Hi,

I am not new to cars but I am new to Mini Coopers. With the price of fuel steadily rising and probably not going down any time soon, I Have started looking into smaller more fuel efficient vehicles. I am a car guy and cant seem to buy anything boring or without a soul. The mini caught my eye as a great daily driver that I can still have a lot of fun in and it seems to have a lot of personality as well. I have also heard that this is THE best forum for information about Minis. So hopefully there will be enough information available here to help me find and purchase my first Mini Coope r

 

Welcome. There's a ton of good information and some that may even scare you away from a Mini. I was in the same boat as you and bought my Mini to have the best of both worlds as a move casued my commute to be around 3 times longer. I love mine and have not had any problems with it. I've had faster cars and cars that got better mileage, but none that did both well.

 

Thanks for the welcome. I have a 70 mile daily round trip commute and I also like to drive a lot outside of that. I'd say that I average 30-35k miles a year and right now my main car is a 2004 Ford Lightning that probably gets 13mpg at best on the highway with me staying out of boost. I also have a Ducati 848 which gets about 30 mpg and I ride that to work to try to save money. My goal is to get something that is fun to drive and gets mileage like my bike on the highway, that would be the perfect car for me. The mini seems to be the best car to fit what I am looking for. I know that I can get a hybrid or a diesel car and get better millage but they wont be as fun to drive or stylish as the mini which is important to me.

 

A MINI will surely save you a fortune on gas, but at 35K miles a year you need to do the math on the total cost of ownership. I've never been in your place, but I've known people who use a "throw-away" car for their commute and have a "fun" car for weekends, vacation, etc. Like a base Accent or Fiat Pop and a 3 yr old, low milage JCW. Best of both worlds.

 

I have a 1993 Lexus SC300 with over 200k miles on it and a 1jzgte turbo motor swap. It's kind or a project car but I can drive that too when its not in the shop or down for upgrades so that is my "throw away" car I guess. I also have a motorcycle that I ride in the summer.
Realistically I'll probably drive the mini about 20k a year and I plan on getting a 05-06 r53 for around 11-13k. My main goal is to have a modern car with good gas milage that will allow me to take road trips or go to the mall, dinner, etc.. whenever I want without costing me a fortune like my truck does and also won't bore me to sleep while driving it.