33 replies to this topic

[JellySenpai]

Id like the opinion of mini owners. Id like to buy a mini for my first car and understand it requires a lot of care but Ill doing 100 miles a day about 3 days a week. Do you think a mini kept by someone still learning about minis would be okay with that.
Thank you for any opinions

[Midas Mk1]

MPi is the perfect Mini for you, I did 80 miles a day sitting comfortably at 80 for the best part of two years. It's never going to be like a modern car, but a decent stage 1 kit, decent seat setup and you'l l be fine! In fact, i've just gone back to dailying her full time again.

[Icey]

Id like the opinion of mini owners. Id like to buy a mini for my first car and understand it requires a lot of care but Ill doing 100 miles a day about 3 days a week. Do you think a mini kept by someone still learning about minis would be okay with that.
Thank you for any opinions

 

You can buy a BMW Mini now for less than £2k. It'll do the motorway work much better and you can just throw it away at the first sign of a problem without any real guilt. If you don't like the BMW Mini, pick any other cheap second-hand car built within the last 10 years.

 

So in short, no I personally wouldn't recommend a Classic Mini for those kind of regular journeys. Keep them as a toy to play with when the weather is nice. Leave the mile munching to a car better suited.

[grck1]

The slightly more important question is can YOU use a mini every day on the motorway.
I used my city e 998 as a daily including a 300 mile round trip every weekend to see the girlfriend. I was doing over 1500 miles a month in it


Whilst the mini was quite happy doing this, I began to feel the the effects, was tiring.

At the end of the day it's a car doing what it's supposed to do - been driven.
Looked after well it will be fine. Wether you will is another thing lol.

I bit the built in the end and bought a MINI R53 as a daily so mini is now second car.

Edited by grck1, 06 March 2017 - 11:47 AM.

[Rocket.]

Personally I wouldn't recommend it!

As stated above there's much better/cheaper cars out there to do that kind of thing

I love mini's as much as anyone but I'd probably get annoyed after a few weeks

[MatthewsDad]

I think the car if well maintained will be fine. Also have a think about whether you'd be comfortable doing a 100 mile round trip in a Mini a few times a week? A lot depends on your route and the type of driving involved. Some commutes are easier than others.

[Bungleaio]

I used a mini as a daily driver for 5 years, it was great at the time but it is tiring on the motorway. I wouldn't go back to it now.

[mab01uk]

I did it years ago when Mini were everyday cars......but not now due to noise, lack of a 5th gear and the low tolerance of commuting modern cars and drivers to seeing a classic car ahead, not to mention ongoing rust problems during winter road salt motoring and general lack of safety when surrounded by Mini crushing SUV drivers often seen on their phones or texting!

[lawrence]

They can work as a Daily but it'll be hard work to both maintain as well as enjoy driving still. I used mine for 4 months with a 70mile round trip 5/7 , went through one engine and always had that little doubt in my head she wouldn't make it one day. 

 

If your heading somewhere that doesn't matter if you break down or you really have no choice then I would get a daily runner and keep mini as the toy, but obviously in this day and age running 2 cars isn't cheap. 

 

At the end of the day its your choice but I would say avoid if possible.

[smurfomatic]

Hard work, but I've used a Mini (well, it's a Mini Marcos but the principle is the same) as a daily driver for seven years now. Couldn't afford to own another car, doing over 200 miles a week and mostly dual carriageway. 

[Cooperman]

My Grandson had an MPI as his first car when he was 17. He very soon got tired of the need for constant maintenance, greasing it and changing the oil every 2000 miles, adjusting the rear brakes, the poor heating and ventilation system and the harsh ride.

 

He sold it for quite a lot of money and after putting £3000 into his bank he still had enough left to buy a Fiesta 1.25 Zetec with air-con, decent ventilation, excellent comfortable suspension, modern instrumentation, good lights and, most of all, great reliability.

 

Minis are old slow classic cars now and, although I drove them as daily drivers when I was young, I wouldn't want to do so now. They are great as classics when used occasionally for the retro-driving experience, but not really for longer motorway journeys on a daily basis.

 

You can use any old car on a daily basis if you are prepared to put up with the old-fashioned performance and ride. You could even use a pre-WW2 car, but would you want to?

[hhhh]

All I have to say is:

[greenmini1275]

I use mine as a daily driver but it's A roads rather than Motorway and my trip is only 30 mins, long journeys a mini is very tiring. I used to drive my Mini from Germany to the UK once a month and I would need a damned good nights sleep after driving it.

[nicklouse]

used to. would I now? never.

[Icey]

All I have to say is: <YouTube Link>

 

If you haven't, go ride a bike through winter for 50+ miles a day. Even driving a Mini is luxury in comparison, and certainly less dangerous.

 

Guess what? I don't do that any more either!

 

I appreciate that this was likely posted in good humour but to be clear, this isn't not a matter of 'hardening up', it's a case of being sensible with your options.

Edited by Icey, 06 March 2017 - 05:19 PM.