After a number of years of fun and reliability, I am thinking of changing my 2013 Citroen DS3 (1600).
As the DS3 is no longer produced, I was thinking of a new Mini Cooper 1.5.
Does anyone here have experience of this Mini?
If so, what are the pros and cons?
Thanks
Bud
4/4 Stanley

We have a MINI Clubman Cooper 1.5.
It drives well - a lot better on long runs than the MINI ONE 1.6 that it replaced.
The engine is well suited to the car although you will find that you drive almost everywhere at 2,000 revs - it has a 6 speed gearbox.
It is reasonably economical.
The infotainment electronics are a bit cumbersome (it uses the BMW knob for selecting functions).
If you are very tall, the accessory switches on ours are obscured by the aircon controls.

They are expensive for what they are though. We bought ours because it was Mrs F's choice and she wanted a genuine 4 seater. Rear leg room is good for the size of the car too.

Hi one for a week or a month see how you like it.

Does this help Simon



Sorry I have no experience of them, Heather has been a Polo GTI girl for longer than I can remember now, maybe worth a long distance look at Marsh Barton.

Lovely bonnet scoops

II would go for the Toyota Yaris GR. Looks good. A bit different from the usual suspects! Made by Toyota so quality should be first rate.

Hi Simon
My wife bought the auto version last year and we both absolutely love driving it. The motor is very punchy for its size and the auto box is lovely.(I am now a convert) The only downer for me is fuel economy. Using it mainly for shorter journeys from village to town 5 miles or so each way and the average return is around 36mpg. Due to covid, haven’t taken it on longer runs yet, but hope as the engine frees up as well, that we may get some improvement. As a matter of interest, her previous 1.6 Fiesta would return around 44mpg on similar runs. I mentioned it to the supplier but they were not surprised; also found a few complaints in online forums regarding fuel economy. However, as it will only do about 4 k to 5 k miles a year, it is not really an issue on the pocket.
If buying new or nearly new, be aware that the optional servicing pack (TLC PACK) is now limited to 3 years rather than 5 years as it used to be. Also, it may only call for a service after about 18 months or so, (whenever the on board computer tells you). So it is possible that you may only get one service, or possibly two if you are lucky, included within the 3 years. Not sure if that is great value!

Bud surely you would go for a poverty model. Isn't that the Dacha Sandero?

We’ve had 4 ‘new’ minis two petrol and two diesel. The current one is by far the best, clubman Cooper sport, engine in a 2l diesel coupled to an auto box. Given the choice I’d have gone for the petrol engine but the boss prefers the punch of the diesel. Go auto, the box is fantastic and we had that exact combination as a loan car for a few days when the car went for a recall on the boot seal. 1.5 petrol with 8 speed auto was a fantastic town ‘ short journey car.

Ours we a ‘nearly new’ with 300 miles and greatly reduced asking price - 7k below list!

Some really good information there. Many thanks.

Specifically: I will certainly now consider the automatic.
John: A Sandeep? Now there’s a thought.

Rich: I have her phone number, if you’re interested.


Bud
4/4 - Stanley