[yakkosmurf]

Originally Posted by Exhausted

I`m pretty sure I`ve read some bad things about their reliability but I can`t remember where I read that.

I`d definitely buy one as a daily. I`ve seen some really ones out there.

The cars are failry reliable. My brother has had no problems with his after 3 years and 60k miles. I will say some of the routine maintenance on the Mini is pretty high. For example, it has soft brake rotors that must be replaced at around the 60k mile mark, and they aren't cheap. Basically, you get to pay BMW maintenance costs.

[mowbr4]

Well I orginally ordered a 135i two months ago when i got my new internship and all. I got the car $500 over invoice which was a great deal. I then cancelled it because I was double guessing myself. But just got a call a week ago saying they still had it built and it came in if I wanted to go look at it. Very tempting, very...and you only live once...AHHH

[Late]

I owned a 2005 MCS (link to when I sold it...Sunshine MINIs :: View topic - FS: 2005 MINI Cooper S - Hyper Blue / Black - SOLD), pretty much in the exact color combo you're talking about, Hyper Blue with a black top and black bonnet stripes.

The Good...
Really fun car to drive for FWD (handles great), but when pushed it still acted like FWD. I was told decent sway bars would make it almost perfectly neutral, and had bought those along with a smaller supercharger pulley, air intake, springs, and strut brace, but sold it before I got the chance to install them. The MPG was nice. Fit and finish was nice (BMW).

The bad...
It had some weird vibrations when I 1st bought it (used), it still had a warranty to took it in and they ended up replacing the whole transmission, along with a motor mount and couple other small things. So reliability is sometimes an issue. It was small inside, really small, you aren't putting anyone (grown) in the back seat unless they've had their legs amputated. FWD.

I've heard that the company (Getrag I think) that makes the transmission for MINI is coming out with AWD, and I've seen the video of the models they made to test it out. If they did that it'd be a great combo with the new turbo versions, and interesting to see how far the tuners could push it, it'd be a little beast.