R56 Mini Cooper S - any good?
Discussion
Debating a new car very shortly, and was all set to go for something like a Fiesta ST3 on lease but come to the realisation that 6k over two years to just hand the car back, vs just getting something a few years old is slightly less appealing.
Quite like the look of these. My sister has had a first gen Mini Cooper for about 8 years (non-S) and it's been pretty bomb proof. And looking at the performance stats for the Cooper S, they seem pretty decent. Doing some reading around I've seen a few horror stories about timing chain issues on these - something I'm not alien to, owning a VW VR6 engined car! Is it as big a deal as it's made out to be? Was it still an issue in cars from 2010/2011 (which is about where I think I could afford to buy) and any other things to look out for?
I'd probably be looking to buy an approved used from Mini so would ensure I had a couple of years warranty..
Thanks.
Quite like the look of these. My sister has had a first gen Mini Cooper for about 8 years (non-S) and it's been pretty bomb proof. And looking at the performance stats for the Cooper S, they seem pretty decent. Doing some reading around I've seen a few horror stories about timing chain issues on these - something I'm not alien to, owning a VW VR6 engined car! Is it as big a deal as it's made out to be? Was it still an issue in cars from 2010/2011 (which is about where I think I could afford to buy) and any other things to look out for?
I'd probably be looking to buy an approved used from Mini so would ensure I had a couple of years warranty..
Thanks.
Chicane-UK said:
Debating a new car very shortly, and was all set to go for something like a Fiesta ST3 on lease but come to the realisation that 6k over two years to just hand the car back, vs just getting something a few years old is slightly less appealing.
Quite like the look of these. My sister has had a first gen Mini Cooper for about 8 years (non-S) and it's been pretty bomb proof. And looking at the performance stats for the Cooper S, they seem pretty decent. Doing some reading around I've seen a few horror stories about timing chain issues on these - something I'm not alien to, owning a VW VR6 engined car! Is it as big a deal as it's made out to be? Was it still an issue in cars from 2010/2011 (which is about where I think I could afford to buy) and any other things to look out for?
I'd probably be looking to buy an approved used from Mini so would ensure I had a couple of years warranty..
Thanks.
Approved used will give you 1 yr warranty. You have to then renew it yourself - between £300-£600 per year depending on options. We didn't bother renewing it.....mistake.Quite like the look of these. My sister has had a first gen Mini Cooper for about 8 years (non-S) and it's been pretty bomb proof. And looking at the performance stats for the Cooper S, they seem pretty decent. Doing some reading around I've seen a few horror stories about timing chain issues on these - something I'm not alien to, owning a VW VR6 engined car! Is it as big a deal as it's made out to be? Was it still an issue in cars from 2010/2011 (which is about where I think I could afford to buy) and any other things to look out for?
I'd probably be looking to buy an approved used from Mini so would ensure I had a couple of years warranty..
Thanks.
We had a 57 plate cooper-s. Bought from a BMW/Mini dealer.
After about 6 months/8k miles i noticed it was making a slight "tick tick tick" sound when cold. It went away once warmed up. No warnings on the dash. This got worse. Still no warnings.
A month or so passed. I checked the oil. To my horror there was nothing on the dipstick at all (it's really hard to read and possibly the worst dipstick design i've ever seen). To get it back to the middle i had to put in about 1.5 litres!!!! No low oil warnings from the car at all.
It ran fine from then until its service.
Then a couple of months after the service i noticed the "tick tick" sound again when cold. Only this time it was louder. Checked the oil again and shock-horror it needed loads to get it back high on the dipstick.
I then decided to make it a monthly thing to check it - something i should have done from the start but i've never had a car need so much as a millilitre of oil between services!!
It always needed at least 1/2 a litre each month.
After the warranty expired it really started to get worse. The noise when cold was quite nasty now, but it still went away when warmed up. And if i kept the oil level at the top of the dipstick it pretty much didn't do it.
We then had a problem with it cutting out. It would kangaroo down the road occasionally. It was my wife's car mainly and she pretty much decided there and then to get rid of it.
We did about 20k miles over that 18 month period.
