Yes, that's oil leaking out of the bonnet.
The MINI lives life much like the Z4C before it. It’s used hard and cleaned lightly just the way cars should be treated in my book. Don’t get me wrong, I’m enjoying OOV more than any car I’ve had before, but I like to drive rather than clean, and if I’m not driving then I can think of 100 things I’d like to do more than stand in the street with my bucket. Especially when the local hand car wash does the lot for a tenner and does a better job than I could ever do.
Despite the unloved appearance, I think the MINI is the Superman of cars. Flex its muscles on B roads or out on the track and it’s a superhero, but on the street it’s almost invisible to the average Joe. Here is a good example of its anonymity. Where I live in London, neighbours don’t talk to each other much, however if PH has a nice car in for test I’ll take it home and the bloke opposite will chat to me about it. He is not interested at all in the MINI despite me telling him how good it is, and about the JCW bits I have added; it just doesn’t register with him that it’s a good car. I quite like that as it means that I have a Q car, of sorts.
Sitting in the Italian sun
But is that the appeal? I mean it has a loud exhaust that sounds so, so good. It has over 200 bhp which means it goes as fast as most cars you come up against. It has trick suspension meaning it has the capability to be one of the fastest cars on a trackday and it’s made by BMW which means I drive in rattle free comfort. Underestimating it shows that you don’t really understand what a MINI can offer, especially one with a small Works badge on the boot.
Recently I decided to stretch the MINI's legs by taking a trip to Italy. I’ll admit that I was ever so slightly worried that it was a ridiculous way to get to Italy with flights being so cheap, but I pushed that thought to the back of my mind. Why Italy? Well a group of MINIs were crossing Europe as part of an Italian Job tour and I’d arranged to meet them in Turin. Easy enough to do over the phone, rather more daunting when you tap it into your Garmin.
The night before I’m textbook road trip - for once the car is clean, PH stickers have been applied, I have a full tank of V Power, a map book just in case and have topped up the oil. The next morning is an early start to head to the tunnel and a fast run to the port is just what the doctor ordered.
All is well with the world, except for the smell of oil. We reach the tunnel and park up ready to get some breakfast and like all proud car owners I glance back at the car, take a picture and spot something. A strange black substance is leaking from the front of the bonnet, take a look at the first picture in this story and you might just see it.
Turns out it was oil, as after I topped up the day before, I had forgotten to put the oil cap back on, giving the engine and underside of the bonnet a liberal coating of Mobil's finest. Thankfully the cap was still sitting on top of the engine so it wasn't the disaster it could have been. I stood out in the rain clearing up as best I could and fortunately the dipstick showed that plenty was still sloshing around in the engine, and at least I now knew where the smell was coming from.
I crept into the tunnel with a smell of burning oil surrounding the car thinking I was fortunate to be allowed on at all, but now the trip had started. Taking the most direct route from the tunnel we hit the auto route with OOV now stinking of hot oil, but I’ve cleaned off all I can so we press on.
As usual when you first come off the tunnel or ferry, you respect the speed limit. Five miles later and you think sod this and the speed creeps up until you settle into a very British 100mph cruise. The nav is showing a hideous amount of miles to go and so we decide on an overnight stop in Lyon and hours later in total darkness we find a hotel with a carpark, check in and do another great British tradition: hit the bar.
It’s at this time I realise that we have tucked away hundreds of miles in total comfort, more surprisingly both my luggage and that of my missus has fitted in the boot. The fuel economy is mid-30s and I realise that the MINI can cover miles as well as the Z4 could, in fact maybe a little more comfortably. One blot on the copybook is the lights, despite the xenon’s they are more akin to some cheap birthday cake candles and really not worth the extra money they cost when new.
Meeting up with the Italian Job cars
The next day we press on and reach Turin in good time to meet with the other MINIs as planned. The city police had arranged for us to run through the city ‘Italian Job’ style under escort, resulting in Turin grinding to a halt as we sped through the streets.
It was an amazing experience and certainly not something I could ever see happening in the UK. The public reaction was fantastic and that night we slept in a hotel underneath the famous roof top racetrack of the old Fiat factory. The next morning the other cars would drive this legendary track, but not me as I had to get back to PH Towers the next day.
Returning home we head through Geneva and head towards the Swiss Alps, taking in some fantastic mountain roads. OOV is in its element here and I was surprised to catch up with an Impreza being driven enthusiastically by its solo driver. In fact, he held me up and that shows just how good my LSD-equipped MINI was on these icy roads. It is such a focussed tool wrapped up in a small and unapologetically fashionable body, and that fact alone probably accounts for many lost sales, which is a shame. A shame for those that choose not to buy one.
First sighting of snow, will it get worse?
After the Alps we do the rest of the journey on fast, boring roads. 14 hours of driving later and I’m at home, OOV surprisingly being the perfect long distance companion and despite my best efforts to starve it of oil, it didn’t miss a beat.
Back in the UK the brakes started making a grinding noise, so a trip to the dealer was in order. I expected great things as the entire dealership recognised my car as ‘that car from PistonHeads’ and looked after me like royalty.
It turned out that I had a piece of gravel trapped in the calliper which was removed, and after I declined a car wash I was on my way. Imagine my surprise when a bill for over £100 landed on the doormat a few days later. Oddly, nobody had mentioned that I would be charged but I suppose I should have expected it and as long as nothing else goes wrong then I can live with it.
So another glowing report then, and after a very enjoyable thrash around the Yorkshire Dales recently, I am struggling to offer anything bad to say about it. Dull but true I’m afraid and I don’t think I’ve ever been in this situation with any other car.
But I can’t just leave it there and I’m starting to wonder what some semi slick tyres would do for my lap times, and what if I extracted a bit more power and fitted bigger brakes……hmmmmm? Let's see what the New Year brings before I commit to anything.
To sit alongside the MINI, I have recently bought a Mercedes 190E 2.0. Ever since I used to sell Mercs I have had a soft spot for the baby Benz and finding a 70,000 mile car for sale at £725 I had to go and have a look. I bought it for £650 in the end, and have spent that much again in making it mechanically sound and returning a few bits back to standard.
The end result is a very tidy car indeed and it’s improving all the time. What impresses me the most is that it doesn’t creak or rattle at all, the auto box changes so smoothly and when I was doing some research on the car I found that it was fitted with the sports chassis option from new and that can only increase the resale value. I’ll run it for a few months, get it up to a standard where it will appeal to a classic enthusiast and will sell it on in the summer, hopefully making a small profit too.
All that’s left is to wish you all a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year and thanks for supporting PH in 2008, we appreciate it.
Previous reports here, here and here
More information on the Italian Job here