Hey I’ve been looking at a few cars that I could daily drive and yet still have a very fast and good handling car. I’ve always wanted a supercharged car(Forced induction really is fun) because you can modify the piss out of them, and they sound sweet.
I’ve been looking at the Mini Cooper S, specifically the 2002-2006 range.
I was wondering what your guys personal thoughts and opinions are on it.
Mind you I’m looking at this car for the following reasons:
Good handling, peppy engine with modification abilities
Good gas mileage
Good practicality
Sleeperability :snky:
Winter driveability (FWD?)
Reliability
If its not all of those, I guess I might be looking at it the wrong way.
Mind you, I have a fast strait line car(No screaming “BUY AN LS1 YOU FAG”, I already own one), I may be in the market for something like this at the end of the summer.
I love mine, an '02 S. If you can swing the extra money, the '08 gets even better with the turbo. If you can, pick one up with a LSD. But yeah, I drive mine in the winter, and while it’s not quite as good as my Impreza was, it’s pretty solid. First and second gear are quite a lot of fun.
I have no regrets in buying mine, other than the cost and difficulty in changing my oil.
Hold their value amazingly well. I paid $12,800 for mine with 41k last March. Brand new, it barely broke $20,000. And I got an amazing deal - sticker was, at $14,800, one of the least expensive I’d found. If you can get yours with reasonable miles under $14,000, you’re doing well. But you can get a new one for less than $10k more with a warranty, included maintenance, a turbo, and a LSD!
Don’t got that much coinage. I’ll have about 12k to spend, to be completely honest I’ll only have this car 2 or 3 years at most.
I’ve seen a few on auto trader for about 12k with like 55k miles on them. I’m not too worried about that, as long as it’s near mint condition. Not too interested in the turbo to be completely honest either. Turbos are fun, but I really love super charger whine… Like i said I have a fast car(That will only be getting faster haha) So the cheaper price, + supercharger is whats really drawing me in.
100,000 is about right. Do the math on the lower mileage cars, with the cost of the supercharger and depreciation, getting a slightly higher cost lower-mileage car might make more sense in the long run.
yep NO. if you want a fun fast car look else where IE STI, EVO
this car will NEVER be fast. if you drive to southern tear in the winter will also have you crying.
If you want a comfy, reliable, good resale value DD buy a civic. but this wouldnt be too far down the road as an option…
I got mine to ~250 at the crank. and then you hit a wall. without stupid money. when an evo sti starts higher then that and go go soooooo much faster sooooo mush cheaper. and still get you around in the winter.
I was looking at these before I got my M. It seems if you are willing to travel outside of NY you can get them MUCH cheaper. When I was looking best deal I found locally was like $13k. Found ones for around 8k outside of the area.
I still like the idea of one. The one I test drove was a BLAST even for that brief ride.
I’d love one for a DD. They handle really really well, quirky but quality interior fit n finish, easy on gas, and nobody will ever accuse you of compensating.
I like 'em. But I know they have reliability issues. Coworker had one (S, manual trans car) that went into the shop 4 times in the six or so months she had it. Eventually traded it in on an SRT-4. This was in 2003.
I’d love a dark green / white top Cooper S. Cool cars IMO.
