RB5201

Looking at getting my wife one of these as a replacement for her 206. How does the cooper compare with the s, is the s worth the extra? I will also be driving it from time to time as we share cars so i would like it to be fun, hoping it will bring back my go kart days of my renault 5 turbo!

Any views from owners appreciated

wall

Had Cooper for one month whilst waiting for S, and then owned S for 2.5 years ... quite different cars. S well worth the ownership, normal Cooper b-o-r-i-n-g (but perhaps wife cares little about performance and just wants the "style"?).

Wall

Nigel H

We've just ordered a Cooper - my wife will be driving it. We never considered the Cooper S, mainly because of the the extra cost. I'd say if you can afford it buy it, but on a temporary basis I think a Cooper will be just fine.

I took a Cooper out last weekend and was really impressed by the package. Excellent ride, solid build, fast enough, quality interior. Bit of an eye opener when I got back in my bugeye, it felt agricultural!

It's worth having a look on Mini2forums. I'm not sure I can *connect* with them, in the same way that I can over here, but there is some useful information. Let us know what you decide to do.

(BTW I'm far too excited about getting the Cooper In a way that only getting my Scoob and Corrado managed before)

classic Subaru Si

My bird had the cooper s and it was mint - I had a cosworth pushing 400bhp, but I just loved jumping in to that cooper, the sound of the charger makes you feel like mad f*****g max!! And yes, it handles just like a kart - bumpy as ****, it made me feel sick in the passenger seat but when your driving it's a another story! P.S. I also had a R5 gt turbo, but spent most of its life on the drive in bits!!! Get the cooper mate, you will both love it!

RB5201

Not sure what it is about these cars but the more I think about it the more Im warming to it. Hated them when they first came out, will try to test drive both in the next week or so.

theboy

I had the S and i loved it. Superb build quality etc, and the sound of the supercharger when it was on song was great. It was not a comfy ride, the run flat tyres are very noisy but it was great fun to drive, maybe more than my Scooby.

Go for the S

Nigel H

There is something about them - I hated all the stood for...retro styling, BMW etc etc. Then I drove one

classic Subaru Si

Forgot to mention the price of the run flat tyres, if I remember right it they were about £250 a piece!!

Andy M3

5 years ago I tried to stretch to buy a used Mini One - I loved it, sounds nice handling was superb and kept on the boil can maintain reasonable cross country pace even with 175 tyres. Turned out it was out of my budget so I bought a ****roen.

Fast forward 5 years, and my brother has bought a mid/top spec Cooper S s/c with 17's. It is atrocious to drive, tramlining all over the place and my god is it twitchy, slow and uneconomical. He paid £18k.

Scoobless

Have owned a Uk300 and a P1...now in a MCS which is as fast as my UK300....great interior,great sound from the supercharger and goes like stink,handles well...only downside is the boot and its as econmical as my previous scoobs

I paid £100 per tyre (runflats)...need to shop around

Deff go for the "S"

And stick with the 16" wheels

MICAWRX

A few thoughts!

I had a Cooper S, Wife currently has Cooper S Convertible, Had Cooper convertible before..

Cooper S traction control (on pirellis??) is a pain in the **** (basically have to switch it off at roundabouts if you don't want to be stranded in the middle!)

Supercharger whine is great, would recommend it to anyone..

Pirelli Euphoria runflats were £90 each for me... Wifes new one has Dunlops and seem a bit better.

Cooper has perfect balance of power and grip for fun...S can under and torque steer a lot... (LSD option ticked!)

I would take both for long test drives and form your own opinion....
......S may be worth it for the noise...

Drove a Cooper S works and that was useless... 210hoss through front wheel drive... Subarus would just laugh at you.

17" for looks... 16" for thrashing about... depends what you want (IMHO I think they look cack with 16")

Mark

Varboy

my wife was looking at the 'S' but then was put off because everywhere we looked, mini's seemed to be driven by empty nesters

Scoobless

Agree with the 16" looking cack...but i use mine everyday and 16" more comfortable ride...

Disagree with the 210 stuff though....mines 220 and shifts as well as my UK300 did if not better

Scooby-Doo

Just ordered a MCSC JCW with a few options ticked. Borrowed one for the weekend and it was superb fun and had no problem with the DSC. Tried one with 18's and it was far worse then the 17's. Before people knock these cars they should give them a go. Obviously not as quick as a Scoob as I don't think there is currently a car in production that is quicker but my old RB5 WR must have had severe problems as this mini would not have been left behind

Adidas

Drove a mates one for a couple of hours a few weeks back. Both on 'quick' roads and around town (Central London). Very impressed with it as it seemed to tick all the right boxes.

The only problem I found is that if you are anything over 6ft, the rear seat passengers will have a problem. Therefore, have a think about who, if anyone, you may end up carrying.
But hey, it's a Mini, so what do you expect!!!

RB5201

Well took the wife to look at a few, drove a couple and somehow ended up buying one!! Went for the newer 04 which has the few extra horses to make it 170. Great fun, think we may be fighting over who gets to drive it though! Great sound, handled well, down side is the boot and rear space but we also have a audi A4 which we will use when we need the extra space.

Also looked at a civic type R as the dealers were next door, never driven one before but came away really disappointed, just had no go in it.

MICAWRX

If you need space go for the Convertible...
....Got all my decking from B&Q sticking out the roof!!

The 04 model has a few tweaks...better rear lights... better looking headlights ....Improved stereos (MP3), better steering wheels and as you say a bit more power... My first MCS was a Jun 04... one of the first upgraded ones , 17's, I like it a lot but needed a 4x4 so swapped it for a 3.7 Jeep! (not quite the same depreciation rate!)
The wifes (2nd) is an 06 MCS conv with the composite wheels..they have actually gone backwards with some bits (04 roof could be opened on button, Health and safety says no and now you can't) unbeleivable.
Good look with the new car...big roundabouts flat out in the dry will be a laugh!!

classic Subaru Si

Not havin that mate, nobody can call them slow, although I do agree with the tramline effect! Twitchy was all part of the fun for me though, kept you on your toes on the twisty stuff!!