My wife always wanted a Mini, and this one popped up about two years ago; it belonged to a friend's daughter who was selling it because a second child was on the way. We picked it up for a good price, and it became my wife's daily driver. We bought it just after the customary flurry of work that the N12 motor requires at @100,000 miles- timing chain/guides, vacuum pump, thermostat, etc. Early on I had to replace a VANOS solenoid, but aside from that, no major issues. It's optioned a bit oddly for a base Cooper, in that it has Comfort Access, Navigation, Sirius XM, and heated sport seats, but that's it. I do wish that it had Xenon headlamps, but I rarely drive it at night so that's kind of a moot point. 15" conventional tires give it a fairly compliant ride; I fitted Quatrac 5 tires and I really like them, good grip in the wet, dry, and light snow.
Last December SXM was hot to get the radio in the Clubman reactivated; they sent me an email offering three years for $124 with NO automatic renewal. needless to say, I took the deal.
When I got talked into going back to work full time(six years and out) my wife and I decided the Cooper could serve as my DD, as she had found a CPO X1. So far, the Clubman has proven to be the perfect car for my daily 24 mile round trip commute. In early January I installed new spark plugs, replaced a bad coolant temperature sensor, and finished it off with new engine and cabin air filters from FCP Euro. Depending on traffic I generally average 38 mpg or better- on a couple of days I hit 45 mpg. I'm putting about 6000 miles per year on it so the BMW TPT 0W-30 and Mini OEM filter gets changed once per year. Coolant gets changed every couple of years, as does the brake fluid. While it's definitely the slowest car in my garage,it's still fast enough to keep up with any traffic I encounter. On the open road it can build speed without the driver realizing it; on a couple of longer jaunts I've found myself cruising at 85-90. I'm normally not a big fan of FWD cars(my old Mazdaspeed 3 excepted), but I don't mind it as much in cars the size of the Clubman. The current plan is to run it to the end of my term, at which point it will have a bit over 150,000 miles on it. So far I've come to like it a lot more that I expected. Who knows? Perhaps my next two seater will be a JCW GP.
Stranger things have happened...
Last December SXM was hot to get the radio in the Clubman reactivated; they sent me an email offering three years for $124 with NO automatic renewal. needless to say, I took the deal.
When I got talked into going back to work full time(six years and out) my wife and I decided the Cooper could serve as my DD, as she had found a CPO X1. So far, the Clubman has proven to be the perfect car for my daily 24 mile round trip commute. In early January I installed new spark plugs, replaced a bad coolant temperature sensor, and finished it off with new engine and cabin air filters from FCP Euro. Depending on traffic I generally average 38 mpg or better- on a couple of days I hit 45 mpg. I'm putting about 6000 miles per year on it so the BMW TPT 0W-30 and Mini OEM filter gets changed once per year. Coolant gets changed every couple of years, as does the brake fluid. While it's definitely the slowest car in my garage,it's still fast enough to keep up with any traffic I encounter. On the open road it can build speed without the driver realizing it; on a couple of longer jaunts I've found myself cruising at 85-90. I'm normally not a big fan of FWD cars(my old Mazdaspeed 3 excepted), but I don't mind it as much in cars the size of the Clubman. The current plan is to run it to the end of my term, at which point it will have a bit over 150,000 miles on it. So far I've come to like it a lot more that I expected. Who knows? Perhaps my next two seater will be a JCW GP.
Stranger things have happened...
