Ive had my fair share of BMW & Mercedes V8s and V12s. And anything under the sun can go wrong with them. How bad can a 4 cylinder be...?

 

I believe it's the transmission. Noting scientific, just heard some anecdotal comments from car and non-car people. Haven't taken the time to verify since I'm not a big fan of the car anyway.

 

Mostly, yeah. The first generation 5-speed was prone to exploding for no reason. Google "midlands mini failure" and you'll find a lot of info about it. My first mini experience was doing a 6 speed getrag swap on an R50. Not fun.

The automatics were also trash, I believe through the R56.

The engines themselves were failure prone early on, particularly the supercharged ones, and specifically the second throttle body if memory serves. The naturally aspirated ones are incredibly anemic, and the turbo ones have that unavoidable issue of simply being a turbocharged 4 cylinder -- just not fun to drive. I believe they figured out most of the engine nonsense by the second generation, but then again I don't think I've seen a high mileage mini cooper that wasn't falling apart, so who knows.

 

The second generation Cooper S uses the infamous engine developed together with PSA which is very prone to failure. When I bought mine, it had already been completely rebuilt at 40k miles or so. Luckily it didn't fail during my ownership. It is a blast though, but the first-gen supercharged engine seems to be the one to have (for the sound).

 

Have you been able to get out of New Jersey?
Life doesn't start until you get past the Delaware Water Gap.

 

I felt exactly they way you did about a Range Rover I bought. Wanted one for a long time, but when I bought one, I just couldn’t get into it. I loved the way it looked, but diving it was… “Meh…”
For two years, I tried to make myself love that car, but in the end, I sold it and felt no regret when it got placed on a car carrier and driven away from my house. In fact, I was relieved.

If you aren’t excited every time you grab that key, it isn’t the car for you.
When you pay that much, you should be thrilled to see and drive it, every time.

 

Not everyone has time to drive 4 hours round trip when they want to enjoy their car

 

What a truly blessed and privileged life you’ve led then. You should be thankful to think as such.

 

Definitely have had it very good and I try to do my best to pay things forward. Usually problems in my life have solutions or root causes, this one not so much.

 

Of the 1200 miles I put on the car, 300 are in the hills in Orange and Rockland County. I've had enough seat time to know I don't want it around.

 

Sell it and get whatever makes you happy.