The Mini and MINI thread

[sevenfourate]

Are they?

Having owned 2 R56 Minis and an R55 Clubman over a 15 year period, they were completely reliable and utterly dependable, far better than the parent company products.

They are only problematic when they’re not serviced properly or frequently enough and they often become neglected first cars. The reputation for poor reliability is IMO unjustified

Right. Same with many makes / models / brands.

Citroen did a ‘Free Insurance’ offer on Saxo’s many years back - along with stonkingly good finance rates. Many youngsters jumped on the back of this: somewhat making the Saxo a cult car / hot hatch of the time.

I should also imagine many of those youngsters were green, financially stretched or just plain dumb - and didn’t adhere to anything like the servicing schedules. Or even day to day maintenance. So low and behold: the Saxo gets a reputation as an (unreliable) chavs chariot of choice.

Meanwhile my Son buys a less than year old VTR with 5k on the clock. Drives it sensibly, has it serviced over and above I suspect - and sells it just before it clocked up 100k 9 years later having been a fun, cheap to run and an incredibly reliable car.

You decide…..

 

[Gunk]

Right. Same with many makes / models / brands.

Citroen did a ‘Free Insurance’ offer on Saxo’s many years back - along with stonkingly good finance rates. Many youngsters jumped on the back of this: somewhat making the Saxo a cult car / hot hatch of the time.

I should also imagine many of those youngsters were green, financially stretched or just plain dumb - and didn’t adhere to anything like the servicing schedules. Or even day to day maintenance. So low and behold: the Saxo gets a reputation as an (unreliable) chavs chariot of choice.

Meanwhile my Son buys a less than year old VTR with 5k on the clock. Drives it sensibly, has it serviced over and above I suspect - and sells it just before it clocked up 100k 9 years later having been a fun, cheap to run and an incredibly reliable car.

You decide…..

MINI’s long life servicing didn’t help. Turbos failed because the oil wasn’t changed frequently enough, and two years IMO is far too long for a car not to be up on a ramp and inspected. I ignored it on all our Mini’s and as a minimum had the oil and filter changed every year.

 

[oldwheels]

An the original Mini was just plagued full stop, but people love 'em.

We had an original Mini bought new from Arnold Clark in the mid 1960’s which gave no bother. It had the under 1000cc engine which was not powerful enough to tow anything other than a tiny caravan so it got changed for an Austin Cambridge A60.
Excellent little car otherwise even tho’ a bit basic.

 

[Jameshow]

I had a Mini in 1969. The left front wheel collapsed as I was going round a roundabout and two weeks later, the other side did exactly the same thing. That put me off Minis for life.

Are they?

Having owned 2 R56 Minis and an R55 Clubman over a 15 year period, they were completely reliable and utterly dependable, far better than the parent company products.

They are only problematic when they’re not serviced properly or frequently enough and they often become neglected first cars. The reputation for poor reliability is IMO unjustified

Mine is 22 yo 100k and purrs like it's new.

Only downside is the gearing is too low for motorway use a 3k/70...

 

[gbb]

Two sides to original minis. While they always rotted (generally) , like many cars if that era, they could and would still be on the road, it was almost normal. Bear in mind my first one, built in 59 was already 17 years old when I got it, .and while it was rusty, that didn't seem a problem, it performed well. Another matter in a smash obviously...

My 1965 Countryman was 11 years old when I brought it and had little or no discernable rust.

Cant remember how old the mini van was when I got it...but it was just rotten, headlamps falling off the wings etc etc. FIL effectively brought it for us and we paid him back, he meant well but I wouldn't have brought it myself....willingly.

My dad brought a T reg (1978) brand new....and the rot was showing really quite quickly, all around the battery box was rotten in short order, I think he gave up on it after just 5 or 6 years. (Edited to add, he brought a Skoda 120 as his next brand new car. Bear in mind these were the butt of everyone's jokes...he always said the Skoda was a better car than the mini.

 

[sevenfourate]

MINI’s long life servicing didn’t help. Turbos failed because the oil wasn’t changed frequently enough, and two years IMO is far too long for a car not to be up on a ramp and inspected. I ignored it on all our Mini’s and as a minimum had the oil and filter changed every year.

I’m with you completely. Look after ‘them’ and there’s a good chance they’ll look after you…….

Just today I had my daily’s oil changed at just shy of 6k since last time. That’s as far / long as I’ve left any of my cars in memory if I’m honest. Normally I’m 4-5k between oil changes (As part of a service: or as a stand-alone process).

More because of the time scale / potential for condensation / moisture / degradation etc than miles the oil has done per-se - because each vehicle does so few miles per year.

Continued reliability to you Sir 🕵️

 

[Drago]

I seem to have a lot of those horrible, dreadful, unreliable Peugeots. My ex wife could get them at cost and we'd buy them, id drive them a year, and wed sell them for barely a 200 or 300 pound loss, all but free motoring at the time. I look after them, drive them respectfully and maintain them diligently and not a single one has given me any problem beyond the expected wear and tear - 14 of the damned things and not one has let me down. In 95% of cases I firmly believe we make our own luck with that sort of thing.

