Discussion
I'd doing a bit of research for the missus. I can't think of anyone better to ask than the owners themselves, so here goes.
Which would you go for D or S. Whats the likely price difference, after extras like the chilli pack.
What are the emissions like, how much is ved for a year on either?
What about mpg for both?
Which would you go for D or S. Whats the likely price difference, after extras like the chilli pack.
What are the emissions like, how much is ved for a year on either?
What about mpg for both?
Completely different cars... S is for going quick, D is for getting as many mpg as possible. Think you need to descide what your after....
My S gets 30mpg when on short journeys, lolads more on runs if I behave. D would do loads more everywhere than the S.
What is wrong with a Cooper ? It is probably more of an equivalent to to D. Mate has one and gets 45mpg around town. just remember Diesel is more expensive, Copper D more expensive than the straight cooper and typically don't get any savings in buying a new Diesel until you hit 50k+ miles.
For loads more info try www.mini2.com and teh VED bands etc will be up on teh mini website as is a configurator so you can play around with costs of building a car the way you want.
My S gets 30mpg when on short journeys, lolads more on runs if I behave. D would do loads more everywhere than the S.
What is wrong with a Cooper ? It is probably more of an equivalent to to D. Mate has one and gets 45mpg around town. just remember Diesel is more expensive, Copper D more expensive than the straight cooper and typically don't get any savings in buying a new Diesel until you hit 50k+ miles.
For loads more info try www.mini2.com and teh VED bands etc will be up on teh mini website as is a configurator so you can play around with costs of building a car the way you want.
All the performance figures and costs are available from mini.com with a nifty little comparision tool here:
http://www.mini.co.uk/html/model_range/compare_mod...
Fergy is right though, they're very different cars, you need to drive all 3 options and make your own decision based upon how you find them. You shouldn't make your decision based purely upon a Top Trumps comparision of the performance numbers, they all have different characters which aren't necessarily reflected in a clinical examination of the 0-60 and bhp numbers - you may well be surprised which one you enjoy most depending upon your driving stype - I was.
We went for a Cooper D having driven all 3 and originally thinking that I would be going home with an S.
My personal impressions were that:
The Cooper has no mid-range torque at all which I found infuriating. It goes well enough when you work it hard, but having to rev it silly anytime you wanted to make reasonable progress really got on my nerves.
The Cooper S is certainly the quickest of the 3 - only satisfyingly quick though, not startalingly quick as the marketing material would have you believed. I felt a bet underwhelmed with it to be honest to the point that I didn't feel the modest extra performance justified the extra purchase, fuel, VED or insurance cost.
The Cooper D has loads of mid-range torque to the point that it feels about as quick as the S in the middle of the rev counter, but obvilously has no top end. I found it much more satisfying to drive than the Cooper and to my driving style it feels much quicker, although the Boys-Own 0-60 numbers don't support this seat of the pants feel. It's only done 500 miles and is giving high 40s mpg around town, which is nice but not the 70mpg the marketing material alludes to.
I worked out that with the extra purchase cost and the difference in the price of diesel and petrol, you need to drive 50,000 miles before you're saving money. I bought the Cooper D over the Cooper because I preferred the drive, not becuase I expected it to be cheaper to run.
Only my imprerssions though, and others come to different conclusions. Important thing is to drive them and see what you like, not just rely on the numbers.
http://www.mini.co.uk/html/model_range/compare_mod...
Fergy is right though, they're very different cars, you need to drive all 3 options and make your own decision based upon how you find them. You shouldn't make your decision based purely upon a Top Trumps comparision of the performance numbers, they all have different characters which aren't necessarily reflected in a clinical examination of the 0-60 and bhp numbers - you may well be surprised which one you enjoy most depending upon your driving stype - I was.
We went for a Cooper D having driven all 3 and originally thinking that I would be going home with an S.
My personal impressions were that:
The Cooper has no mid-range torque at all which I found infuriating. It goes well enough when you work it hard, but having to rev it silly anytime you wanted to make reasonable progress really got on my nerves.
The Cooper S is certainly the quickest of the 3 - only satisfyingly quick though, not startalingly quick as the marketing material would have you believed. I felt a bet underwhelmed with it to be honest to the point that I didn't feel the modest extra performance justified the extra purchase, fuel, VED or insurance cost.
The Cooper D has loads of mid-range torque to the point that it feels about as quick as the S in the middle of the rev counter, but obvilously has no top end. I found it much more satisfying to drive than the Cooper and to my driving style it feels much quicker, although the Boys-Own 0-60 numbers don't support this seat of the pants feel. It's only done 500 miles and is giving high 40s mpg around town, which is nice but not the 70mpg the marketing material alludes to.
I worked out that with the extra purchase cost and the difference in the price of diesel and petrol, you need to drive 50,000 miles before you're saving money. I bought the Cooper D over the Cooper because I preferred the drive, not becuase I expected it to be cheaper to run.
Only my imprerssions though, and others come to different conclusions. Important thing is to drive them and see what you like, not just rely on the numbers.
