Will a Mini Fit me?

August 16, 2023 9:59 AM

My beloved 2007 Honda Fit was crushed by a tree last week. Because it is important to me to have a manual transmission, I'm having a tough time finding a replacement. Things I liked about my Fit: it was reliable, had plenty of headroom (I'm ~6'3"), enough cargo space, fun to drive and easy to park. Is the Mini Cooper Countryman a reasonable choice? I know people love them, but are they as reliable as the Fit? Are there other cars that fit my criteria?
posted by donpardo to Shopping (29 answers total)

I had a Mini Clubman for several years and really liked it. It was very reliable for me, fun to drive, easy to park and had plenty of cargo space for my needs. It had enough headroom, but not an excess and I'm 5'11". The Countryman is a bit bigger, but not that much. Also depends how high you like to sit, of course. Aside from the headroom, I think it'd meet all your other criteria.

I moved to a Bolt EUV about a year ago. It's also quite fun to drive and (anecdotally) reliable. Not manual though, of course.
posted by brentajones at 10:27 AM on August 16, 2023

The Mini is mechanically a BMW, and not particularly reliable out of warranty. I drive a manual Mazda 3, it's not a sporty car, though it's in the same ballpark as a Fit. The hatchback version has a bit more space than a sedan but not the Tardissian space of the Fit. My tall friend said he had enough headroom in the front, though not enough in the back.
posted by wnissen at 10:33 AM on August 16, 2023 [8 favorites]

I drive a manual 2020 civic, it's bigger than a fit and unfortunately they are now only putting the manual in the higher end models now. But it has a trunk, can fit a car seat, fun to drive and I have no problems parking it in Chicago.
posted by AlexiaSky at 10:33 AM on August 16, 2023 [1 favorite]

Response by poster: I forgot to mention that I'm shopping for a used car, not new.
posted by donpardo at 10:39 AM on August 16, 2023 [1 favorite]

I have a Ford Fiesta 4-door with an automatic transmission, which I would never recommend, but have heard nothing bad about the manual transmission Fiestas. They made a hatchback version as well. I'm not tall but last summer my 6'2" or so brother-in-law rode around in the backseat for several days and seemed to have plenty of room.

(And just to clarify, I have no complaints about my car besides transmission issues, which are a known problem on automatic transmission Fiestas)
posted by jabes at 10:49 AM on August 16, 2023

This might be bigger than you want, but the Honda HR-V has been described as a Fit on stilts, and it looks like they have been made with manual transmissions. I have one, and I love it.
posted by FencingGal at 11:13 AM on August 16, 2023 [5 favorites]

If a Civic is too small, the Accord had a very nice manual and good headroom. Yes, it's a different form factor, but it's easy to park and you can fit a lot of stuff in one.
posted by sardonyx at 11:19 AM on August 16, 2023 [1 favorite]

Didn’t like the Mini because it felt cramped; my Honda Fit was what I ended up getting (live in a city, needed to be able to get into small parking spaces).
posted by Peach at 11:59 AM on August 16, 2023 [1 favorite]

I have a friend who is 6'7" who has a Mini (not sure what model), but he says it fits him well and he loves it. I know you are shopping for a used one, but go to a dealer of the brands you are considering and try them on for size.
posted by JohnnyGunn at 12:25 PM on August 16, 2023

Used Subaru Crosstreks can be found with stick shifts. I've driven one a few times and as someone slightly taller than you, it fit me acceptably. For reliability, I'd pick that over a Mini for sure.
posted by Dip Flash at 12:34 PM on August 16, 2023 [1 favorite]

I have three friends who have/had Minis, one is 6'2" and the other is 6'5". The tall folks like/liked theirs a lot and their height wasn't an issue.
posted by bluedaisy at 1:26 PM on August 16, 2023

I have not driven one of these, but the Chevrolet Spark feels close in form and function to a Fit.
posted by mdonley at 1:31 PM on August 16, 2023

My friend has the Mini Cooper Clubman, which has the same wheelbase as the Countryman, but the Countryman is 4.6" taller, so has more headroom than the Clubman. Her husband is 6ft1 and likes to drive the Clubman in preference to his BMW. He has no difficulty with headroom, so the taller Countryman should give you enough headroom.

As for capacity, a few weeks ago I went with my two friends and their 6ft tall daughter plus a dog to a festival, with the back section packed with four folding chairs, a large cooler, rucksacks, blankets and boots, and it all fit with no problem whatsoever and with room to spare. There was lots of legroom in the back too.
posted by essexjan at 1:53 PM on August 16, 2023

I have a Chevy Spark ('13) and I love it (it's an automatic, though). I've had it 7 years, maybe? and other that oil changes, I have need to replace the battery (once), the tires (once, but I believe I bought it with the factory tires) and the brakes. The brakes were pricey but it's possible I let it go a bit too long. Other than those things, zero problems.

