BINI

[Pete-M]

I'll give the original mini some credit for its handling. On a smooth dry twisty road they're great fun.

 

The problem with them is that the 106 / 205 / Ka / AX / Cinquecento etc all do the Mini's job far, far better.

 

Ok, the BMW Mini is a lot bigger, but I always found the original Mini to be far too small so to me the new one being bigger is a huge advantage. I really don't see any point in owning a car that's much smaller than say a Fiesta. The BMW Mini is bigger than a Fiesta, which is a good thing.

[Mike D]

I like the BMW mini - they're a great little car - yeah some have grumbly gearbox bearing issues, but they are a proper hoot to drive, especially the Cooper S. Would I buy one? Probably. 3K for a 2002 /3 car is a fair wedge, but I spent a fair chunk more on my 330 clubsport - it depends what you're after! Plus, old - v - new mini, theres no comparison. Ive had 5 old minis of various spec, and although theyre fun in a Pete M described way, albeit I only ever liked the 1000s, I hated the 1275s, the new one is such a better all rounder.

[In The Pit]

I wouldn't bother wasting your money, I've heard loads of horror stories about them, my mate's ex bird had a 02 plate cooper with under 50k on the clock which had no end of problems, the final being the gearbox failing and costing £1300 for a replace.

 

Seemed that it was a common issue on the earlier Coopers.

 

I too have heard many stories of poor reliability on the Bini. I think if you drive them through flood water they die.

 

I hate the things myself the newer they get the uglier they get, it almost feels as if BMW are taking the piss and seeing how ugly they can make them until the public stop buying them.

 

They have in reality a poor image they are bought mainly by chavs who think they are being really cool, different and making a statement. They are not they just look like people who are trying to impress but really messing it up.

 

They were very much a product of the noughties and now we are nearly in the fourth year of the tens they are starting to look very dated, the values will drop fairly soon i'm sure.

 

I hope that these soon become a favourite with bangers racers so we can get rid of the horrid things.

 

p.s anybody who describes a car as 'urban chic' should be shot.

[Wilko220]

the new one is such a better all rounder.

 

No shit! You're comparing a car developed in the 1950s with one developed in the late 1990s which, stupidly, happens to have the same name.

All comparisons are pointless and ridiculous. You might as well compare a Ford Pop with a Focus Ghia or something.

[Pete-M]

Focus Ghia is much.......

 

 

 

 

 

Oh.. I see what you're getting at.

[Mike D]

the new one is such a better all rounder.

 

No shit! You're comparing a car developed in the 1950s with one developed in the late 1990s which, stupidly, happens to have the same name.

All comparisons are pointless and ridiculous. You might as well compare a Ford Pop with a Focus Ghia or something.

 

If someone came asking if focus ghias were any good, then i'd actually say yes! Although i've never driven a pop - so couldn't comment....However someone asked what people thought, and as I had some meaningful experience, I thought i'd be polite and share...

 

I bought my last mini, a 94 1275 'Sprite' to replace my V6 mazda 323F. It was a shit replacement! I was driving from Grimsby to Nottingham 3 or 4 times a week, and it was just hellish in the mini. Fun for the odd sunday blast, but shit actually having to do every day duties. The 1000 Mayfair I had when 17 seemd much better, but then I'd never had anything else!

[Wilko220]

I bought my last mini, a 94 1275 'Sprite' to replace my V6 mazda 323F. It was a shit replacement!

 

Some top-qwal buying advice here this evening. It's like having your own Mike Brewer sitting on top of the monitor!

[Mike D]

It's the shiny head that does it!

[Wilko220]

This seems topical...

[Parky]

I ran a 51 plate Cooper for 18 months. Firstly it was an absolute hoot to drive and since getting rid I have gone back to public transport as the drive to work ain't the same anymore. Great fun on a twisty road, nicely geared, incredible grip, etc.

 

However, the steering was noisy and has a shocking reputation for expensive pump failure so factor that in. The Midlands R65 boxes in the early models fail but a lot of that seems to be down to abuse. If you get an early one, make the first job a gear oil change to get all the swarf out the box and give it a fighting chance. If you are unlucky and do get a gearbox failure, you can get the six speeder from the later models retro fitted for a similar price to a recon Midlands box.

 

Expect it to pull to the left! They all do that, sometimes mine would be ridiculous under braking. I was advised maybe the suspension turret needed straightening as early ones had issues but mine seemed to be ok but you never knew what it would do when braking hard In the wet. Handy when braking hard in the wet for a left hander though.......fuel gauges play silly buggers but a software reset fixes that. Takes ten seconds when you know how.

 

Servicing isn't too bad to do. I wouldn't fancy doing a clutch mind! Exhausts are expensive, in fact most parts are stupidly OTT. If you get 16 inch run flat wheels as I did, prepare for a dry seeing to by your local tyre place. All four tyres on my one needed doing (good tread but perished sidewalls) and a set of four Bridgestones cost me almost five hundred quid. Cheaper alternatives weren't that much cheaper, even Wanli ditchfinders were nearly a ton each. Sixteen inch wheels give a shocking ride, the fifteen inch wheels on standard (ie non run flat) tyres make a huge difference.

 

Rust was breaking out in a couple of spots. Nothing serious and I hadn't noticed any others rusting.