Edited by Seight_Returns on Tuesday 20th May 16:22
Edited by Seight_Returns on Tuesday 20th May 16:29
I've owned a Cooper, so has the missus. Both the previous generation and both great cars. I think the feeling with these is that she would be going over ground she has already covered. She regretted selling her Mini at the time, she bought an Audi A3 for the practicality.
She's always hankered after a Cooper S, as have I. I'd get to drive it a few tiems a week and obviously I'd rather drive an S. The only reason the Cooper D came into the equation is from a running costs point of view (cheaper to tax & run, with possibly stronger residuals because its a diesel -not sure about this though.)
She's always hankered after a Cooper S, as have I. I'd get to drive it a few tiems a week and obviously I'd rather drive an S. The only reason the Cooper D came into the equation is from a running costs point of view (cheaper to tax & run, with possibly stronger residuals because its a diesel -not sure about this though.)
We drove a Cooper D at the weekend. I must admit it drove well and was plenty powerful enough for the wife. I think both our desires still lie with the Cooper S. The residuals on the D are even stronger, but when looking at used ones there is about £1000 difference between the S and D. I personally think the S is worth £1000 extra.
The missus has the final say though!
The missus has the final say though!
Hi there,
I've had my Cooper D for 6 months now, and my impressions are this:- I really like the way it drives -relaxed motorway cruising (barely audible engine, low rpm) but great, torquey fun if you want to drive it hard. Very cheap to run - £35 VED, low insurance, good economy (however, no matter how I drive, I can't get close to Mini's claimed mpg - my average in 6mths is 50.8 doing a real-world mix of driving). I like it a lot.
I've had my Cooper D for 6 months now, and my impressions are this:- I really like the way it drives -relaxed motorway cruising (barely audible engine, low rpm) but great, torquey fun if you want to drive it hard. Very cheap to run - £35 VED, low insurance, good economy (however, no matter how I drive, I can't get close to Mini's claimed mpg - my average in 6mths is 50.8 doing a real-world mix of driving). I like it a lot.
I am picking up a Cooper D next week. It will make a big change from my X3 which has managed around 37mpg. Not overly impressed with the real life mpg compared with those claimed if 50 is about the norm. I will report back if I get any different.
My main worry is the number of reports of rattles in the dashboard and elsewhere presumably due to poor assembly. Anyone else come across this?
My main worry is the number of reports of rattles in the dashboard and elsewhere presumably due to poor assembly. Anyone else come across this?
Now have 1500 miles on ours. The Average Mpg normally hovers about 51-52, but it's useage is very much a suburban second car profile - so lots of short journeys, nursery runs, supermarket trips, town traffic etc and very few long runs - so I think that's probably as worst case as you're going to see for economy.
Took it to a wedding at the weekend - 150 miles of mixed motorway, NSL DC and SC A Roads and a few country lanes. Made a concious (and painful) effort to drive line a granny on the way there to see what fuel economy it would give and averaged 63 but at the expense of completely missing out on the car's character. Drove back normally, thoroughtly enjoyed the journey and averaged 55.
No issues with dash or trim rattles but the look and feel of some of the materials is quite dissapointing, noticebly worse than the first generation BMW Mini.
Took it to a wedding at the weekend - 150 miles of mixed motorway, NSL DC and SC A Roads and a few country lanes. Made a concious (and painful) effort to drive line a granny on the way there to see what fuel economy it would give and averaged 63 but at the expense of completely missing out on the car's character. Drove back normally, thoroughtly enjoyed the journey and averaged 55.
No issues with dash or trim rattles but the look and feel of some of the materials is quite dissapointing, noticebly worse than the first generation BMW Mini.
justlivyalife said:
Mini's have got pretty strong residuals anyway! Bit early to work out whether the Cooper D will be worth substantially more than the Cooper at say, three years old though, sadly.
Getting worse though, the price of 1st gen Cooper S has dropped 3 grand in the last 3 months. 
You can get yourself a real bargain great S or Works for Less than £9000 now. Most will have had all the niggles sorted out so will be great cars. Someone rang me yesterday and offered me £8000 for my 53 S-Works with only 26000 on it The increase in tax and fuel prices going rocketing up will hurt the super charger mini's. and the whole second hand car market being slow will hurt the newer turbo ones as well as super chargerd ones, though probably not as much as a lot more fuel efficent and lower to tax (just more expensive to buy).
Garlick said:
I am amazed how much fuel I have to put into my S, compared to my previous Boxster S and Z4 3.0 it seems to always need a drink of unleaded.
I do drive it hard, and therefore poor economy is the price I pay, luckily the low fuel warning makes a pleasant noise
If you think that's bad drive a supercharged one!I do drive it hard, and therefore poor economy is the price I pay, luckily the low fuel warning makes a pleasant noise
30MPG is the holy grail, i'm lucky if i can get 20
I have collected my Cooper D and must say it is very nippy indeed. Plenty of torque, and no dashboard rattles thank god.
Drove to Silverstone for the F1 testing earlier this week and drove as carefully as I could but still only got 56mpg. Can't see me driving that slowly very often though- just not that sort of car.
Drove to Silverstone for the F1 testing earlier this week and drove as carefully as I could but still only got 56mpg. Can't see me driving that slowly very often though- just not that sort of car.
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