Looking at buying Mini Cooper R56
Discussion
I’m starting a new job soon with a longer commute and my MX5 mk2 is probably not going to make it through it’s next MOT I’ve been looking at new cars and always fancied a Mini I think the S will be too thirsty. I’m looking at a budget of around 2.5/3k and there seem to be plenty of tidy R56 Coopers 08/09 reg but I’ve heard mixed things. Anyone got any experience with them?
Edited by No.6 on Wednesday 24th April 21:11
I owned an R55 Cooper S for nearly six years. It was fine and I could average just over 40mpg on a motorway run. It was arguably not as good as the R53/ R50 MINIs we had before. Had very few reliability issues in my ownership. I always had it serviced regularly and looked after it though.
I would ask the same question in the New MINIs forum on here to get some more experiences.
I would ask the same question in the New MINIs forum on here to get some more experiences.
My other half dailys an '07 R56 Cooper, she does about 200 miles a week commuting. It's a wonderful little car and surprisingly comfortable for day to day use, but ours is pretty well spec'd (climate control, cruise etc).
I find it difficult to get comfortable in when commuting on the motorway (I'm 6ft) due to the cramped footwell, but around town and on b-roads you don't notice it.
We paid ~£2700 last year with with 96k on the clock and it's been reliable for us (head gasket was replaced when we bought it) but she does like a drink of oil.
As for economy I'm very impressed, it's been averaging 46mpg day to day (based on the onboard computer), however we usually get just over 50mpg on long runs at 70-75 indicated.
I find it difficult to get comfortable in when commuting on the motorway (I'm 6ft) due to the cramped footwell, but around town and on b-roads you don't notice it.
We paid ~£2700 last year with with 96k on the clock and it's been reliable for us (head gasket was replaced when we bought it) but she does like a drink of oil.
As for economy I'm very impressed, it's been averaging 46mpg day to day (based on the onboard computer), however we usually get just over 50mpg on long runs at 70-75 indicated.
I really rate them - they drive really well.
Mrs Tidy bought a new R50 Mini One in 2003, so got invited by Sytner to the R56 launch. Sure enough we didn't leave until she had placed an order for an R56 Cooper, with the extras adding about 50% to the list price!
But she picked it up on 23 December 2006 so quite a nice Christmas prezzie to yourself!
And she still has it now after just over 50K miles and loves it, even though it probably isn't worth that much now.
I've told her for years to never sell it, unless I'm buying it.
Mrs Tidy bought a new R50 Mini One in 2003, so got invited by Sytner to the R56 launch. Sure enough we didn't leave until she had placed an order for an R56 Cooper, with the extras adding about 50% to the list price!
But she picked it up on 23 December 2006 so quite a nice Christmas prezzie to yourself!And she still has it now after just over 50K miles and loves it, even though it probably isn't worth that much now.
I've told her for years to never sell it, unless I'm buying it.
Gassing Station | Car Buying | Top of Page | What's New | My Stuff