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Prices Paid: Buying & Leasing Experiences MINI Cooper Prices Paid and Buying Experience
1077 messages, Last post on Jul 22, 2008 at 7:03 PM
You are in the Prices Paid: Buying & Leasing Experiences Forum. Your Hosts are car_man & kyfdx
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Replying to: tiff_c (Nov 20, 2007 12:37 pm) They want to save the environment but how much extra fuel is used in passing them? I am the same way, I drive the cars as intended and the heck with the little extra cost  . Someone in the xB mileage forum mentioned they were getting nice mileage but they were shifting at 3k! The xB does not have much power to start with, but shift that early and you are not seeing much of it. I can get 24-25mpg in the S2000 around town with the top down driving it like I stole it and about 28mpg on the highway with the top down. The MINI, I am told, does nicely even if driven with spirit but all require premium fuel. The biggest problem for me is the much more desirable S has way too much torque steer when you mash on the go pedal - they need to make a RWD MINI . As far as the hypermilers go, when they tailgate someone to improve THEIR mileage does that not cause the person dragging them along to have worse mileage? And as you said, when they keep a constant throttle then you have to pass them going up hills and they may coast past on going down. Having to go around them over and over surely does not help your mileage any. Dennis
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Replying to: tiff_c (Nov 20, 2007 12:37 pm) For me to get my car serviced I schedule it weeks in advance and take the car in at the for 7 am on a Saturday and either get a loaner or go for a really, really long walk. I've totally ignored some recall notice regarding a dash storage compartment as I don't keep anything in my car and I'm not blowing 4-5 hours of any day on something I'll never use.
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Replying to: dwynne (Nov 20, 2007 12:46 pm) I don't know what's going on with people that they experience torque steer to such a degree in this car. My wife will attest to the fact I drive my Cooper S like a mad-man and yet never have torque steer issues. 1. Do they press the S button? 2. Do they try to do WOT from a dead stop? 3. Do they not hold the wheel? Accelerate hard with FWD and the weight shifts back, thus you end up with several problems that can be avoided The lack of weight on the front tires/axle causes a loss of traction (with a Mini Cooper S the engine can easily spin the tires, lessen the pressure over the tires and that's even more pronounced). Steering, even with S-button action, will feel lighter in this situation as the contact patch is low and momentum/weight is on the back of the car, giving the illusion of loose steering. Torque steer will feel more pronounced in this situation now as there is so little contact/weight over the front axle, there's less to keep the wheels from moving naturally to the right. Quite simply applying throttle in the wrong way for a light FWD car like this creates torque steer. This isn't some 4k lbs caddy STS. Roll off the light and apply steadily increasing power. You can easily smoke just about every normal person off the line still. By 4k you should be nearing or at WOT. Hit the 1-2 shift, now go ahead with WOT as the weight won't be thrown off - weight over the front tires, good contact patch, zero torque steer, zero wheel spin. I don't even like FWD but all this whining about torque steer from Edmunds.com and others makes me wonder how people are driving any car that's FWD.
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Replying to: blueguydotcom (Nov 20, 2007 3:06 pm) My snow day xB even has some torque steer but with a lot less ponies under the hood not enough to bother me. Cars should be RWD or at least AWD - once you have driven performance RWD cars getting in any FWD is a compromise and it really "glares" in the S with a manual tranny. If you are used to FWD then it just more of the same and may not bother you as much. Good thing I didn't drive the demo with all the JCW stuff on it . Dennis
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Replying to: dwynne (Nov 20, 2007 4:46 pm) I understand the differences - I've gone from two BMW 330is (e46 ZHP 6MT, e90 ZSP 6MT) in a row to a R56 Cooper S 6MT. I didn't experience any torque steer with a Mazdaspeed3 but then again, unlike in a RWD car, I won't punch WOT unless I'm over 15-20 mph because quite frankly WOT in a powerful FWD car is pretty illogical. Heck, even in a cheese Chevy rental with a 4 pot and 4-speed auto WOT from a standstill can attempt to wrench the wheel. I'm not a FWD fan - as I clearly stated in my original post to you - but I don't think it's the least bit difficult to retrain your foot to massage the throttle from a standstill. Hell, you have to enter corners in a totally different way too. Press the S-button, massage the throttle, brake extremely late into corners...part of the R56 driving experience and 180 degrees from pushing an S2000 hard. You can't use the throttle to steer with a FWD...unless you want to end up in a ditch. |
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Replying to: blueguydotcom (Nov 20, 2007 2:54 pm) For me to get my car serviced I schedule it weeks in advance and take the car in at the for 7 am on a Saturday and either get a loaner or go for a really, really long walk. So you are in about the same position I am in, distance wise. Is it worth going through all that for it?
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Replying to: tiff_c (Nov 21, 2007 12:44 am)
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Replying to: blueguydotcom (Nov 21, 2007 1:10 am) Thanks, I've heard some horror stories and if something bad happens it's a lot of back and forth. I agree it shouldn't need much if all is well with it. |
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I would like to thank MINI for finally chasing me off...I have been tinkering on their website for months building a MINI. I would love to own a MINI, but they have officially priced them out of reach. I was waiting for 2008 changes, and I just built a new model and discovered they had changed their packages and inflated option prices (as if they were not outrageous to begin with). I can now buy a Lexus IS for the same price I can build a MINI and have a dealership in town. Their pricing is nuts. I am all about a fun car and something different than the neighbors, but $2k for leather? $1K for bluetooth? Maybe MINI hasn't heard, but technology is cheap, labor is expensive. I love the MINI's, but common sense may prevail with my next purchase.
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Replying to: njay1 (Nov 21, 2007 9:50 am) Lexus IS250 - V6 RWD Cannot be ordered to spec Similar horsepower to the Mini, but 500+ lbs of extra weight Expensive maintenance from day one Decent resale Hard to find a manual Soft suspension/handling Luxury car features Luxury ride Semi-Luxury branding Bottom model of the brand Cooper S Turbo 4 Included maintenance for the first few years, expensive thereafter FWD Exceptional resale totally customizable Cult-like brand Little to no luxury Exceptional handling Harsh ride Great gas mileage The cars/brands are designed and marketed to very different personality types/market segments. Heck, throw in an Eos and complete the trifecta of cars in massively different segments being forced to compete. 
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