R55 Mini Cooper S Clubman VS MK6 Golf GTI

[Dcvin]

Hi guys, I need some advice on buying my next car.
I used to drive sporty cars - WRX, Type Rs etc and then for a while I drove a Honda hybrid as a daily. I want to get back to driving something that's fun to drive but still practical.

I've been looking at R55 Mini Cooper S Clubman (2010 pre LCI version but with N18 engine) and Mk6 Golf GTI (2010) but I read that none of these are reliable cars. Do you have any experience with either of these? Any good/bad expeirences?

I never owned an European car before and my current daily had no problem other than regular oil changes for the last 5 years so I'm not used to spending thousands every year on car maintenance. Which makes me think whether the fun factor of either cars is not worth the headache..

[DaveyBoyWonder]

Why does the R55 have an N18 fitted? Had the N14 swapped? I've owned a number of Minis and the general consensus seems to be go for the N18 engined cars but a Mini dealer I know reckons that they're still poor, just better than the N14.

The TSI in the mk6 GTI isn't without its faults either.

Any car of that kind of age isn't going to be totally without potential problems so just be aware they could throw up a biggish bill.

I'd probably be tempted by the GTI given the choice. Less of an event when you get behind the wheel but the R55 is a small car, even for me at 5'8" it felt quite cramped inside. The GTI (especially if a DSG) is more a VAG point-and-shoot thing but thats not a bad thing. My old GTI covered ground staggeringly quickly.

[TheAlastair34]

I have a R55 JCW with the N18 engine,

Owned for 5 years no engine issues in 60k.

Its had a pair of shocks & wishbone bushes & a rad pipe this year that the bracket had broke and was rubbing on the gear selector.

Original clutch @ 104k still uses very ittle oil and still returns goof fuel economy around 44mpg is average for me but very little town use.

Dont fancy much to swap it to its rare and quirky, maybe a VW UP Gti but the days of cheap ones of those has gone!

The Golf GTI will be faster and a fair bit more pratical however!

[carface_837]

I've owned a mk6 Gti and 2 R56s - one a Cooper S and the other a JCW. The Minis both had the N14 engine which reliability wise was supposed to be slightly worse than the N18 but I think all Minis of that era were not built for longevity. They are probably the worst cars for reliablility I've ever owned. Great fun to drive when they worked but they always had a few jobs outstanding on them to do and neither ownership lasted more than 3 months. The Mk6 Gti has chain tensioner problems. I had mine from new until 4 years when the tensioner went leaving me a big bill. Apart from that it was fine so get one that's had the chain / tensioner done. I'm in a similar position and am thinking of going for a mk5 Gti instead. Partly cause of the chain thing and partly because I don't want to buy the same car again

[Challo]

Dcvin said:

Hi guys, I need some advice on buying my next car.
I used to drive sporty cars - WRX, Type Rs etc and then for a while I drove a Honda hybrid as a daily. I want to get back to driving something that's fun to drive but still practical.

I've been looking at R55 Mini Cooper S Clubman (2010 pre LCI version but with N18 engine) and Mk6 Golf GTI (2010) but I read that none of these are reliable cars. Do you have any experience with either of these? Any good/bad expeirences?

I never owned an European car before and my current daily had no problem other than regular oil changes for the last 5 years so I'm not used to spending thousands every year on car maintenance. Which makes me think whether the fun factor of either cars is not worth the headache..

Just to confirm you cannot get a pre LCI with the N18 engine. The LCI came in 2010 and the part of the upgrade was the change to the N18 engine.

My 2009 Cooper S R55 has just been scrapped as the engine gave up the ghost. Had already had £2k worth of work doing on it, and failed again 2 years later. The car itself was really good, but never felt happy with the engine and was always worried what else was going to fail.

[Dcvin]

Thanks for all your comments!
The R55 I looked at has N18 engine but none of the LCI interior/exterior features so I was wondering whether Mini rolled out the engine change first before other changes.

I was never a fan of Mini but then it grew in me and I now like how unique it looks and it's easy to get one with a manual transmission. On the other hand, a manual Mk6 Golf GTI is so rare/expensive. And personally I think Golf GTI feels bland and DSG box just doesn't appeal to me that much.

But aftering reading about Mini and after so many videos saying "Don't buy it", I feel like they are mostly good as a 2nd/weekend/project car that you don't worry too much about it if it breaks down.
For me, I need to get to work and pickup my kid from school everyday so maybe Mini is not the right car for me.