I don't think it ever ran 100% right. It always felt a bit stuttery under acceleration - never pulling cleanly/smoothly.
I suspect it needed coil packs and timing chain both doing. We should really have got it done when under warranty. C'est la vie. Won't make that mistake again.
Edit to add: I think it cost something like £4k in depreciation, plus servicing, tyres (full set of potenzas was not cheap!) over that period. Probably not a million miles away from your lease figure. I always assume that a "nice-ish" used car of about 3-5 yrs old costing around £8k-£12k is going lose about £2k per year just in depreciation.
Edited by dapearson on Thursday 11th December 10:39
bought one and then sold it pretty quickly.
it's one of only a few cars i have owned where i spent the whole time waiting for things to break... there is so much going under that bonnet and the amount of heat created by the turbo in such a small space means that things do break (sensors tend to fail).
some of prices to repair common issues are just plain silly. broken panoramic sunroof?... that's be a few grand at a stealer pls... this happened to me and i managed to get an exchange cassette fitted by a specialist, but it was still £1,500.
the timing chain is a well-known issue, but they coke up very easily due to the direct injection fuelling system. you can get the engine decoked using a walnut-shell blasting method which will cost a couple of hundred quid, but is well worth it. mine was stuttering a bit at full revs so i was looking to do this, but instead i tried swapping out the plugs and coil packs and it ran perfectly from then on.
i loved the short time i had it, but i'm soooo glad i don't own it.
it's one of only a few cars i have owned where i spent the whole time waiting for things to break... there is so much going under that bonnet and the amount of heat created by the turbo in such a small space means that things do break (sensors tend to fail).
some of prices to repair common issues are just plain silly. broken panoramic sunroof?... that's be a few grand at a stealer pls... this happened to me and i managed to get an exchange cassette fitted by a specialist, but it was still £1,500.
the timing chain is a well-known issue, but they coke up very easily due to the direct injection fuelling system. you can get the engine decoked using a walnut-shell blasting method which will cost a couple of hundred quid, but is well worth it. mine was stuttering a bit at full revs so i was looking to do this, but instead i tried swapping out the plugs and coil packs and it ran perfectly from then on.
i loved the short time i had it, but i'm soooo glad i don't own it.
dapearson said:
Approved used will give you 1 yr warranty. You have to then renew it yourself - between £300-£600 per year depending on options. We didn't bother renewing it.....mistake.
We had a 57 plate cooper-s. Bought from a BMW/Mini dealer.
After about 6 months/8k miles i noticed it was making a slight "tick tick tick" sound when cold. It went away once warmed up. No warnings on the dash. This got worse. Still no warnings.
A month or so passed. I checked the oil. To my horror there was nothing on the dipstick at all (it's really hard to read and possibly the worst dipstick design i've ever seen). To get it back to the middle i had to put in about 1.5 litres!!!! No low oil warnings from the car at all.
It ran fine from then until its service.
Then a couple of months after the service i noticed the "tick tick" sound again when cold. Only this time it was louder. Checked the oil again and shock-horror it needed loads to get it back high on the dipstick.
I then decided to make it a monthly thing to check it - something i should have done from the start but i've never had a car need so much as a millilitre of oil between services!!
It always needed at least 1/2 a litre each month.
After the warranty expired it really started to get worse. The noise when cold was quite nasty now, but it still went away when warmed up. And if i kept the oil level at the top of the dipstick it pretty much didn't do it.
We then had a problem with it cutting out. It would kangaroo down the road occasionally. It was my wife's car mainly and she pretty much decided there and then to get rid of it.
We did about 20k miles over that 18 month period.
I don't think it ever ran 100% right. It always felt a bit stuttery under acceleration - never pulling cleanly/smoothly.
I suspect it needed coil packs and timing chain both doing. We should really have got it done when under warranty. C'est la vie. Won't make that mistake again.
Edit to add: I think it cost something like £4k in depreciation, plus servicing, tyres (full set of potenzas was not cheap!) over that period. Probably not a million miles away from your lease figure. I always assume that a "nice-ish" used car of about 3-5 yrs old costing around £8k-£12k is going lose about £2k per year just in depreciation.