 

Rivals are better built or more spacious, or cheaper to run but few cars made me smile on a twisty like the Bini did. Great as a second fun car, debatable as a daily when there are more practical propositions out there. I would say the best alternatives are a Fiesta (some of the fun with lower costs) or a Yaris (less fun but relatively painless day to day)

[cobblers]

195/55/16? They're no dearer than any other tyre size really, you can get a full set for under £180 if you're happy with nankangs which are perfectly good tyres. Just over £200 gets you falkens, or £240 for uniroyals. They're not runflat like OE but stick a can of tyreweld in the boot for all the difference it makes

[M'coli]

I think the thing that irks those who care about it most of all is the asset stripping - the Mini name was the best asset that AR had, and it hurts greatly that a German parent company owns it and is managing to make huge profits from it without having to pay (due to very clever marketing) the slightest of lip service to the original. AR thought of the MINI in the early 90s, but weren't able to capitalise on it properly - perhaps they would have messed it up too, but it still rankles that they weren't able to at least try to make a success of it.

[dollywobbler]

The Germans will quite happily raid the history files when they feel like pissing on the soul of the original Mini. Check this gut-wrenchingly dreadful advert out!

 

Even AROnline thought that one a step too far.

http://www.aronline.co.uk/blogs/blogs/b ... ease-stop/

 

Most of my BIGI experience comes from the facelifted "frog" era - a Cooper D. I like some of the trim and stuff, but hated the way opening a window induced earache from the blast of air (much like the original Mini - bring back sliding windows!), the rock hard ride and seats that left my back aching after 2 hours at the wheel.

 

I also hated the chronic torque steer it seemed to have, though I was the only one who seemed to notice this. Perhaps I was the only one coming off roundabouts at full bore (I'm a 2CVer, so the throttle is either on or off for me!). It was a work hack that did a lot of miles, and I don't think it ever had a major failure. The dealers were absolutely appalling though, basing their customer service techniques on theories picked up from riot police. Or angry dobermen.

[Partridge]

When it comes to image issues-both the Saxo and the MINI have a cuntish image.

One works in McDonalds the other works in a cunty sort of office, with their cunty shirt, cunty shoes and cunty hair.

 

Sure the BINI is a giggle to drive, if you like to giggle when you drive...another vote for the Daihatsu

[chaseracer]

And of course, there is this ...

 

http://www.autotrader.co.uk/classified/ ... ?logcode=p

I don't know what that abomination is, but a pukka W&P it ain't. Not any more, anyway...

[plasticvandan]

The BMW 0.5 series (i refuse to call something the size and weight of a Maxi a Mini) must be one of the few new cars to have scene tax before they left the showroom!?

 

It is Mini only in name,and even then they have changed it to all capital letters...

 

To me the new MINI is to the old one what David Cameron changing his name to Winston Churchill would be.Nothing like the original,with none of its ideas,and making a fortune out of a historical great.

[RoadworkUK]

Late to the thread, and my opinion is pretty much surplus... but you're getting it anyway. Don't like 'em, never did. Fun to drive in a "does what you ask it to" kind of way, when I flogged BMWs for a living I occasionally ended up razzing around in them as "get you home" transport if my demo had been nicked. Cooper S was/is rapid but the straight Cooper with strange Works add-ons (including intriguing resonator doohickey) was probably the most fun. But I didn't really enjoy them. Didn't like the coarse wheel-bearingy noise from the N/S/F, didn't like the driving position and the relationship twixt head and A-Pillars, and also didn't like the admiring glances I would recieve, presumably from people who assumed you bought a Bini in order to recieve admiring glances.

 

I'd feel the same way if I was stuck in an Evoque today.

 

Anyway. I hated the styling most of all and it's got immeasurably worse with every new launch. Thing is, a modern day re-interpretation of the Mini (which I know the Bini isn't, btw) doesn't need to look like a Mini anyway. Why did BMW feel the need to try and glue all kinds of cliche'd Mini references to their state-of-the-art small car? When Bugatti came back they didn't try to make the car look like an updated Type 35, did they? The big centrally mounted speedo, for example, was a shit idea 50 years ago, and hasn't miraculously de-shitted itself since.

 

By the way; It always made me feel slightly smug when I noted the similarities between the MINI dashboard and that of the Rover 75.

[barefoot]

....

 

me feel slightly smug when I noted the similarities between the MINI dashboard and that of the Rover 75.

 

Sorry, thick shit here, please expand.

[Wilko220]

....

 

me feel slightly smug when I noted the similarities between the MINI dashboard and that of the Rover 75.

 

Sorry, thick shit here, please expand.

 

I suspect it amounts to the old fashioned typeface on the dials. The fact remains that the R75 is a far less wanky car than the BINI (says a biased person)...

[Albert Ross]

Strangely I feel more claustrophobic in a R75 than a MINI. I wonder if it's the window line..... And I just can't get used to foot thick doors on modern cars. After all, I drive a Series Land Rover. The door frame is about 30mm thick and the skin about 1.5mm. I can exit the vehicle in tight car park spaces, and the wankers in modern boxes have to wait for me to return so they can get in their cars. It's not my fault they bought an oversquare car and parked it over the line.

[Des]

I've never so much as sat in a bini, the nearest I've ever come has been, on numerous occasions, when the fuckers catch me unawares with yet another near miss and get within inches. So I feel quite qualified to give my opinion on them.

I really couldn't give a tinkers bollock what the things are like, they shall forever have my utmost contempt thanks to the utter cunts that 'drive' the hateful putrid fucking things, they've been around for a decade, are absobastardlutely everywhere, yet I've yet to witness one without the pissflapping mongtard display of ineptness. Also, they're the car equivalent of the right trainers for the playground.

But who the fuck am I to say what car someone shouldn't have, if you like it then go for it.

But understand that I will hate you.

[Pete-M]

You're all just making me want a Cooper S.

[trigger]

I drove a blue Cooper S years back, I think it was about a 04 plate and a year old at the time, I will say from what I remember that the leather seats felt very sporty, the gear box tight and the interior was quite nice in a blingy kind of way, best of all was the exhaust burble which sounded quite purposeful.