buying a Mini cooper ( S ? ), but need some tiny advice :)

Hey guys! Ok, here is my story, my mom wants to buy a new car and I have to help her out. Her current car right now is a Range Rover vogue TD6. She told me that she is sick of driving this car because it’s too big, and uses too much fuel (we live in Europe, Belgium). My mom only drives in Brussels and does about 5000Km per year, that’s about 3100 miles… Now the point; she told me she wanted to buy a mini, and asked for my help.

I want her to buy the mini cooper S with the chili pack, but I am concerned with two things:

1) How low is the front and rear spoiler of the S compared to the normal cooper? There are loads, and I mean LOADS of speed bumps in Brussels,so it would be pretty annoying to damage spoilers while cruising around Brussels. It seems that the belgian governament love that speed bump crap…

2) Is the suspension very hard? The range rover suspension is very soft so I am a bit scared of a too hard transition from car to car :P

thanks for the advice !

our 2003 mini cooper S had a fairly unforgiving ride, especially with the runflats on 17" wheels.

When we swapped out for some real tyres on 16's the change was very noticeable

What he said. Get 16 inch rims & non-runflat tires to give a softer ride. I don't think you'll hit the speed bumps, but test drive one and drive over a few.

You can get the 2007 Cooper S without the sport suspension as well.

I totally agree with Dawg90.... no run-flats and no sport suspension will offer a softer ride.

I'm very familiar with Land Rovers and I worked for the company for 3 years... fun old car isn't it. However the Cooper being a drastic change, your mom should be able to adjust well!

I love my MINI cooper!!!

Best Of Luck!
Shawni M. Young
V.I.P. E-Commerce Department
Sales Manager
South Bay BMW / MINI / LOTUS
310-793-9361 Fax
310-939-7394 Office
310-689-4539 Cell
syoung@southbaybmw.com

Originally Posted by 16rl

Hey guys! Ok, here is my story, my mom wants to buy a new car and I have to help her out. Her current car right now is a Range Rover vogue TD6. She told me that she is sick of driving this car because it’s too big, and uses too much fuel (we live in Europe, Belgium). My mom only drives in Brussels and does about 5000Km per year, that’s about 3100 miles… Now the point; she told me she wanted to buy a mini, and asked for my help.

I want her to buy the mini cooper S with the chili pack, but I am concerned with two things:

1) How low is the front and rear spoiler of the S compared to the normal cooper? There are loads, and I mean LOADS of speed bumps in Brussels,so it would be pretty annoying to damage spoilers while cruising around Brussels. It seems that the belgian governament love that speed bump crap…

2) Is the suspension very hard? The range rover suspension is very soft so I am a bit scared of a too hard transition from car to car :P

thanks for the advice !

If its mostly city driving and only 3100miles per year, then I would really recommend a regular Cooper for your Mom.

Originally Posted by Shawni

I'm very familiar with Land Rovers and I worked for the company for 3 years... fun old car isn't it. However the Cooper being a drastic change, your mom should be able to adjust well!

I love my MINI cooper!!!

I had an engineering classmate at Univ. of MD who got hired by Land Rover. I heard they make their mechanical engineers work as mechanics for 2 years before doing any engineering. That's very cool.

Originally Posted by Pedal2Floor

If its mostly city driving and only 3100miles per year, then I would really recommend a regular Cooper for your Mom.

Went to the mini cooper center in brussels last wednsday; she wants the S convertible in metalic grey, chili pack Im so happy We probably will get a certified dealer second hand mini.

*edit: I also asked the dealer about the spoiler height difference, and he said to me that the S spoiler is 12mm lower, so It shoudn't be that much of an issue...

Ok guys, we signed on monday ! We got the mini cooper S cabriolet Chili pack with the 5 star bullet' rims. Dark silver colour, navi and harman-kardon sound