What he said.We had a 57 plate cooper-s. Bought from a BMW/Mini dealer.
After about 6 months/8k miles i noticed it was making a slight "tick tick tick" sound when cold. It went away once warmed up. No warnings on the dash. This got worse. Still no warnings.
A month or so passed. I checked the oil. To my horror there was nothing on the dipstick at all (it's really hard to read and possibly the worst dipstick design i've ever seen). To get it back to the middle i had to put in about 1.5 litres!!!! No low oil warnings from the car at all.
It ran fine from then until its service.
Then a couple of months after the service i noticed the "tick tick" sound again when cold. Only this time it was louder. Checked the oil again and shock-horror it needed loads to get it back high on the dipstick.
I then decided to make it a monthly thing to check it - something i should have done from the start but i've never had a car need so much as a millilitre of oil between services!!
It always needed at least 1/2 a litre each month.
After the warranty expired it really started to get worse. The noise when cold was quite nasty now, but it still went away when warmed up. And if i kept the oil level at the top of the dipstick it pretty much didn't do it.
We then had a problem with it cutting out. It would kangaroo down the road occasionally. It was my wife's car mainly and she pretty much decided there and then to get rid of it.
We did about 20k miles over that 18 month period.
I don't think it ever ran 100% right. It always felt a bit stuttery under acceleration - never pulling cleanly/smoothly.
I suspect it needed coil packs and timing chain both doing. We should really have got it done when under warranty. C'est la vie. Won't make that mistake again.
Edit to add: I think it cost something like £4k in depreciation, plus servicing, tyres (full set of potenzas was not cheap!) over that period. Probably not a million miles away from your lease figure. I always assume that a "nice-ish" used car of about 3-5 yrs old costing around £8k-£12k is going lose about £2k per year just in depreciation.
Edited by dapearson on Thursday 11th December 10:39
I had a 57 plate MCS for about 12 months before I got rid of mine. Same issues as above - i.e. it started ticking when cold and used a lot of oil. I took mine in under warranty and I'd read about the timing chain issues and low and behold, that's what was wrong. Mine needed a full top end rebuild which I think came to around £3-4k (all under warranty). The cams were pitted and it needed de-coking (think that's the right phrase) due to the poor way the exhaust/turbo/inlets are designed. All in all, it was in and out of the garage more times than any other car I've owned.
I still don't accept that the work they did fixed it either, not properly anyway.
Other than that, it was poorly made (rattles, squeaks, cheap materials in the cabin) and the suspension was terrible. Very uncomfortable on long journeys.
If you go into ownership with your eyes open knowing that you'll need a warranty every year then fine. When they work, they're great little cars. They handle great and are quite nippy - mine had the LSD which was fantastic on back roads. So much grip and chuckability.
Just to throw in my experience of a handful of Cooper S's
We have owned 5 separate Cooper S, the first one was a 52 plated fixed head and the other 5 were progressively newer convertibles.
Never had any particular technical problems from the engine or gearbox department with any of them, we purchased each one as a used car at around 2 years or 3 years old with very low mileage for the age, the highest mileage one we had was 10,000 miles, so as I say low mileage.
Each of these castles purchased for my wife to use as a runaround and had daily use.
Firstly the bad news, I personally really thought they were overrated cars, not the best of quality materials inside and I hate to say it but too much power to the front wheels especially on wet/greasy roads pulling out of junctions, but then again it is a front wheel drive car.
It was my insistence that we have the Cooper S rather than a more basic car because my wife preferred the look of the cooper S and the extras that they come with
The other bad news was that each of the convertibles developed really annoying rattles and squeaks, each of them spent a fair bit of time with the dealer trying to get resolved.
Having said all of the bad news, we have had 5 of them now, so it can't have been all bad. We only kept each one for about 18 months of the most, then sold because we couldn't put up with the rattles more main thing else. Then with rose tinted spectacles 6 months after selling ended up looking for another one to replace.
On the good news side of things we never lost huge amounts of money on any of them, in fact on a couple weeks old for the same price we paid albeit having done not many miles.
Each of the ones we have owned have been fully loaded including satellite navigation, we've never had any technical weapons with any of them other than speaker issues in one car which ended up being replaced twice and still weren't quite right.
