MINI Cooper S

[jimmy156]

A few weeks ago i was idly considering replacing my Alfa 156 and was mostly looking at 7-10 year old CLK's and generally 6 cylinder German stuff.

Anyway i popped into a MINI dealership just to have a nose around, and they had a Cooper S in a lovely spec. I took it out for a quick test drive and i was pretty much sold on it, despite having to double my budget (both man-maths and real maths were used to justify this )

After a few weeks and some back and forth the deal was done, i then went on my honeymoon the next day, which gave me something to look forward to on my return. I picked it up yesterday.

So its a 2011 Cooper S manual in Eclipse Grey.


IMG_3046 by jimmyb156, on Flickr


IMG_3049 by jimmyb156, on Flickr


IMG_3050 by jimmyb156, on Flickr


IMG_3026 by jimmyb156, on Flickr


The spec is pretty much exactly how i would have specced it myself, the important/nice bits being Xenons, Sat Nav / Media pack, Chilli Pack, Cream Lounge Leather (this is lovely and really sets of the interior, making it feel like a lovely place to be), 17" Conical spoke wheels with non-runflats and being a 2011 car it has the later, less troublesome 184bhp engine

Its the little details that make these cars feel a little special to me, the chrome filler cap, little toggle switches in the interior, the nicely integrated nav/media system.


IMG_3040 by jimmyb156, on Flickr


IMG_3037 by jimmyb156, on Flickr


IMG_3035 by jimmyb156, on Flickr


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IMG_3027 by jimmyb156, on Flickr

First impressions are that it feels pretty fast, if not ballistically fast. In short bursts of acceleration between bends it feels really rapid. Prolonged acceleration highlights the turbo'd nature of the engine and without the rush towards the redline that you get with a N/A engine it feels fast without feeling very fast. To be honest i would say its ideal for fast road driving as you can use the performance, although putting the hammer down in second and third sees you very quickly getting to 90mph. It hides its speed very well for a small car.

Ride and handling are great, it feels so planted in the corners and changed direction really nicely. Despite being on 17's the ride seems pretty good to me, despite what the internet would have you believe. Maybe the non-runflats are helping here.

The engine sounds a bit humdrum on tick over and isn't the loudest whilst pressing on, although it does make a nice gruff noise. Maybe i need to do something with the induction... With the sport button pressed the pops and bangs on the over-run are pretty hilarious. But this has encouraged me to drive around in 1st gear in built up areas to hear the echos of the walls

And whilst finding this all out i have averaged 38mpg, not too bad!

I love the car and am really pleased with it. Only problem is that both me and my wife have MINI's now, and im pretty sure thats not very cool

Edited by jimmy156 on Tuesday 12th August 13:02

[jimmy156]

sagarich said:

Great write up Jimmy.

Can't wait to see it in the metal.

Thanks! Yup looking forward to our spirited drive!

TheBALDpuma said:

Looks smart mate! Looking forward to taking it on the track!

we'll see about that...

See the ducts on the front bumper, they are functional and direct air to the brakes. So we shouldn't have the brakes peeing out smoke like they did on the ST220

95 fiesta si said:

like the sat-nav in the speedo dial. I Like the unique interior styling and design.

Yeah i like that too, looks miles better then some systems where they look bolted on (im looking at you, Mercedes Benz)

Edited by jimmy156 on Tuesday 12th August 15:52

[jimmy156]

TheBALDpuma said:

It's also not a 230bhp, 1600kg estate car with the same brakes as the 2.0l ghia!

I didn't realise the brakes weren't uprated, that would explain a lot!

Thanks for the nice comments, really pleased with the spec. I much prefer the cleaner look without the body kit (Aero/JCW kit?) that a lot of them have.

[jimmy156]

JamesD1 said:

Very nice indeed. I have a soft spot for these, although anyone I know who has owned a mini has result in financial ruin and therefore puts me off a bit (didn't want to sound to jovial).

My wifes car (MINI one) has been nearly faultless in the 2 years she has owned it, it has only needed 1 service and and air-con regas in its 23,000 miles. Still got plenty of tread left on the original tyres too's!

