Faults:

Started having lots of problems on a very well-maintained car at about 70,000 miles.

I paid to do whatever regular maintenance they suggested, which was about $1,500 and not long after that:

First it was oil related, starting with the valve cover gasket. At this point it started to burn oil at the rate of about 2 quarts. I stopped doing many recommendations of changing the oil every 10000 miles since you cannot do engine detergents on turbo engines. This I found out too late. So I'm going to start to change the oil at 5000 miles to try to help clean up the engine over time, that is if I even still have it. I'm thinking of selling it due to all the problems.

Next problem was the turbo line at about 75,000 miles. Had to have that replaced twice and it cost around $700 the first time, and under warranty due to rapid failure the second time. This happened about 5,000 miles after the first repair.

About another five thousand miles later, the thermostat housing sonic welds cracked and caused my car to overheat. Took it into the shop immediately. Another $700.

Every time I take this in, it costs me about $1,000. At this point I have paid more in maintenance than I think the car is even worth, and I never will buy another german-engineered vehicle again. I fully expect a car to not have these kinds of issues until after 100,000 miles.

Even Audis have performed better and they're typically crap, even though they look really nice.

If you're worried about the reliability of these cars and someone is selling it, if it's got over 50,000 miles I would not go for it. The parts are made of plastic largely in the car where heat is applied and it's incredibly stupid to engineer a vehicle like that. Plastic does not hold up to heat in any way, shape or form, for a long time. I have 5 Toyotas that have lasted well beyond a hundred fifty thousand miles and I haven't spent half of the maintenance I've spent on this car on all of them combined.

General Comments:

The ride is terrible, although I know it is a sports car, it does not ride like a BMW. It is very fast! And requires the highest fuel rating. It burns oil incredibly fast.

Faults:

The Mini Sidewalk is two years old, and already required a new gearbox at a year old. It had new front wheel bearings, and now a new clutch needed. Mini don't appear too interested. The only good thing is that it is under warranty, but as soon as that has got 3 months to go, the car will be sold as it is too costly to keep repairing.

My advice to anyone considering buying a 2008 Mini Sidewalk, is that I would not bother unless you have plenty of cash for a hire car and repairs, as Mini won't be interested once it is out of warranty.

General Comments:

Plenty of faults. Mini are not keen to exchange the car or recall, so have plenty of spare cash for your repairs and road side recovery, if you're buying a 2008 model.

Faults:

Left hand passenger window squeaks when raised and lowered. Otherwise no vehicle faults.

General Comments:

The 2008 Mini One arguably does everything a Mini should do - it is small, easy to park, has those classic mini looks and is cheap to run. Most are familiar with the positives of this type of car, and I do not need to review them here. However having owned one, it is now my opinion that BMW are far from hitting a home run with this vehicle for a number of reasons.

1. The engine. The 1.6 Liter petrol engine the car comes equipped with makes good power once revving. The issue however is torque, or severe lack of it. Off the line, it develops a flat spot that at best could be described as irritating, and at worst dangerous. It has a terrifying ability to lose all power at critical moments (such as a give way turn into a small gap) while the transmission sorts itself out, changes down and then the motor builds up enough revs to deliver useful power. There can be a delay of up to a full second from when the accelerator is floored and when the car actually starts responding. What follows then is a nauseating surge in power higher in revs, once whatever situation you were in in the first place that necessitated the power has long since passed.

2. The transmission. My particular vehicle came fitted with a 6 speed automatic transmission, with tiptronic paddles for the steering wheel. In my opinion 6 gears is too many for an around town automatic. The vehicle is constantly changing up and down, which does not make for a smooth ride - especially in slow moving, stop/start traffic. The constant shifting actually becomes annoying.

3. Ergonomics. Unusual for a BMW designed vehicle, but this car is an ergonomic nightmare. There are simply design errors that are utterly inexcusable. For a start, unless you have the seat all the way back, you have practically have to dislocate your shoulder to reach behind the seat to put the seatbelt on. Even then, the belt often gets stuck between the seat and the internal door arm rest.

The handle for the automatic transmission perfectly obscures the designators that tell you which gear you are in (i.e. drive, neutral or reverse) which are located on the passenger side of the transmission.

Operating the indicators can best be described as infuriating. They have been designed so that a light push will just turn on the relevant indicator until released again (e.g. changing lanes) while a full deflection push will leave them on until the turn is complete. However there is such a fine line between the two modes that often it is near impossible to turn the indicator off again. For example, I will go to change lanes on the motorway, flick the indicator and it remain on. I then flick the indicator back the other way to turn it off, and instead it will turn the other side on. What follows is a cycle of left-right-left-right until finally you get the pressure just right so that the indicator will turn off entirely.

The rear view mirror also has an amazing ability to sit at the perfect height to obscure traffic lights when sitting at an intersection.

Finally I simply cannot understand why BMW decided to fit paddle shift to the steering wheel of the entry level, non-performance model of the Mini. Ignoring the fact that they are practically impossible to use unless the steering wheel is dead straight, would it not have made more sense to incorporate stereo tuning and volume controls onto the steering wheel instead?

And so there you have it. I know what you are probably thinking - the Mini One is the no-frills base model and to an extent you may be correct. However what I do know is that this is no excuse for simply poor design. Spend over $30,000NZD on a car and you expect a certain standard to be reached.

The Mini One is an inadequate car dressed up and 'funkified' if you will by the Mini brand. Buy one, and you will see that once you get past the novelty factor, you are left with car which will continue to disappoint. Stick with the BMW 1 Series, a VW Golf or similar small car. At the end of the day you will get much more out of them.

Faults:

Less than one week old. Nothing has gone wrong.

Notice the suspension is not the best, can feel everything on Los Angeles roads.

Would also say the tires are not the best.

General Comments:

After many European cars, the mini is the perfect car for many needs.