Now I feel like I'm out of options!

[Canon_Fodder]

OP would a Polo GTI manual be a possible option?

Not exactly the best of both worlds, but perhaps avoiding the troublesome aspects of the other two?

[ZX10R NIN]

Not sure what your budget is OP but if you want a car with great handling & good reliability then the Astra GTC VXR is a great steer, they can also be be bought for sensible money.

https://www.autotrader.co.uk/car-details/202207047...

https://www.autotrader.co.uk/car-details/202207217...

[vikingaero]

Dcvin said:

Thanks for all your comments!
The R55 I looked at has N18 engine but none of the LCI interior/exterior features so I was wondering whether Mini rolled out the engine change first before other changes.

Longevity isn't a strong point of MINI engines, so you could easily swap a LCI N18 engine into a blown up N14. The N18, whilst an improvement, still had many of the "features" of the N14.

I owned a N14 R55 Clubman Cooper S for 7 years. I find it strange that people say it is not an unreliable car and that it just needs more care - a LOT more care. I liken MINIs to a British Alfa Romeo - they have their ups (driving/handling, community, looks etc) and downs. It got to a stage where the downs overtook the ups and you became scared to use the performance because of the fragility. Let's face it, the engine is a French POS. Many MINIs have been kept going, yet the same engine has sent many Citroens and Pugs to the scrapyard. At one 6 month stage of ownership, I was spending £300-£400 every 3 weeks on things failing.

So my list of faults: 40k timing chain, guide, tensioner (what sort of normal car has 40k timing kit changes - I would accept this on something exotic), walnut decoke x2, clogged oil return pipe, plastic valve covers x3, coolant header tank, thermostat housing x2, water pumps x2, water pump tensioner, rear barn door lock motors, front callipers (after brakes locked on), rear brakes (for some reason the rears wear faster than the fronts, rear callipers, the constant oil leaks - fix one leak and the next seal somewhere else goes - it's a constant leaky fkfest and it looks like I have a driveway from a mechanics yard, sump and AT box seals and filters. The only thing I seemed to have escaped was the High Pressure Fuel Pump. The oil consumption as the end of my tenure (and tether) was 1 litre per 400 miles. I used to buy oil whenever it was on offer - in Asda and see 5 litres for £15, buy 2. When I got rid of my MINI over 2 years ago, I had 6 x 5 litre bottles of oil in the garage. Today I still have 6 x 5 litre bottles and none of my present fleet has used a drop of oil.

So, I wouldn't say don't buy a MINI. You get people replying saying that their N14/N18 is 100% reliable - but these feckers don't go anywhere! Buy if you have a level of mechanical knowledge and can fix some of the things yourself - look at the thread by scrw. and he's the perfect owner for a MINI with a decent level of spannering expertise.

[Dcvin]

Polo GTI can be an option - I'll have a browse.
Maybe BMW 130 is a good alternative as well.

I live in New Zealand and there aren't many Astra VXR on sale - I don't think I've never seen one tbh.

vikingaero said:

Longevity isn't a strong point of MINI engines, so you could easily swap a LCI N18 engine into a blown up N14. The N18, whilst an improvement, still had many of the "features" of the N14.

Thanks for taking time to write this up! I really appreciate it and this really is a nail in the coffin.
From what I read in both VW and Mini forums, Mk6 Golf GTIs do have issues but it's still more reliable than Mini which needs a lot more care and luck.

I was reluctant to get another non-manual transmission car but I'm now leaning towards Golf GTIs. I feel like I just need to get something that already had its troublesome parts replaced/fixed.

[carface_837]

vikingaero said:

Dcvin said:

Thanks for all your comments!
The R55 I looked at has N18 engine but none of the LCI interior/exterior features so I was wondering whether Mini rolled out the engine change first before other changes.

Longevity isn't a strong point of MINI engines, so you could easily swap a LCI N18 engine into a blown up N14. The N18, whilst an improvement, still had many of the "features" of the N14.

I owned a N14 R55 Clubman Cooper S for 7 years. I find it strange that people say it is not an unreliable car and that it just needs more care - a LOT more care. I liken MINIs to a British Alfa Romeo - they have their ups (driving/handling, community, looks etc) and downs. It got to a stage where the downs overtook the ups and you became scared to use the performance because of the fragility. Let's face it, the engine is a French POS. Many MINIs have been kept going, yet the same engine has sent many Citroens and Pugs to the scrapyard. At one 6 month stage of ownership, I was spending £300-£400 every 3 weeks on things failing.