Went for a drive with sagarich the other day, a few snaps below. PH brownie points for guessing the location, near a place of PH interest.


IMG_3064 by jimmyb156, on Flickr


IMG_3068 by jimmyb156, on Flickr


IMG_3080 by jimmyb156, on Flickr

Further thoughts on the car, it really is a hoot to drive. It feels very planted during change of direction and under braking. It is still feeling pretty quick to me and i am enjoying the torque from about 2500rpm it pulls pretty nicely.

The looks of the car, both inside and out, have really got me hooked. It really does feel like a nice place to be i keep glancing back at it once i have parked, which is surely a good sign.

I am loving having xenon's too, my alfa had candles for headlights so driving at knight is a whole new experience!

I am averaging to 40 to the galloon with mixed driving which seems pretty good to me. Having played about with the MINI connected software i have found that you can get an engine temp gauge up on the infotainment screen, along with a power and torque output, which is gimmicky but i quite like it.

You can also download 'apps' that give you badges for certain achievement in the car. One is for managing the 0-60 sprint in a certain amount of time! It does keep telling me that my braking and cornering is dangerous though, and my acceleration CRAZY!

[jimmy156]

pmessling said:

Even with a later car still keep an eye on the oil level. more so then you would with a normal car.

Put a JCW exhaust and it sounds a lot better. I have an 08 cooper S, does torque steer and they are a fun little car. mines my sensible daily economic car and my cerbera my mad weekend, summer toy or when i'm bored of 175bhp

As the owner of a car with an alfa twin spark engine for the last 4 or 5 years i am well used to weekly oil checks, a good habit to be into! That car would use a litre every 650-700 miles or so, hopefully this will be better then that! I checked the oil today and it was pretty mucky which does point to it being consumed a bit, plenty in there though

Wish i had a Cerb for the weekend. One of my favourite cars and fav TVR. I did work experience at Fernhurst TVR when i were a lad, i have been hooked ever since. The MINI is my commuter, fun car, ikea car (hah!) and hopefully track car!

[jimmy156]

Faxo said:

My GF has had 6 MINIs, 2 SC Cooper S' and one Turbo S, the turbo S caused problems towards the end with carbon build up and also had a rattly DMF. BMW can walnut blast them to overcome the carbon build up, however I just used SeaFoam every few K to clear it out

She now has a 2013 JCW, and if you think the S exhaust pops, have a go in one of these, at times it can literally be like shotgun fire!

I love it, it has most of your spec bar Lounge leather (hers has carbon punch), but her old S had the Redwood Lounge (I think) which was lovely, so good choice

She must know here MINI's then!

Do you find the JCW is appreciably faster / better drive then the standard S? To be honest the JCW didn't really enter my mind when i was buying mine, i just didn't see any in the MINI dealer network when i was looking.

I am still finding it hard not to roll the windows down when i have buildings either side i can imagine i would have a real problem in the JCW.

Max - Brownie points to you, well done! I looked at your profile thinking you must be local, i grew up in Haslemere, i will keep an eye out for your M135i!

[jimmy156]

sagarich said:

Great snaps!

I was super impressed with the little mini.

Following you on the twisties around Goodwood the car looked so stable and agile. Plus I was really surprised how strong your engine pulls, pretty much matching me in a straight line.

Great little car!

Not bad considering the 80bhp defecit

[jimmy156]

Thanks for the nice comments,

I am still in the honeymoon phase a bit, trying to find excuses to drive it every day

I noticed a small (2cm?) scratch that i hadn't noticed before, it might be new but i expect i just didn't spot it when i bought it. It really is tiny and wouldn't have even registered on previous cars. But as the bodywork is pretty much perfect on this it has really irked me! I will just have to get over it though as it isn't worth getting sorted professionally, i might have a go with some good polish to see if i can improve its appearance.