The headroom is fairly spacious (he didn't drive it, but someone your height has ridden in it a couple of times) but you may want to try it. It's smaller than the Fit, though. A 2021 is 143″ L x 63″ W x 58-59″ H vs. the Fit's 161-162″ L x 67″ W x 60″ H. With the back seats down, the capacity is 27.2 ft³ vs. the Fit's 52.7 ft³ so ... that may be too small for what you're looking for, depending on how much you haul stuff around (I have, though, filled it up with quite a bit of stuff).

I still think it might be worth looking into, though. I really enjoy mine but I wanted a small car that was cute. It's just me in it about 99% of the time, though.
posted by edencosmic at 2:10 PM on August 16, 2023

I see that you want a manual transmission. I haaaate automatics (seriously? people drive those awful things?!) and as such I drove manuals exclusively for 25 years before I started driving electric vehicles. EVs give you all of the control and joy of a manual, but even better. You get instant acceleration in response to throttle input, no waiting for a downshift, quicker than manual+gas actually. You get more responsive braking because you have regen braking start when you lift off the accelerator, so you are more agile in stop-and-go driving than even a manual -- it feels like really good engine braking.

Driving dynamics aside, EVs are cheaper to operate than gas -- their operating cost is basically equivalent to $1/gallon gas, and that electricity price is stable over decades. EVs have simpler drivetrains and have lower maintenance costs. In 2023, public charging is everywhere, and roadtrips are no problem if you just plan ahead for a few minutes. I have driven many 500+ mile roadtrips over the years in my EVs, and 2019 was the tipping point for EV roadtrips.

Great used EVs include the Chevy Volt (a hatchback that is deceptively roomy in the back) and the BMW i3 (a smaller, sporty hatchback with two versions). Both of those actually have a gas engine too for roadtrips so you don't even need to worry about charging, although again it's 2023 and public charging isn't a problem anymore. The pages I link to are writeups that get into the weeds of buying those cars used (scroll down), especially the subtle differences between model years and options. Tall people fit into both no problem.

Used EVs now get a $4000 tax credit from the feds, so you can knock that much off the price of any such cars you see for sale. As such, the above two cars can be had for under $10k, and that's typically for a car that's not that many years old.
posted by intermod at 2:24 PM on August 16, 2023 [3 favorites]

Mr Epigrams is 6'4" and his height is in the torso (I am 5'8" and he and I are the same inseam). We're going to need to replace our beloved Beetle sometime in the next couple of years and the Mini is high on our list after a test drive.

Since you're going used, you may want to consider a Beetle, which has a surprising amount of head room for a car of its size. The more recent models have less than the mid 2000s model but Mr Epigrams still finds our Beetle easy to drive. (Beetles are currently not being made so new ones are not available. We think VW may be drawing up a hybrid or EV Beetle for the next generation.) Both of our Beetles have been automatic because I can't drive stick, but I'm pretty sure they also made manual transmission.
posted by gentlyepigrams at 2:25 PM on August 16, 2023

My husband is 6'9" and he has driven a Mini in the past and said it was a comfortable fit. He can currently drive my VW Golf R manual and drove my VW GTI manual with no problem. My Yaris was a bit lightweight for him, but he could drive it comfortably.

The new Subaru WRX doesn't fit him, nor does the Nissan Z, or any of the Chevy/Ford/Dodge revamped muscle cars (yay!)

I drove my GTI fairly hard for ten years and it's still going strong with a friend of ours. VWs can be hit or miss but if the car made it through the first few years with minimal repairs, you're looking at at least 7 years before little things start breaking and a full 10 before the big bits go.
posted by teleri025 at 2:27 PM on August 16, 2023 [1 favorite]

Best answer: I'm 6'1" and had a regular Cooper S, it's amazing how much will fit in one.

That being said, I would never buy a used Mini. Mine made it to ~75K miles and was starting to get really expensive to maintain. My mechanic, who has himself owned Mini's, said to me "I can't in good conscience keep taking your money unless you're really OK with this. Everyone loves their Mini until they hate it, and you're about to enter the latter category".
posted by Runes at 3:59 PM on August 16, 2023 [3 favorites]

it was reliable, had plenty of headroom (I'm ~6'3"), enough cargo space, fun to drive and easy to park.

