After five years of ownership (from new) and almost 20,000 miles I let my M135i go at the end of June in favour of a 2018 Mini JCW. I've been looking for a little while (OK, quite a long while) and was close to buying an Abarth 695 Rivale. Eventually I managed to find a well optioned, low mileage Mini and secure it before it sold.
When I bought it, the Mini had under 10,000 miles on it and is in really good condition. It's in (what Mini calls) British Racing Green and has a lot of optional extras like the panoramic sunroof, Harmon/Kardon sound system, Apple CarPlay, heads up display, and reversing camera. Although only two years newer, the infotainment is a real step up from the 1 series.
After a couple of hundred miles I noticed that it really liked to veer off to the left on most roads. This was odd, because I tend to check for that on test drives and hadn't picked it up. I took it to Lohen and had a full alignment. They were very good - perhaps because they weren't busy - but the car was test driven, aligned, and then test driven again. They also checked the car over for me. It's much improved now and has even almost completely eliminated what I thought was a bit of torque steer under acceleration.
I don't miss the c. 90bhp that I've lost versus the 1 series at legal speeds and the Mini is certainly more fun for short journeys and that suits me well. I also like the way it looks and sounds. It doesn't seem to be any more economical around town but I think it will be on longer journeys. Tax and insurance are obviously cheaper.
I used to own an R56 Cooper S that I kept for four years (2009 - 2013). When I traded that it was to buy my E86. I might have kept my first Mini longer but I fell out of love with it after a huge repair bill that included replacing a lot of the panoramic roof mechanism. It never closed perfectly after, meaning really irritating wind noise at speed. Initial research suggests (I hope) that panoramic roof failures are less common on the F56...
Pictures of them both below - any questions are welcome, I've driven a few. I'd be interested to hear from other Mini owners - why you own them, what you cross shopped it with, and if you downsized to one as well.
When I bought it, the Mini had under 10,000 miles on it and is in really good condition. It's in (what Mini calls) British Racing Green and has a lot of optional extras like the panoramic sunroof, Harmon/Kardon sound system, Apple CarPlay, heads up display, and reversing camera. Although only two years newer, the infotainment is a real step up from the 1 series.
After a couple of hundred miles I noticed that it really liked to veer off to the left on most roads. This was odd, because I tend to check for that on test drives and hadn't picked it up. I took it to Lohen and had a full alignment. They were very good - perhaps because they weren't busy - but the car was test driven, aligned, and then test driven again. They also checked the car over for me. It's much improved now and has even almost completely eliminated what I thought was a bit of torque steer under acceleration.
I don't miss the c. 90bhp that I've lost versus the 1 series at legal speeds and the Mini is certainly more fun for short journeys and that suits me well. I also like the way it looks and sounds. It doesn't seem to be any more economical around town but I think it will be on longer journeys. Tax and insurance are obviously cheaper.
I used to own an R56 Cooper S that I kept for four years (2009 - 2013). When I traded that it was to buy my E86. I might have kept my first Mini longer but I fell out of love with it after a huge repair bill that included replacing a lot of the panoramic roof mechanism. It never closed perfectly after, meaning really irritating wind noise at speed. Initial research suggests (I hope) that panoramic roof failures are less common on the F56...
Pictures of them both below - any questions are welcome, I've driven a few. I'd be interested to hear from other Mini owners - why you own them, what you cross shopped it with, and if you downsized to one as well.