Last year we went for the countryman as a Cooper S Works, again fully loaded. Plan to use it as the everyday family car, but really just too small for our needs. Again car was faultless except for the fact that we hated the clutch, it was horrible to drive in traffic.
Hope this helps in your decision-making.
We have owned 5 separate Cooper S, the first one was a 52 plated fixed head and the other 5 were progressively newer convertibles.
Never had any particular technical problems from the engine or gearbox department with any of them, we purchased each one as a used car at around 2 years or 3 years old with very low mileage for the age, the highest mileage one we had was 10,000 miles, so as I say low mileage.
Each of these castles purchased for my wife to use as a runaround and had daily use.
Firstly the bad news, I personally really thought they were overrated cars, not the best of quality materials inside and I hate to say it but too much power to the front wheels especially on wet/greasy roads pulling out of junctions, but then again it is a front wheel drive car.
It was my insistence that we have the Cooper S rather than a more basic car because my wife preferred the look of the cooper S and the extras that they come with
The other bad news was that each of the convertibles developed really annoying rattles and squeaks, each of them spent a fair bit of time with the dealer trying to get resolved.
Having said all of the bad news, we have had 5 of them now, so it can't have been all bad. We only kept each one for about 18 months of the most, then sold because we couldn't put up with the rattles more main thing else. Then with rose tinted spectacles 6 months after selling ended up looking for another one to replace.
On the good news side of things we never lost huge amounts of money on any of them, in fact on a couple weeks old for the same price we paid albeit having done not many miles.
Each of the ones we have owned have been fully loaded including satellite navigation, we've never had any technical weapons with any of them other than speaker issues in one car which ended up being replaced twice and still weren't quite right.
Last year we went for the countryman as a Cooper S Works, again fully loaded. Plan to use it as the everyday family car, but really just too small for our needs. Again car was faultless except for the fact that we hated the clutch, it was horrible to drive in traffic.
Hope this helps in your decision-making.
We have had our N18 184bhp MCS for over a year now, it was bought from MINI at 3 years old and 28k. It's an automatic, needed for my wife's medical condition.
The only issue so far was picked up on the last service which was a replacement rocker cover gasket as there was slight oil seepage. Oddly it uses no oil at all, I check it every 500 miles.
I'm now commuting in it 3 times a week, an overall 90 miles each day, mostly motorway. I get a pretty consistent 42 mpg at 70-75mph which I think it pretty decent. The best I've seen is 52mpg on a 50 mile commute in 50-60 mph traffic.
It's a great little thing to drive, and with the auto box it's like a dodgem in town and a boon in heavy traffic.
After reading up on the timing chain issue, I purposely avoided the earlier N18 engine. I've just extended the MINI warranty to cover the engine and transmission and breakdown recovery for £390.
Try one
The only issue so far was picked up on the last service which was a replacement rocker cover gasket as there was slight oil seepage. Oddly it uses no oil at all, I check it every 500 miles.
I'm now commuting in it 3 times a week, an overall 90 miles each day, mostly motorway. I get a pretty consistent 42 mpg at 70-75mph which I think it pretty decent. The best I've seen is 52mpg on a 50 mile commute in 50-60 mph traffic.
It's a great little thing to drive, and with the auto box it's like a dodgem in town and a boon in heavy traffic.
After reading up on the timing chain issue, I purposely avoided the earlier N18 engine. I've just extended the MINI warranty to cover the engine and transmission and breakdown recovery for £390.
Try one
Edited by Maracus on Thursday 11th December 11:29
I bought my 2007 R56 S at 12k miles back in Feb 2012 as a 1 owner Mini Cherished car, it's still with me today at 35k miles.
Well....
