2008 MINI Cooper S consumer reviews

The car is nice and handles extremely well. As long as you are well versed at doing mechanical work on imported vehicles, this may be for you! If you intend to follow the recommended CBS maint. program, you'll need a fat wallet. Mini recommends you don't change your oil except according to their specifications. If you follow their recommendations, I believe, (as a mechanic of over 40 years) their intent is for you to wear out your motor using worn out motor oil to accomplish just that. Change your oil regularly, expecially with the Turbocharged engine, and you probably will have good service. They actually tell you that you can go 20K on an oil change. Maybe you can since it seems to me that the most maintenance I have to spend is refilling the oil. I know that when I experienced problems at Mini of Louisville after having a recall done, (for some reason when I picked it up it was now leaking oil & smoking), when I repaired it I looked down the oil supply tube to the Turbo and saw coking (oil oil caked up & covering the walls of the tube) that would have eventually plugged the entire line. I don't recommend Mini of Lou. either, as they did do a recall on my Mini and gave it back to me leaking profusely from the turbo fitting. I had inspected my MINI before taking it to them I had no leak before going there. Avoid Mini's unless you're full of $$$ of able to repair anything! Lord help you if you need service-before buying, skip the reviews and go to Mini Cooper problems on the web and see if you're really wanting to buy a vehicle that when it breaks, is always operator error, specifically if it's a clutch, turbo or one of the items that will cost you between 6-10K to have repaired/replaced.

This car has a lot of pep and is a blast to drive. It also has more room than people think. As a hockey mom, we found out very quickly that the hockey bag and stick fit fine in the back end. As a musician mom, we also discovered that a hard cased cello also fits in the back end. Had some clutch issues immediately after purchase, but that was more dealer related than a dependability issue.

Last summer I realized that 85% of my driving is short distance-A to B to C a few miles at a time mostly on city streets and some freeways. But I own several high performance sports cars that get beat to death in that kind of driving. My answer is the MINI Cooper-in this case a 2008 Cooper S convertible. It is sporty, fun, comfortable and in the case of the Cooper S, plenty powerful. The MINI is not a stripped down economy car-there are plenty of creature comforts from automatic climate control to upgraded audio to heated seats and fully automatic convertible top. Mission accomplished. I have put in over 1500 miles in my MINI. It has put fun back into getting around, even from A to B to C. Gas mileage is great without sacrificing power and pep. Its a winner-no wonder I see them all over the area where I live.

Fun and great on gas, This is a drivers car. Carving up mountain roads makes for a great afternoon! The six speed manual and the Turbo charged engine are blast to drive.

This car is our extra and we don't drive it much. Haven't put enough miles on this car to comment on the reliability. The handling works. The suspension is tight and I LOVE the gocart stiff ride. Add in the 33 MPG for a turbo lagged rocket and what's not to love? It's great for weekend ticket hunting on twisty mountain roads. I wouldn't want to use it for a daily driver. My Nissan LEAF keeps the Mini parked.

This is a fun vehicle for city or highway use. It is well engineered, appointed and the S is quite peppy. The electric or computer can develope a few glitches and they can develop a rattle but overall a great litttle car.

There are days when I simply love my S and days where I go shopping for it's replacement. I've wanted a Mini since I was in high school in the 80's (so those paying attention realize that was the original British Mini), so buying my 2008 S was not on done on a whim. The other cars I was considering were the BMW 3 series, Audi A3, and VW GTI. The styling, cult-like following, and pegging the fun-meter is what sold me on the Mini. Mini's relationship with BMW didn't hurt either. So let's get to the love/hate section: Love --------- Style, driving position, funkiness of the interior (you gotta love mood lights), acceleration, braking, road feel (only on smooth roads) Hate--------- Seats (my '69 VW Bug had better seats than these torture devices), Run Flats (BMW's absolute worst mistake, just simply awful), clutch (poor release and feel), Bone jarring ride (you really don't need to make a suspension this stiff to make a car handle well) Rattles, Transmission clunks into 2nd gear (dealer refuses to acknowledge this), reliability (which is offset by the fun factor). If I were to do it again, I might go with the GTI only because the VW interior is so comfortable and comes with real tires and a real spare (did I mention how horrible run flats are?).

I HATE MY MINI COOPER!Loved the look but bad car. I HATE THIS CAR. I HEART THE LOOK.I'M ALWAYS TAKEING IN TO GET DOORS FIXED!

Fun to drive, very responsive handling and lots of power. Great mileage (32+ overall). Better on the freeway than I imagined but terrible on bad roads. The run flat tires are gonna go away ASAP. Awful ergonomics on the secondary controls, i.e. lights, radio, wipers, electric windows and everything else. I must have read the manual for an hour to figure out how to change the radio pre-sets! Stupid navigation system. Too many menus, no consistency in use of joystick and buttons.

The mini cooper "S" is definitely one of the coolest cars on the road now! The drive is fun and responsive.. hit the "S" button and you feel like you're driving a ferrari. Performance and handling are off the charts! I don't think I've ever seen a bad review for this car, it's simply speaks for itself!