Mini Cooper S

[Tom Frankland (T3OMF)]

Looking for a car to play around in, when weather is too bad for the Westy.

Unfortunately it has to be in my price bracket and something swmbo likes. This leads my choice to a Mini Cooper S.

Found a 2002 car with 24,000 miles for £7600.

Has anyone owned or experienced a cooper S. What performance/handling should I expect, are there any reliability issues.

Jem

Not to put a spanner in the works,  but have you thought about getting a Honda Civic Type R (not the new shape there     !!!!)  

You can get a nice one for £7k, was thinking about doing it my self

You can do loads of upgrades on them.....

[Guest]

Had a CS for two years now.  Been very pleased with it, especially after ditching the run flat tyres.  Can be a bit noisy but cross country pace is good.  No reliability issues and easy to get 200bhp out of.  Also found a good independent garage locally for out of warranty repairs.

Not particularly economical.  Average around 32  mpg and can drop into 20's if I drive it rather than SWMBO.  Front tyres last only around 12k.  Biggest saving seems to be on servicing.  Computer determines when it is due and we have not had the second yet at nearly 30k.  Even then, it has the TLC pack so we don't pay for it anyway.

[JEM]

Looking for a car to play around in, when weather is too bad for the Westy.

Unfortunately it has to be in my price bracket and something swmbo likes. This leads my choice to a Mini Cooper S.

Found a 2002 car with 24,000 miles for £7600.

Has anyone owned or experienced a cooper S. What performance/handling should I expect, are there any reliability issues.

Jem

Not to put a spanner in the works,  but have you thought about getting a Honda Civic Type R (not the new shape there     !!!!)  

You can get a nice one for £7k, was thinking about doing it my self

You can do loads of upgrades on them.....

Looks like I will be seriously looking at an S then, and a career in hairdressing.  

Thanks for the comments.  

Would have looked at a type R but swmbo doesn't like them, and we can't upset her can we.