-Drinks oil like a pig, up to a litre every 500 miles
-Developed the timing chain rattle a while back, fixed with new tensioner at a good indy for £350 ish (you'll know its there, the noise as you pull away from a cold start between 1.5-3k revs is absolutely excruciating as the chain slaps against its housing! goes away once warm and oil in the tensioner)
-Torque steers everywhere
-Trim has started to rattle in places
-Rocker cover gasket was leaking
-Ride is pretty... no, extremely firm and lumpy
-the panoramic roof sticks in the summer as the housing expands with the heat
However I absolutely love it and am not looking to replace it soon
It's absolutely hilariously good fun to drive, the grip and stiffness of the chassis as a whole is brilliant. As is the driving position. The standard exhaust is great fun, lovely burble as it starts and lots of cracks and bangs when changing gear. And it really is pretty quick once you know how to get the most out of it.
I really do think it looks great too. Has a slight down-nose stance and sits nicely on the 17 inch crown wheels. I still look back at it sometimes. I lot of people reckon its either very girly or a ridiculously uncool gimmick, but I think the total opposite. Get out of one and into a MK V Golf GTI and feel how cumbersome and floppy it is.
I spent some time in an E46 M3 recently with a view to buying one and, while it makes a wonderful sound, looks stunning and is pretty brisk, it didn't feel THAT much quicker than the Mini if i'm honest, and a HUGE amount softer and heavier in the corners!
Well....
-Drinks oil like a pig, up to a litre every 500 miles
-Developed the timing chain rattle a while back, fixed with new tensioner at a good indy for £350 ish (you'll know its there, the noise as you pull away from a cold start between 1.5-3k revs is absolutely excruciating as the chain slaps against its housing! goes away once warm and oil in the tensioner)
-Torque steers everywhere
-Trim has started to rattle in places
-Rocker cover gasket was leaking
-Ride is pretty... no, extremely firm and lumpy
-the panoramic roof sticks in the summer as the housing expands with the heat
However I absolutely love it and am not looking to replace it soon
It's absolutely hilariously good fun to drive, the grip and stiffness of the chassis as a whole is brilliant. As is the driving position. The standard exhaust is great fun, lovely burble as it starts and lots of cracks and bangs when changing gear. And it really is pretty quick once you know how to get the most out of it.
I really do think it looks great too. Has a slight down-nose stance and sits nicely on the 17 inch crown wheels. I still look back at it sometimes. I lot of people reckon its either very girly or a ridiculously uncool gimmick, but I think the total opposite. Get out of one and into a MK V Golf GTI and feel how cumbersome and floppy it is.
I spent some time in an E46 M3 recently with a view to buying one and, while it makes a wonderful sound, looks stunning and is pretty brisk, it didn't feel THAT much quicker than the Mini if i'm honest, and a HUGE amount softer and heavier in the corners!
PopsandBangs said:
-Developed the timing chain rattle a while back, fixed with new tensioner at a good indy for £350 ish (you'll know its there, the noise as you pull away from a cold start between 1.5-3k revs is absolutely excruciating as the chain slaps against its housing! goes away once warm and oil in the tensioner
Hope that's a typo and you meant you had the complete timing chain cassette assembly changed for that amount, tensioners are about 14 quid and I changed Mine myself, Indies can do the cassette for 400 main dealers want around the 900 mark.I have a 2010 N18 MCS 184bhp and after a teething problem whereby it needed new coil packs due to the very low mileage, it runs sweet.
All of the posters earlier except for one has commented on the pre-2010 model with the weaker engine that is renowned for problems - the majority of these issues had been ironed out by the time the N18 was released so make sure you get one of these if you're still considering the Mini.
In terms of fun factor, it is immense - it feels very quick and i enjoy pressing the 'S' button which makes the accelerator more sensitive, stiffens up the steering and adds the pops and bangs to the exhaust - a lot of fun!
Go test drive a newer model - once you get used to the layout of the dash etc it feels great.
Just to add i'm not sure which seats i've got (although they're leather) but it is very comfortable to sit in; more so than the C Class i exchanged it for
All of the posters earlier except for one has commented on the pre-2010 model with the weaker engine that is renowned for problems - the majority of these issues had been ironed out by the time the N18 was released so make sure you get one of these if you're still considering the Mini.
In terms of fun factor, it is immense - it feels very quick and i enjoy pressing the 'S' button which makes the accelerator more sensitive, stiffens up the steering and adds the pops and bangs to the exhaust - a lot of fun!
