Mini Coopers

Are they really that shit? Been looking at mid 2000s models to replace my Miata which is beating eaten by rust.

pros: sound good, feels like a little go kart, cheap and easy to work on
cons: rust. not very safe, at all

They're notoriously unreliable. They shared their engines and chassis with Citroens and Peugeots, so they're not the best built or most reliable (understatement), but they are genuinely fun to drive. They feel like a FWD car built by a company that hates FWD. It handles like a RWD car. but my god is it unreliable. The fucking French can't do anything right.

>but the car is built in England and so are the engines
Which makes it worse. This is the land known for fucking McLaren and you let people get away with this unreliable trash with shit build quality?

tl;dr, yes it's that bad. Just get another Miata.

I have a R53 Cooper S, and barring having the oil filter replaced then everything has been absolutely fine (touch wood), lots of interior rattles and if the road is bad it'll feel like you're constantly being kicked up the arse as a previous poster said - however, it is tons of fun and as long as you can afford to maintain one should anything go wrong then I'd say go for it

how did the prince engines end up so shit?
the tu was bulletproof and these were supposed to be based on those

>feels like a go kart

someone who has never ridden a go kart. unless you're talking about the old ones.

the old ones were awesome

>Just get another Miata.

Need moar room for equipment on workdays and girls on weekends. Been thinking about a Mustang, Firebird, Corvette, GTI, or maybe something retarded like a Cobalt SS. Budget is around $5K.

So even if my plan to make it into a prject car that has rollcages in it, its still not safe? Is what am about to do is just a death trap? Or it will still give a little safety points considering accidents in my country happen alot, speciallywith trucks

what? the tu engines are indestructible.The Prince EP4/6 engines are shit, and is not base on the old generations. They always had timing chain problems, but only when you drive them slow. The turbo ones where the owner give full trottle are fine.

The Cobalt SS is on the sticky for a reason. Go for it.

>thinking minis where only made in the 80s and 90s

I really liked the previous S one, but man, for that money the I interior is laughable, rattles and crickets everywhere. It's supposed to be in reliable as 90ies lada, but cant confirm.

Also, next year swift sport will take the crown of quintessential supermini hothatch

I don't trust the sticky. A friend of my ex was selling a low-miles '09 that wasn't running right. I spent a lot of time hanging on the Cobalt forums diagnosing it. Turned out to be a cracked block, which is really common in those cars on top of blown out pistons and rings. The guys on the forums were always talking about engine swaps that wouldn't explode.

My Brother had one. Utterly horrendous ride and build quality. Whole interior flexed with a little pressure from your finger. And we used to take the piss and say he got shorter every time he drove it.

On the bright side, it's light, very nippy for a 1.6 NA and it handles incredibly well.

He replaced it with a 350Z. No comparison there, holy shit.

09 SS's use a different engine to the 05-07 SS's that would be in your price range.

>a few morons on a forum makes it a common problem

Ecotec engines are not known for cracking blocks.

Block porosity is very common in those years of SSes. GM had a recall/warranty extension for that which is now over.

The later ones (1998-200 I think) came with airbags and side impact bars, so they're the "safer ones" and also the most refined and better all round cars. They cost a fortune in decent condition though.

As for accidents, if you get hit by a truck it's over, but it's probably the same story in any car really.

BMW betrayed the ideals behind the mini. The modern ones arnt minis except in name.

Modern regulations required it. You could never make the mini of the 60's today. It's not legal.

you could get a lot closer than bmw did though.
of course bmw were trying to do something else.
and succeeded at it tbf