So my list of faults: 40k timing chain, guide, tensioner (what sort of normal car has 40k timing kit changes - I would accept this on something exotic), walnut decoke x2, clogged oil return pipe, plastic valve covers x3, coolant header tank, thermostat housing x2, water pumps x2, water pump tensioner, rear barn door lock motors, front callipers (after brakes locked on), rear brakes (for some reason the rears wear faster than the fronts, rear callipers, the constant oil leaks - fix one leak and the next seal somewhere else goes - it's a constant leaky fkfest and it looks like I have a driveway from a mechanics yard, sump and AT box seals and filters. The only thing I seemed to have escaped was the High Pressure Fuel Pump. The oil consumption as the end of my tenure (and tether) was 1 litre per 400 miles. I used to buy oil whenever it was on offer - in Asda and see 5 litres for £15, buy 2. When I got rid of my MINI over 2 years ago, I had 6 x 5 litre bottles of oil in the garage. Today I still have 6 x 5 litre bottles and none of my present fleet has used a drop of oil.

So, I wouldn't say don't buy a MINI. You get people replying saying that their N14/N18 is 100% reliable - but these feckers don't go anywhere! Buy if you have a level of mechanical knowledge and can fix some of the things yourself - look at the thread by scrw. and he's the perfect owner for a MINI with a decent level of spannering expertise.

Couldn't agree with this more. Anyone who says that they've had zero problems is really an outlier. My R56 was constantly going into reduced power mode and I spent over a grand swapping parts myself and getting garage diagnoses and in the end gave up. I think part of the problems (the engine ones anyway) were due to the engine needing very regular oil changes and most people bought the Mini new with a BMW TLC package which included the first few year's scheduled servicing. Often though the schedule would leave distances between oil changes of up to 15k miles which is way too much for the N14 Prince engine. Also agree with the above poster that the problems weren't limited to the engine and shared many of those mentioned. Mine was 9 years old and also suffered from badly rusted subframes and rust in the tailgate. Badly built cars though great fun to drive which is why I seemed to forgive my first purchase of one and bought a second. Surveys put the subsequent F56 as very good in terms of reliability but I've been too scarred to try again.

[Dcvin]

Thanks for the comments!
I have decided to stay away from R56 Mini. Now I'm going slightly off topic and comparing BMW 130i and Mk5/6 Golf GTI. I'll test drive and see how I find them.

[stevemcs]

Reliability wise I would take the mini over the golf, the golf suffers from numerous issues including img thermostats and timing chain failure

I ran a clubman for 8 years and loved it, only major things were the hpfp and compressor for the ac.. for me it would be between the mini and the 130i

[Dcvin]

stevemcs said:

Reliability wise I would take the mini over the golf, the golf suffers from numerous issues including img thermostats and timing chain failure

I ran a clubman for 8 years and loved it, only major things were the hpfp and compressor for the ac.. for me it would be between the mini and the 130i

Which model year was your Mini?

[stevemcs]

November 2010 - N18

[anonymous-user]

Having had 13 Golfs, 8 of which were GTIs (currently in a Mk7.5 GTi) I would say the Mk6 GTi or the Polo 1.8 GTi but then I am fairly biased. My eldest son had an N14 engined Cooper S but blew it up, it was running just short of 300 brake though and it got "fully sent" very regularly. He's now got an N18 engined cooper S running about 230 brake, it seems OK so far but there are niggly little things that I would lose patience with.

[stevemcs]

piddy44 said:

Mini Cooper S or Golf GTi? Mmmmm, think I'd take the Toyota/Honda/Hyundai/Kia, anything other than these Euro st-boxes. European cars are the most over-rated junk ever. They even make US cars look amazing.

What can you find with similar performance at the same price point ??

[Dcvin]

Thanks for all your comments guys.
Getting a Mini as a daily didn't feel comfortable and a good example manual 130i was out of my budget so I ended up buying a Mk5 GTI. I wasn't thinking much about mk5 but I came acorss a very good deal so I ended up buying it. Loving the car so far!

[stevemcs]

Might be worth pulling the sump off and checking the oil pick up pipe, they have a habit of blocking up.

[ZX10R NIN]

I second the above.