So far I've been highly impressed with the finish and attention to detail of our F56 Mini Electric and I will ensure it is maintained as fastidiously as possible. When the R57 JCW arrives I'll go over that top to bottom before it enters service and that will be maintained by me personally, and I am very, very anal about such things. Painfully, very sadly, tragically anal. As a result I expect a long and hassle free life from both.

There's a 21 plate F56 JCW appeared round the corner the last few days, its got me quite looking forward to the arrival of our R57 JCW in a few weeks when it's owners new lease car arrives and they can let it go. They're an enthusiast but finding it hard to make the time to spend on the MINI scene now they have kids. The old turbo was a little whistly for his liking so he fitted a new one - and claims he found no actual play on the old one so will be giving me that as a spare - and while he had the front bumper off did the timing chain and uprated tensioner as a precaution, an example about how a bit of diligence and some minor awareness of one's steed can head off problems before they even appear. He even fitted new JCW front calipers as the painted finish on the old ones was a bit tired. That's the kind of anal attention to detail that I like to see.

 

[Reynard]

I have a full fat mk8 transit and it's a half baked development esp the euro 6 engine controls

Can't pin that one on me, I'm afraid...

Let's just say that as an engineer, I hated to have to kow-tow to the bean counters.

 

[Reynard]

An the original Mini was just plagued full stop, but people love 'em.

They're not perfect by any means, especially not from a modern perspective. But if you compare them to the other family cars that were available at the time, they were simply light years ahead of the competition.

Minis were to the 60s (largely) what Japanese cars were to the 1970s.

 

[Jameshow]

I seem to have a lot of those horrible, dreadful, unreliable Peugeots. My ex wife could get them at cost and we'd buy them, id drive them a year, and wed sell them for barely a 200 or 300 pound loss, all but free motoring at the time. I look after them, drive them respectfully and maintain them diligently and not a single one has given me any problem beyond the expected wear and tear - 14 of the damned things and not one has let me down. In 95% of cases I firmly believe we make our own luck with that sort of thing.

So far I've been highly impressed with the finish and attention to detail of our F56 Mini Electric and I will ensure it is maintained as fastidiously as possible. When the R57 JCW arrives I'll go over that top to bottom before it enters service and that will be maintained by me personally, and I am very, very anal about such things. Painfully, very sadly, tragically anal. As a result I expect a long and hassle free life from both.

There's a 21 plate F56 JCW appeared round the corner the last few days, its got me quite looking forward to the arrival of our R57 JCW in a few weeks when it's owners new lease car arrives and they can let it go. They're an enthusiast but finding it hard to make the time to spend on the MINI scene now they have kids. The old turbo was a little whistly for his liking so he fitted a new one - and claims he found no actual play on the old one so will be giving me that as a spare - and while he had the front bumper off did the timing chain and uprated tensioner as a precaution, an example about how a bit of diligence and some minor awareness of one's steed can head off problems before they even appear. He even fitted new JCW front calipers as the painted finish on the old ones was a bit tired. That's the kind of anal attention to detail that I like to see.

Sons got a MCS 2005 does it need a supercharger service or is it ok to leave 115k.

 

[Drago]

I believe its due the mega service, including supercharger, at around 100k miles. Were it mine I'd certainly look to get it done - the cost and hassle of a service is a lot less than the cost and hassle of a big explosion!

There was an episode of Wheeler Dealers where Mike bought on jn America and Ant went through the whole job, including supercharger service. If he's thinking of doing it himself could do a lot worse than watch that.

 

[gbb]

MINI’s long life servicing didn’t help. Turbos failed because the oil wasn’t changed frequently enough, and two years IMO is far too long for a car not to be up on a ramp and inspected. I ignored it on all our Mini’s and as a minimum had the oil and filter changed every year.

My SIL is a garage mechanic and always, always said, any turbo car, change the oil at 10k max, preferably 6k.
Particually if you're DIY minded, an oil change twice a year really isn't too expensive, in fact, you could argue its an investment

 

[sevenfourate]

My SIL is a garage mechanic and always, always said, any turbo car, change the oil at 10k max, preferably 6k.
Particually if you're DIY minded, an oil change twice a year really isn't too expensive, in fact, you could argue its an investment

YES !! Someone who completely gets it.

I always think of my 4-5k oil change intervals as insurance and assurance…...

 

[steveindenmark]

I have had a couple of original Minis. If I could have swapped for a modern day mini. I would have done. The old Minis, like all veteran cars are cute. But I would much rather ride London to Edinburgh in a modern car.

 

[cyberknight]

1st car was a v reg mini in kermit green, as my first car i loved it but it was rubbish.Failed the mot as the infamous sub frame rotted and as i stopped at a junction another driver cut across the traffic and wrote off the car so i got a good payout on their insurance.