I'm expecting delivery of my R56 mid-march but after seeing so many car crashes over the last few days due to the crazy snow, I'm wondering if I made the right choice.
I'm curious to know the experience of Mini drivers in WNY over the last few days. I'm assuming snow tires help a lot but what about getting a Mini out of snow covered driveways?
Hop over to the Garage forum and checkout the "studded or studless tires for mini cooper?" thread.
I have a set of run-flat, non-studded, winter tires on aftermarket alloy rims that look and drive great.
If you live in WNY / CNY its a good idea get dedicated set of winter wheels. But, there is always discussion on that.
Roads in my area "downwind of Lake Ontario" are rather interesting to drive on right now (i.e., almost 10 feet of snow has fallen on my driveway in the past 10 days).
But our Tardis is just great on the heavy slushy snow, hard packed snow or ice covered roads.
BTW - We picked up the Tadris on April 2nd last year and did not need winter tires at all until recently.
Enjoy your new MINI. And, by all means ask any question you need help with. We all like to help.
I have a pure silver 06 MC 6spd I got last Aug. As everybody else says, I LOVE IT.
"Crazy snow" requires simple smart adjustments with any car. The crashes are probably due to un-smart driving, which I see a lot of. People tailgating, driving with less than a car length between cars, at speed, is getting more prevailant. Worn tires are a HUGE factor.
The car itself is awesome. The handling on slick roads is very good. The car inherintly handles better than most to begin with. Smart driving and, as you said TIRES, are major factors on "crazy" conditions. I have no problem with my 15" stock tires. They go through snow as good as to be expected, they are all-season tires. You cannot expect awesome summer performance tires to work well at all in even less than "crazy" conditions, but that will apply to any vehicle.
I have had no problem backing out of my snow covered driveway with snow that just touches the bottom of my car. Driving thru slush covered roads has also been no problem, and never gave me any fear so far.
You will not reget getting the car at all. I haven't.
I regret not being able to wash the salt off my car because of the long, well below freezing temps and seeing it look so dirty. It saddens me so. Never used to look forward to washing my car so much.
The last time I washed a car by hand was when I used to live in Australia. They had special "hand" car washes and it was quite fun actually. But I guess I got spoiled by the drive-by car washes in the US.
In terms of driving in the snow by far the best solution is to get a set of 4 high-rated snow tires mounted on a separate set of wheels (black steel wheels don''t have much style but you don't have to worry about replacing an alloy wheel if you slide into a curb). I've used a set of Blizzaks on our original '02 and now the '05 MINI and haven't had any problems.
If you have performance tires on your car don't try to drive in the snow - you'll barely be able to control the car as that type of tire cannot get a grip in the snow. All season tires are a compromise and really don't do the job in heavy snow. Also, don't be afraid to turn off the traction control if you find your wheels spinning when trying to get out of a snowy spot. Sometimes the tires need to be able to spin to get a decent grip (don't forget to turn the TC back on when underway).
With snow tires the MINI is a little tank in the snow. The only thing to be aware of is that since the car is so low it becomes a plow in deep snow.
There are reports of MINI undercarrages getting damaged by high center tracks in automatic carwashes. If you want to use an automatic carwash try something like a drive- in lasertouch' (?) or some other place where no brushes, dangling rags, etc. contact the car. Those will put thousands of tiny scratches into the paint. Also avoid places where the car is descended upon by a crowd that drys the car after washing. There is a high probability that the cloths used for drying will also scratch the paint.
I love delta sonic but unfortunately delta sonic does not love MINIs. I only took the 02 through 1 time and that was enough. The black cladding scraps on the rails and from the inside of the car sounds like it is being torn off. (luckily it wasnt) but the noise was horrifying!
For the winter months - I try to swing by Towne every other month and get it washed, or once it warms up a little I'll hit a pay and spray.
I have barrelled through some heavy snow successfully, but my friend the cop says I may set off the airbags, so I have been slightly more cautious (driving at high speed in reverse out of my driveway, which has terrific sightlines, and is next to a park, so, kids, don't try this at home!). I have never wanted to look stupid (stupider, I should say) by asking here if downshifting gives me better control in slowing down on slick roads than does braking, but I suppose I really do want to know, so, anybody?
This car is the only one I ever enjoyed hand-washing and I wish I had a drain in my garage floor, but mostly I take it to a touchless carwash, and that has worked great. Everybody here on the Grand Island who uses this unmanned place hops on the 190 right around the corner for a couple miles of fast drying-off-driving. Many, many people here go to a different place though, called Dr. Huggs, which I tried for the first time last week when my favorite carwash was inexplicably closed.
The kid taking the money assured me that he had several MINI regulars (is there such a thing?). Although I can think of only 3 other MINIs on the Grand Island (including Charva, who doesn't live here, and so I know the little bastard was lying to me), I went ahead. I did not hear any terrible, tear-able sounds, but the heaviness of the black rubber things washing my car made me uncomfortable. It did look good. I did not tip the youngsters hand-drying my car, becuase they weren't doing anything extra, like special-cleaning my tires, and so I got a rather facetious "Thanks, come again!" From now on, I intend to only use this place as a last resort (will they let you bring your MINI to a resort?) and stick with my touchless carwash, owned and operated by an ancient man and his incredibly ancient father.
Somewhere on the WWW is a site, or an article, put together by some guy who washes his MINI obsessively (which reminds me of an old military joke) who will tell you exactly what you should do for every inch (sorry, every millimeter) of your car; what cloth to use/not use, what soaps, polishes, which brand of toothbrush gets the inside of the tire treads best, etc. I can't recall where this is on the WWW, but maybe somebody else here does?
I'll second what the others have said about the MINI's performance in the snow ... it's been fantastic. I regularly pass slow-moving SUVs and other vehicles on Rt 400, and I feel very comfortable with my MINI's handling in snow and slush.
I bought a set of Pirelli snowtires, mounted on butt-ugly steel wheels, on tirerack.com and I've been completely satisfied. I would highly recommend snowtires for your MINI; the original all-weathers had noticeably worse performance, IMO.
While I don't have documentation that proves downshifting offers better control than braking, my experience is that it does. Since you're using the engine to "brake" the car and reduce its speed (and therefore its momentum) without possibility of locking the wheels and causing it to skid (even with ABS brakes), it seems intuitively a better means.
Hi fellow Pepper White Driver, I drive a Pepper White MCS with all-season tires and I have not experienced much trouble in the snow. Of course if I had nice set of Bridgestone Blizzaks the traction and handling would be much better. But since I'm an experienced snow driver (as should be most Upstate drivers), I have been able to make due with the all-season tires. Many times I have been asked by large car and SUV drivers if my car can make it through the snow. As if to say. "if your vehicle isn't over-sized and over-powered how can it possibily get through the snow"? I refer to this as the "SUV" mentality, exempilified by the vast number of dolts on the road driving behemouths in the false believe that this will compensate for their lack of basic driving skills. In reality a smaller front-wheel (or all wheel) drive car is always superior in the snow to a heavy over-sized vehicle. To illustrate my point; on Valentine's day we had 20" of snow here in the Finger Lakes and the only people to make it into our office were drivers of a Mini, a VW Beetle, a Honda and a Subaru. The SUV drivers never made it to the office! So don't worry about the snow and just motor, with caution of course. Rob
