I thought that too.

But new Pirelli run-flat all season tires (knew they were needed when we bought it) from the Anchorage stealership weren’t all that bad.

And other than that, normal not cheap but not outrageous oil changes, and headlight and fog light bulbs (just once).

It burns a bit of oil, less than the old Subarus.

ETA: forgot one; a new battery. Evidently Minis don’t blow hot air in the winter without a new/strong battery. Sounded very crystal light and magic, but that’s what the forums said and it worked.

quote:

It's a 10 year old British built, german designed car.

The Paceman was actually built in Austria by the same folks who have long made the Benz G-wagen (since the late 70s), and also currently make the BMW Z4 and Toyota Supra, among others, otherwise known as Magna Steyr.

The biggest knock on MINI Coopers is the labor costs with most any maintenance repair. It's in essence a BMW, with the usual BMW complexities only in a physically smaller package. Simple fixes are almost never simple. Change a leaky seal? Tear half of the engine out. Change out a faulty sensor? Tear half of the engine out. That's the BMW Way. And on it goes into supposedly simpler cars like the MINI, except there's no such thing as simple engineering when it comes to the Germans and their cars.

That having been said, it's not like the Japanese have been going out of their way in keeping things simple. As more tech goes into their cars, even their creations are getting more inanely complex as well. So much of that stuff gets in the way when trying to keep the basics running. But if I were looking in this direction, I wouldn't go Honda or Toyota; I'd get a MX-5. 2015 or 2016 will be right in the same price range as the MINI. Yes it's far from being practical. And definitely space-challenged. But absolutely a blast to drive, and do so daily. Plus it's a true sports car, not a "sporty" car like the MINI, JCW variant notwithstanding.

Not that this is necessarily a cheaper solution maintenance-wise, but I'd also rather have a '16 Golf GTI for similar money. It's not as adorably cute as the MINI, which is the thing I don't like about that car in its reboot life compared to its bulldog-like persona in its original form. However the Dub is the quintessential poster child of a Euro hot hatch. Okay, so it's kind of juvenile in that sense but as the younglings say, it's hella fun. And somewhat practical to boot.

There was an earlier mention of the Subaru WRX; a clean 2014 WRX also is comparable in price to what a nice Paceman goes for. 2014 was the last year of the GD platform WRX, basically a somewhat more boxier styled car compared to more recent vintage WRX offerings. The biggest problem with these cars is finding an non-abused example that hasn't been thrashed to within an inch of its life. Yes they can have the usual Subie-type issues of the Imprezas of that time frame, and the interiors are...well...rather spartan and cheap. But fun? You betcha. A PPI is an absolute must when considering one of these.