My 2005 Scion xB is all those things (well, it's not "fun" but it's fine), and my kid is taller than you and can fit in it perfectly well. It's old but I still see plenty of them on the road, and they're cheap as heck. My only warning is that the handle on the rear hatch comes off easily; you see them held on with duct tape all the time. (There was a recall by Toyota to repair that but not everyone got it done, or got it done properly.)
posted by The corpse in the library at 5:53 PM on August 16, 2023 [1 favorite]

Best answer: My last car was an out of warranty and well maintained MINI and my friend's car is a Honda Fit.

The MINI, starting at year five, seemed to generate one surprise $1000-$1500 repair per year (water pump, timing chain).

The Fit had no issues.

If your standard for reliability is the Fit, you're gonna be sad.
posted by zippy at 6:58 PM on August 16, 2023 [4 favorites]

The Mazda 3 is a superb drivers car that is available used with a stick shift. Definitely worth a look.
posted by jcworth at 8:11 PM on August 16, 2023 [3 favorites]

2017 Mini Cooper S (automatic transmission) owner here. We bought the car in 2020, and we don't drive it much - we bought it with 24K miles on it and we just turned it over to 28k - but it hasn't given us any trouble until this week, when the right taillight assembly stopped working. Otherwise, the car has been effortless to own.

The one thing I will say is that, at 6' 2", the car doesn't feel cramped at all. I generally have the driver's seat all the way down, but not all the way back, and I have plenty of headroom - and even at my height, having the seat slid all the way back is a reach to get to the pedals.

The one issue I have is that the roofline at the windshield is wide enough that, at my height, I have to lean down to see traffic lights when I'm the first car at an intersection at a red light. It's only a problem when I'm at the front, though; one car back from the front or more, and it's totally fine.

Overall, though, we really like the car, and - caveat of light driving aside - it's never been a minute's trouble up to this point.
posted by pdb at 9:30 PM on August 16, 2023

Another vote for a Mazda 3!!!! We have one of those and (unicorn) a manual Mazda 6. While the 6 is much more luxurious, there is something very satisfying about driving the 3 -- give it a test drive!
posted by Mrs. Rattery at 4:44 AM on August 17, 2023 [1 favorite]

Mazda has offered transmissions with manual shifting meaning you choose the gear, and the car does the shifting, no clutch or footwork required. I see they are now offering paddle shifting so you can shift with two hands on the wheel.

I never used it enough to stop up-shifting when I should be down-shifting, but it works perfectly. I suspect the gear ratios are carefully chosen for max milelage on the government tests, and.not what a human driver would want.
posted by SemiSalt at 5:13 AM on August 17, 2023

Things I liked about my Fit: it was reliable, had plenty of headroom (I'm ~6'3"), enough cargo space...

Being, basically, a BMW, Mini reliability can vary, but it should be pretty good, though not Honda levels of reliability. But, if anything does need worked on, the cost is going to be much higher than it might be on something like a Fit.

At 6’3” you’re going to feel cramped in a Mini. Mini’s are also sit lower, so you’re going to deal with getting in/out.

Nothing compares to the Fit’s TARDIS-like ability to swallow any size load to need to haul, of course, but the Mini just doesn't come close. My old VW Golf had more than adequate hauling space, and there are used models out there with manuals, but I hesitate to recommend a VW, from a reliability and cost-to-repair standpoint.

I really like the Mazda 3 suggestions others have made.

Your requirement for a manual transmission is going to really limit your choices, I’m afraid.
posted by Thorzdad at 5:16 AM on August 17, 2023 [2 favorites]

Response by poster: Thanks everybody! I really appreciate all the input. A 2011 Fit Sport with 44K miles, a manual transmission, and a clean CarFax popped up last night, so I bought it.
posted by donpardo at 6:47 AM on August 17, 2023 [9 favorites]

A 2011 Fit Sport with 44K miles, a manual transmission, and a clean CarFax popped up last night, so I bought it.

Awesome! That’s a great find. Would it be too pushy to ask what you paid (or, y’now, a ballpark?) 44k on a 2011 is practically factory fresh.

I honestly had no idea Fits came with manuals. Our 2010 is an automatic.
posted by Thorzdad at 12:40 PM on August 17, 2023

The one issue I have is that the roofline at the windshield is wide enough that, at my height, I have to lean down to see traffic lights when I'm the first car at an intersection at a red light. It's only a problem when I'm at the front, though; one car back from the front or more, and it's totally fine.

There are a a couple of vendors who make a Fresnel lens that fits across the top of the windshield that solve this problem. I think I had the first version on mine.
posted by Runes at 5:33 PM on August 17, 2023 [1 favorite]

Response by poster: @thorzdad check your memail
posted by donpardo at 7:04 AM on August 18, 2023