Go test drive a newer model - once you get used to the layout of the dash etc it feels great.
Just to add i'm not sure which seats i've got (although they're leather) but it is very comfortable to sit in; more so than the C Class i exchanged it for
I had a 08 Cooper S for 6 months, mine was purchased at just shy of 3 years old with 24k miles. In 6 months and 12k miles I went through 2 x chains and tensioners... Perhaps it was just bad luck, admittedly I had piled the miles on it.
I also struggled with the harsh ride. I never got the chance to ditch the run flats, but I did run mine on 16 inch wheels with winter run flats for a while and the ride was much better.
Overall not a bad car, but I didn't really gel with mine. I certainly wouldn't run an earlier R56 without an extended warranty.
I also struggled with the harsh ride. I never got the chance to ditch the run flats, but I did run mine on 16 inch wheels with winter run flats for a while and the ride was much better.
Overall not a bad car, but I didn't really gel with mine. I certainly wouldn't run an earlier R56 without an extended warranty.
Bigbox said:
I have a 2010 N18 MCS 184bhp and after a teething problem whereby it needed new coil packs due to the very low mileage, it runs sweet.
All of the posters earlier except for one has commented on the pre-2010 model with the weaker engine that is renowned for problems - the majority of these issues had been ironed out by the time the N18 was released so make sure you get one of these if you're still considering the Mini.
In terms of fun factor, it is immense - it feels very quick and i enjoy pressing the 'S' button which makes the accelerator more sensitive, stiffens up the steering and adds the pops and bangs to the exhaust - a lot of fun!
Go test drive a newer model - once you get used to the layout of the dash etc it feels great.
Just to add i'm not sure which seats i've got (although they're leather) but it is very comfortable to sit in; more so than the C Class i exchanged it for
What he said, 2010-11 will get you the more reliable (and more powerful) engine. They are a real hoot to drive and specced with leather and a few other niceties are a lovely place to be. I have done 4-5 hour journeys without a break no problem. The ride is a but firm though!All of the posters earlier except for one has commented on the pre-2010 model with the weaker engine that is renowned for problems - the majority of these issues had been ironed out by the time the N18 was released so make sure you get one of these if you're still considering the Mini.
In terms of fun factor, it is immense - it feels very quick and i enjoy pressing the 'S' button which makes the accelerator more sensitive, stiffens up the steering and adds the pops and bangs to the exhaust - a lot of fun!
Go test drive a newer model - once you get used to the layout of the dash etc it feels great.
Just to add i'm not sure which seats i've got (although they're leather) but it is very comfortable to sit in; more so than the C Class i exchanged it for
They feel properly quick down a twisty road and fast enough on more open roads. I managed 52mpg on a normal mixed road driving with traffic the other day. Although generally get between 40-45 if i'm not trying.
IMG_3064 by jimmyb156, on Flickr
IMG_3035 by jimmyb156, on Flickr
IMG_3040 by jimmyb156, on Flickr
I also like touches like the integrated satnav. Much better than the current trend for ones look like they have been stuck on as an after thought.
IMG_3037 by jimmyb156, on Flickr
Go and test drive one... I was half heartedly looking at replacing my alfa with a merc CLK and i popped into the MINI dealer to pass 20 mins. Within a few weeks i had bought this car, and paid twice what i was originally planning on spending
They really are great little cars.I have a 2010 Cooper S with the less reliable engine and whilst i love the way the car drives, I've had way too many issues with it... So much so that the warranty costs are now just under £5,500 over the 8 months I have had it! If you get one, make sure it's got a warranty and for peace of mind be prepared to pay to extend the warranty each year until you sell it..
Deejbb said:
I have a 2010 Cooper S with the less reliable engine and whilst i love the way the car drives, I've had way too many issues with it... So much so that the warranty costs are now just under £5,500 over the 8 months I have had it! If you get one, make sure it's got a warranty and for peace of mind be prepared to pay to extend the warranty each year until you sell it..
Just make sure you get the Cooper S with the N18 engine (plus some other cosmetic differences) where the common issues have been fixed.For the record, i've had mine for almost a year and it's not required any oil whatsoever (actually, will check later on today just in case!!)
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