MINIs - are there any that aren't a PITA to own?

My '03 CooperS has had the supercharger replaced, the front LCA bushings replaced and the shifter cables replaced after I drove through a foot of water. The power steering fan is still the original one, although the harness for it was replaced under warranty years ago. Aside from the supercharger ($1400 bill for that) ,nothing on mine has been out of the ordinary. I take it to a MINI specialty shop when I don't feel like doing the work on it myself. The proprietor there will tell you that he makes his living off the second and third generation cars. Newer models tend to go back to the dealership. Both he, and his mechanic drive late 1st generation cars, which I'd take as an indicator.

Sounds like he may be better off with a small affordable payment he can budget for, rather than dealing with unexpected repairs.

He could be a good candidate for a CPO Korean vehicle to get the 10yr/100k warranty.

The veloster could be a good option (depending on how he feels about the looks), or the Forte Koup.

I also thought about a MINI and asked about them on this forum. Some loved them others hated them which is about what I expected. I wanted a small car less then 3000 pounds to pull behind a motor home either with a dolly or flat towed but also wanted something sporty and fun to drive. I also consider a Fiat Arbarth but finally decided it was just too small. The more I looked into MINI's I found a lot of maintenance issues. A friend had an early version which looked great was fun to drive but he also had s list of items he had to have fixed including a clutch master cylinder which he had done and was quite costly.

I also asked about Ford Fiestas and Focus's and heard all about the woes of the auto transmissions which I didn't want anyway. But there were also a lot of good comments. In the end I ended up with a used 2015 Fiesta ST. So far its met all my expectations and surpassed others. I guess time will tell.

I had a 2010 S and would love another one. I had a noisy timing chain that was replaced under warrantee. Other than that, gas, oil & tires. Sold it because my kids were too small to get out of car seats and too tall to sit in a car seat in a Mini with me driving.

the surprisingly expensive ownership cost I've had with my 2012 Clubman S has been dropping $1k on windshields. Ironically it was the same price to get in replaced in Germany as in the US.

Apparently changing the oil is a pain 'cause of how hard it is to get to the filter; brakes are a pain on any car with some mileage because of the assembly bolt keeping the rotor on, and stud-bolts making swapping winters for summers a frustrating experience.

other than that, it's been a good experience