Mini Cooper S Works 210: PH Fleet
Communicative, fast and enjoyable. These are all things that the Works 210 is, and the Mini experience isn't
Finding both my tyre and my enthusiasm for the day deflated, I found safe haven, opened the boot, and retrieved the space saver. Only joking! This is 2018, after all; practically nothing smaller than an articulated lorry comes with a spare wheel anymore, not even of the space saving variety. Most are instead equipped with that other pinnacle of modern technology: a can of shaving foam - along with the kind of electric pump you might use to inflate pool toys.
It should be noted at this point that I didn't mention the car in question was a press long-termer, assuming it would be flagged as such in the system. And if not, well, it's better to experience these things as a customer anyway. Not having been in this situation with Mini before - and perhaps setting the bar a little high - I envisaged a van of some sort being deployed to my location and replacing the tyre in situ before I carried on my merry way. That is not what happened.
Instead, a little over an hour later, a flatbed lorry arrived to take me and my car to the nearest Mini service centre. Despite it being one of the largest in London, it didn't have any of the 210's 205/45 R17 Pirelli P Zeros in stock, so I'd have to leave the car there and return the next day. If they'd known the car was coming in before 11:30, they said, they might have sourced one that day - a little galling considering my initial mayday call occurred around 90 minutes before that deadline.
A quote for the same tyre, fully fitted, from a nationwide chain came back at over £60 cheaper than the amount Mini charged. Which makes it all the more ridiculous that, should you be unfortunate enough to come into contact with anything larger than a nail, you're left completely at the manufacturer's mercy. With a space-saver in the boot, or under the car (or mounted to the roof Monte Carlo rally-style, for all I care) the puncture would have been a 20 minute inconvenience.
The solution? A bit more joined up thinking. Or a spare wheel as standard, please.
FACT SHEET
Car: 2017 Mini Cooper S Works 210
On fleet since: January 2018
Run by: Dafydd
Mileage: 3,364
List price new: £19,994.40 (As tested £28,344.40 comprising £475 for Melting Silver metallic paint, £300 for Mini active from 12/06/17 to 11/06/20, £1,695 for Works enhanced kit, £75 for John Cooper Works sport leather steering wheel, £375 for variable damper control, £80 for black bonnet stripes, £120 for Anthracite roof lining, £220 for sun protection glass, £215 for front seat heating, £2,710 for Mini hatch tech pack, £2,000 for Chili pack for JCW sports pack and £85 for LED headlights with extended contents)
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"Ok, we'll try and lighten them, as cheaply as we can", said the manufacturers.
"But we don't want to lose the spare wheel and we want all our mod-cons with the latest modern safety features, we also want our cars smaller, lighter and priced the same they were in the 1980s", they moaned.
Hmmm...
Many people managed to survive the recent inclement weather without destroying tyres. Perhaps the fact it is a press car means you weren’t driving it as considerately as you should have been in the first place.
"Ok, we'll try and lighten them, as cheaply as we can", said the manufacturers.
"But we don't want to lose the spare wheel and we want all our mod-cons with the latest modern safety features, we also want our cars smaller, lighter and priced the same they were in the 1980s", they moaned.
Hmmm...
My last 2 cars ( Fiesta & Swift) both came without a spare BUT there is a well for a spare saver ( adequate - I don't need a full size spare)
About £50 later I have a space saver off ebay and the pump kit is in my garage roof until I sell the car
Then when I change the car, I sell the space saver on ebay and get most of what it cost back
Manufacturers don't fit spare wheels now for 5 reasons:
a) Most new car buyers don't care/know/check; "company car and don't care" or "don't realise till too late"
b) It saves about 10~15kg which helps improve the quote performance, fuel economy & emissions
c) In some cases, it allows them to advertise a bigger boot (even though the extra space is virtually useless)
d) It reduces the cost of manufacturing the car; pump & goop is cheaper than wheel & tyre
e) They use the space for something else; adblue or LPG tanks being popular to go in that place
The one reason which doesn't motivate them is the money made from fitting replacements as that is made by the garages who in 99.9% of cases are not owned by the manufacturers
I think this is primarily a Euorpean phenomina, driven by
i) CO2 regulartion
ii) Competition
iii) Widescale recovery services
You won't find many cars sold in america, Africa , Asia ......... without spare wheels becuase if you breakdown in some of those places you are seriously miles from anywhere and no recovery services
Anything else you want to inform us about? You drove the MINI to a supermarket and they didn't have the bread that you like and you queued for hours and then it rained....?
Like my post, the article was pointless and a waste of time....
Would you need 2 ( or 4 spares )......or just risk the 4wd gibbons?
I am an F56 Cooper S owner myself.
The title of your article is : Communicative, fast and enjoyable. These are all things that the Works 210 is, and the Mini experience isn't
Yet you do not address a single point about the car, just focusing on the fact you got a flat tyre (just like you could in any car) and yet have the cheek to talk about it's speed and enjoyment in the title, both points never addressed to the reader.
I will admit I have had a few flat tyres (Pirelli P7 Cinturato's), but like I said before, this is just car life. I don't know what you expect when they are low profile, being either 17 or 18inch on a small hatchback with the amount of potholes there is in the UK.
You cannot fit a spare wheel as the central exhaust raises the centre of the boot floor higher. Not to mention that this is a trend with the vast majority of cars coming out the factory without a spare wheel.
Unprofessional, Ill-Informed & Childish!
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