There's good news and bad news when it comes to MINI Coopers. The good news is, BMW bought the Rover Group in 1994, which included the Mini brand. More good news: although BMW spun off most of the Rover Group in 2000, one of the things it kept was Mini. But wait, there's even more good news! BMW came out with an all-new MINI in 2001, and the car was substantially redesigned for 2007 and again for 2014, with significant updates in between. The fourth-generation MINI arrived for 2025. The bad news is, BMW bought the Rover Group in 1994.
I ran into this 2013 MINI Cooper S Coupe for sale in the town just south of The Triple Wide out here on Cleveland, Ohio's far west side. This guy always has some car or truck for sale at the end of his driveway; I guess he has a dealer's license or whatever. Anyway, I'm almost glad the asking price wasn't closer to $5,000 because I might have talked myself into at least calling the number on its FOR SALE signs.
MINI introduced the two-passenger Coupe in 2011, with sales beginning for the 2012 model year. A Roadster followed in 2012 too. By 2013, the MINI lineup had grown into quite the little family: the two-door Hardtop, four-door Countryman crossover, Clubman, Convertible, Coupe, Roadster and the new-for-2013 Paceman. That's seven different models and all of them adorable, screaming high performers.
Of all the "modern Coopers," though, these funky things are without question the most unique. That's being kind because I like them; many people think they're flat-out strange, and I get that.
Based on the second-generation MINI Hardtop, aside from its polarizing styling, there's really no practical benefit to this being a two-passenger automobile. If anything, the styling is a deterrent to driving since the chopped rear roofline compromises rearward visibility. The Coupe was also roughly a hundred pounds heavier than the regular Hardtop.
Being a Cooper S, this car has a 1.6-liter turbocharged, double-overhead-cam, 16-valve four-cylinder engine making 181 horsepower and 177 lb-ft of torque. The naturally aspirated 1.6-liter in the regular Cooper made 121 horsepower. Combine the extra scoot of the S's turbo engine with its notchy six-speed manual and go-kart-like handling, and this is a very fun car to drive. For a little while.
The stiff ride can get old. Fast. Especially as a daily driver. Non-S models have a more compliant ride, but they don't have the zoom-zoom (sorry, wrong car brand). MINI itself promoted the brand's famous "go-kart feeling," and in this case, the marketing department wasn't exactly making that up.
So, back to the bad news. Anything made by BMW has never been known as a bastion of reliability or durability. High-performing and well-engineered? Without question. The problem is, as they get older, they tend to flake out and become problematic. And those problems are pricey to fix. Very pricey.
Back in Nashville, a buddy of mine bought a used Cooper, somewhat inexplicably, too, since he was a hard-core square-body Chevy pickup guy. He ditched it after a year because every time he turned around, he was throwing a couple of grand at it.
Another guy I know had an '80s BMW 5 Series he called his "two-thousand-dollar, one-thousand-dollar car." Meaning, he paid a thousand for it, but he, too, was frequently dropping two thousand dollars on it.
There are scores of YouTube, Facebook and Instagram videos out there extolling the performance virtues of MINIs while simultaneously lamenting how fragile and expensive to repair they can be.
No doubt this one will sell, although it looks like they've already dropped the asking price by $200. I think if they really want to move it, they should drop it by at least a grand. If not two.
At five grand, I might be caught between a rock and a hard place—that being between calling on it, knowing full well I shouldn't and perhaps regretting not calling.
There's good news and bad news when it comes to MINI Coopers. The good news is, BMW bought the Rover Group in 1994, which included the Mini brand. More good news: although BMW spun off most of the Rover Group in 2000, one of the things it kept was Mini. But wait, there's even more good news! BMW came out with an all-new MINI in 2001, and the car was substantially redesigned for 2007 and again for 2014, with significant updates in between. The fourth-generation MINI arrived for 2025. The bad news is, BMW bought the Rover Group in 1994.
BMW itself says that when it sold off the Rover Group in 2000, it retained the MINI brand, along with several of the facilities that would support production of the new MINI. The first modern MINI rolled off the Oxford assembly line in April 2001.
I ran into this 2013 MINI Cooper S Coupe for sale in the town just south of The Triple Wide out here on Cleveland, Ohio's far west side. This guy always has some car or truck for sale at the end of his driveway; I guess he has a dealer's license or whatever. Anyway, I'm almost glad the asking price wasn't closer to $5,000 because I might have talked myself into at least calling the number on its FOR SALE signs.
MINI introduced the two-passenger Coupe in 2011, with sales beginning for the 2012 model year. A Roadster followed in 2012 too. By 2013, the MINI lineup had grown into quite the family: the two-door Hardtop, four-door Countryman crossover, Clubman, Convertible, Coupe, Roadster and the new-for-2013 Paceman. That's seven different models and all of them adorable, screaming high performers.
Of all the "modern Coopers," though, these funky things are without question the most unique. That's being kind because I like them; many people think they're flat-out strange, and I get that.
Based on the second-generation MINI Hardtop, aside from its polarizing styling, there's really no practical benefit to this being a two-passenger automobile. If anything, the styling is a deterrent to driving since the chopped rear roofline compromises rearward visibility. The Coupe was also a bit heavier than the regular Hardtop, although the difference wasn't quite as dramatic as you might think.
Being a Cooper S, this car has a 1.6-liter turbocharged, double-overhead-cam, 16-valve four-cylinder engine making 181 horsepower and 177 lb-ft of torque. The naturally aspirated 1.6-liter in the regular Cooper made 121 horsepower. Combine the extra scoot of the S's turbo engine with its notchy six-speed manual and go-kart-like handling, and this is a very fun car to drive. For a little while.
The stiff ride can get old. Fast. Especially as a daily driver. Non-S models have a more compliant ride, but they don't have the zoom-zoom (sorry, wrong car brand). MINI itself promoted the brand's famous "go-kart feeling," and in this case, the marketing department wasn't exactly making that up.
So, back to the bad news. Anything made by BMW has never been known as a bastion of reliability or durability. High-performing and well-engineered? Without question. The problem is, as they get older, they tend to flake out and become problematic. And those problems are pricey to fix. Very pricey.
Back in Nashville, a buddy of mine bought a used Cooper, somewhat inexplicably, too, since he was a hard-core square-body Chevy pickup guy. He ditched it after a year because every time he turned around, he was throwing a couple of grand at it.
Another guy I know had an '80s BMW 5 Series he called his "two-thousand-dollar, one-thousand-dollar car." Meaning, he paid a thousand for it, but he, too, was frequently dropping two thousand dollars on it.
There are scores of YouTube, Facebook and Instagram videos out there extolling the performance virtues of MINIs while simultaneously lamenting how fragile and expensive to repair they can be.
No doubt this one will sell, although it looks like they've already dropped the asking price by $200. I think if they really want to move it, they should drop it by at least a grand. If not two.
At five grand, I might be caught between a rock and a hard place—that being between calling on it, knowing full well I shouldn't and perhaps regretting not calling.
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