I bought a Mini early last fall. A 2004, with sport package, winter package, dipping rear view mirror and rain sensor wipers. Pretty basic....on purpose.
IMO, many of the options offered by Mini are overly priced and not really necessary in a car who's one major draw is it's low price. I stayed away from leather, (which looks very poor in a short time, BTW), Nav (just too pricey to me), Aero package, automatic air conditioning, and sunroof. (I'm not a sunroof person.)
I did buy many factory OEM parts and accessories by mail from a dealer who offers them at a substantial discount from list. Rubber Mats, euro parcel shelf, trunk mat and cargo net, I even bought the Aero kid side skirts and installed them myself. I also got the aero grille. (I installed the top section but need to finish the bottom.) There are more goodies I will get later.
I test drove both 16 and 17" wheels both with and without the sport package. Comfort was a BIG concern to me. I happen to think the sport package on 17" wheels is just fine. The biggest thing you can do to improve the ride on ANY size tire is to get rid of the hard sidewalls in the runflats. When the all season runflats I get are worn, they are history. I'll call AAA when I get a flat!
There is no doubt that the materials used in the car are inexpensive. I open the door to my Audi and it smells like leather. The Mini smells like plastic and rubber. The Audi switchgear, buttons and knobs have a solid, quiet feel to them. It's a tactile pleasure just to use the directional stalk. The Mini items feel very lightweight, the plastic is thin and the casting seams show, the switches go clickety-click. BUT, having said all that, the quality of fit and the way this car is designed and put together is excellent. Certainly BMWish. (Which is almost as good as Audiish
) You have to remember, too, the car is half the price...literally, than my Audi. Considering this it's one heck of a value.
And the best thing of all, as my wife says, "Driving this car just makes me smile."