Interesting you should say that it felt a fair bit quicker than an R53 Cooper S as i have just returned from a little drive thinking to myself how quickly you get used to acceleration speeds. I don't know whether its the relatively fat torque curve meaning it shoves just as hard at 2k rpm as it does at 6k rpm, meaning although the car is still acceleration, that rate at which it is accelerating doesn't change much throughout the rev range, or if i have just got used to it. Obviously it doesn't feel slow, i guess i have just stopped being surprised by how fast it feels

[jimmy156]

Thought i would update this with a few pics i took after i cleaned the car yesterday.

IMG_5002 by jimmyb156, on Flickr

IMG_5006 by jimmyb156, on Flickr

The upright windscreen and frontal area mean i have had to have a chip repaired on the windscreen and have picked up a few stone-chips too.

Weirdly, the boot has managed to open itself whilst in the garage (would be impossible to close the garage door with it open) meaning i have slammed the garage door into the open boot when trying to get into the garage. Que lots of swearing! Only minor damage caused but very annoying, and i have no idea how it happens!

IMG_5008 by jimmyb156, on Flickr

IMG_5019 by jimmyb156, on Flickr

I had a warning message a few months ago and the car went into 'get you home' mode. Turned out to be the high pressure fuel pump which was replaced under warranty. No other issues with the car, its using a tiny amount of oil, less then 1l in 10,000miles.

Still very much enjoying the car. Managed 47.1mpg on a recent drive home from leeds and enjoyed a good blast around the dales whilst i was up there.

IMG_5014 by jimmyb156, on Flickr

[jimmy156]

So one year on from buying the car i thought i would update this, even if none reads it i find it useful to track my ownership of the car to occasionally update this thread! The car is currently on 38,150mi, from memory i bought the car with a shade under 24,000mi on the clock, so its done around 14,500mi in a year, which is a fair bit more than i had envisaged (C.10k pa). The car is currently averaging 41.3 mpg, with truly missed driving. It gets used for commuting, long trips up north, trips to the shops and Sunday morning blasts. The only type of driving that i don't do a whole lot of is town driving, which will help to boost the mpg a bit.

IMG_6142 by jimmyb156, on Flickr


IMG_6138 by jimmyb156, on Flickr

The car still looks great IMO and other than a few stonechips the only bodywork issue that has appeared is a slight scuff where i bashed the garage door against the open boot. I have also added a PH smiley to the boot, in stealth black

IMG_6145 by jimmyb156, on Flickr

The car past its first MOT with me (and second ever) with no issues at all, as you would expect i suppose. A few weeks before it needed new discs and pads on the front (£250) and in a few 1000 miles it will need the same on the rear. The car is still on the four Bridgestone Potenza tyres that were on there when i bought it with a good amount of tread left. They seem to be holding up well, along with offering good levels of grip wet and dry, so will probably be replaced like for like when the time comes.

IMG_6152 by jimmyb156, on Flickr

The interior still looks new to me, excluding a whole in the drivers floor matt put their by the previous owners high heels, i should really sort that! I cleaned the front seats with some Gliptone Leather cleaner and followed with some Gliptone leather conditioner, a few days ago. The seats were starting to pick up a few marks and the straw that broke the camels back was a mechanic leaving some marks on the drivers seat. They came up nicely as you can see below, i was a little disappointed that the car didn't really get the "as new" leather smell that the product (and reviews) promised, but it smells a little of leather now.

Before:
IMG_5978 by jimmyb156, on Flickr

IMG_5979 by jimmyb156, on Flickr

After:

IMG_5980 by jimmyb156, on Flickr

IMG_5981 by jimmyb156, on Flickr

Overall i am still loving the car, and looking to do my first trackday before the end of the year. I will probably update again when i have done that!

IMG_6131 by jimmyb156, on Flickr

Edited by jimmy156 on Wednesday 12th August 15:40

[jimmy156]

LeeBash said:

Love these, I'm considering one myself fairly soon so its good to see/hear owners experiences.
Can you get roof bars on these, or do they need roof rails from the factory?

You can get roof bars, either from MINI directly or i think Thule make them for the MINI as well.

[jimmy156]

Two year ownership update...

