any used bargains appear but good luck!


PS you don't need heated seats unless it's a convertible!

 

[Astonandy]

Or you have a wife who is always cold ?

 

[Astonandy]

The bargains are already out there if you're prepared to ask. The Coopers I've been looking at are around £21k and are below £18k with less than 1500 miles on. A £27k MCS was offered to me with nearly £6k discount so they are out there ...not everywhere but if you look....

 

[lawrothegreat]

My wife is always cold too. She has heated seats but it's okay she has a convertible!

 

[Astonandy]

I could probably justify buying a Trabant or a Mclaren as long as it had heatd seats. My wife has them in her Beetle and I do in my X1 so it's going to be an issue if i do change as the cars I'm lookin at are all the same spec with no heated seats...

 

[MiloMini]

I went for the cooper, absolutely loved the ride. Don't need the extra S power and more than happy with economy of the cooper. Plus as it's cheaper I went mad on the upgrades!!!

 

[patch]

We need heated seats here, whether the wife is cold or hot (pun intended). It gets to -30C (-22F) during winter ...