Car now seems to be using a small amount of oil... which is a pain as the dipstick on MINI's is a complete joke and almost impossible to read. I would say it is maybe using around 1l per 5000mi or so, which i can cope with. I am going to keep an eye on it to make sure that it doesn't increase.

I have recently put 2x Pirelli PZero's on the front after putting some on the rear a few months ago. First impressions are that they are solid, perhaps a little stiffer then the Bridgestones they replaced (the Pirelli's are 88, compared to the Potenza's that were 84).

It just went through its MOT without a single advisory.

Still loving the car, can't see it going anywhere for a while!

[jimmy156]

Little update on the MINI,

Having had the high pressure fuel pump replaced under warrenty in December 2014, it failed again this January.

BMW have been pretty decent about it, as the part was 1 month out of warranty they have offered to pay for 100% of the part cost, whilst i paid for the labour.

It seems the fuel pumps really are a week point on the R56 Cooper S. Apparently running the tank very low on fuel regularly can cause premature wear, especially if driven enthusiastically with low fuel, as all the petrol is pushed away from pump during cornering, meaning it ends up pumping some air. With this in mind i will be filling up on 2 bars rather than 1 from now on.

[jimmy156]

Thats a good looking MINI you have there.

I must admit that i do think there is a bit too much chrome on these as standard, yours looks very smart.

Are the blackline lights the ones that i see usually on coupes/roadsters like this (its hard to tell from your photo)



If so, then again i totally agree that these look the business... i imagine they are quite expensive though? I am not usually one to change something that is in perfectly good working order for cosmetic reasons.

[jimmy156]

Still got the pop and bangs in sport mode here. It's nothing crazy like a jag f-type, but it's still does a few burbles and a crack when you lift off. It's not really audible when you are pushing along at speed to be fair, you hear it more around town.

[jimmy156]

I use ordinary 95 RON, usually from BP because that is all there is on my commute to work.

Never noticed any difference between normal and any for of "super" in either performance or the pops and crackles. Despite hearing people say you get more bangs with super, i don't see how the octane rating of the fuel will have any bearing at all on how much crackling you get on the overrun!

[jimmy156]

I imagine thats more to do with the sports cat, then the higher RON fuel. I can't think of anything about the chemistry of higher octane fuel, that would make it pop and bang more. As i said, makes no difference in my standard car

[jimmy156]

Yup, totally standard. I can't imagine why it would have been "programmed out" on yours, unless you have had the ECU reset or something.

You may have seen me in guildford, i am not there frequently but do visit occasionally

[jimmy156]

sagarich said:

Deejbb said:

Pretty sure I've seen you in Guildford before, remember seeing the PH logo!

Normally spotted bouncing off the limiter up Guildford High Street

not since my guildford cruise days, different times!

[jimmy156]

Just thought i would pop a little update in here.

The MINI threw its first actual out of warranty repair bill at me recently, as well as me having to repair some mystery damage that turned out to be self inflicted...

The plastic trim that covers the C pillar had a mysterious hole in it...

IMG_1333 by jimmyb156, on Flickr

IMG_1335 by jimmyb156, on Flickr

I blamed falling acorns, attempted theft, all sorts...

It took me doing the same thing again and making it even worse to realise what i had done... I had got into the habit of wedging the parcel shelf between the strut that holds the boot open when loading larger stuff into the boot. Without fail i would forget i had done this and shut the bloody door with it still there!

Fixing this, plus a leaky rear fog light cluster in the bumper, cost just under £200 from MINI themselves (cheaper then 2 local indy places!)

Then the first sign of a problem was the fact i lost heating. I bled the cooling system, which worked, but it quickly became apparent that i was losing coolant. Eventually (after keeping it topped up for a week waiting for its slot in the garage) it puked its guts in a car park. New thermostat housing and a bit of "while you're in there" meant a new AUX belt and water belt pulley and i was £500 lighter.

Mileage is now a lot more then it had been, and the car is on 81,000 and counting quickly! Still no real plans to change, still really enjoy driving the car, still haven't got the thing on track!