Your opinion Miata or Mini?

I need to replace my daily commuter. (99 Civic) those two cars are finally coming into my price ranges. I live in southern Ontario Canada. the decent miatas are going for around $4k cheaper than that are mostly rusty parts cars. and Mini are around the same. what does the mob say?

There's one person at Flyin' Miata that drives a MINI every day, it's definitely more practical. But the Miata would be a lot more fun in the winter.

I'd recommend you drive both and see which you like better.

Based on reliability and parts cost the Miata is the only option.

Rwd vs fwd. Hatch vs convertible. What do you like better?

Between the two I would go Miata for the same reasons wearymicrobe mentioned but I'm a wuss when it comes to maintenance stuff like that.

I had a Miata for about 3 years and Keith is right, they are super fun in the snow. I just live down the road from you near Hamilton so our winter conditions would be the same. Rarely was the snow a problem for a Miata shod with a good set of snow tires.

For me this would come down to a decision based on what my needs are. When I owned the Miata it was just my wife and I and we had another car. Now with 2 kids it's hard to justify a 2 seater. How badly do you need the extra storage and a back seat. If not having those things is going to be a constant aggravation I think the answer has to be Mini. If they aren't a concern I would suggest taking advantage of that fact and going with the "less practical" Miata now and you can always change to something more practical later.

Miata is way cheaper to own.

Miata cheaper, Mini more practical and faster probably if its an S

The Mini is roomier and is fun to drive but suffers from BMW engineering and repair procedures. Mine has been reasonably reliable. I've owned it since new but when something does fail it's expensive - like front lower control arms for example.

The Miata is just plain reliable and fun but not very roomy.

Why not a Mazda3 instead?

I DDed a Miata for a couple of years year round. With dedicated snow tires it was a blast. I was lucky as those two winters were relatively mild here in Michigan with out heavy snows. The last couple of years here would not have worked. Above 5-6 inches you just don't have the clearance although the same can likely be said of the Mini. Of course they do clear the roads fairly quickly but I would have missed a few days of work this year if I still drove it in winter. As I said, those were fun winters in the Miata.........now it rests in the garage during winter in golden slumber waiting for spring to arrive.

I've had both as DDs. To me, the Mini is as close to a FWD 4 seat Miata as you can get. But you have to decide what you like better. Coupe vs 'vert, 2 seat vs 4, FWD vs RWD

A Mini has BMW parts costs, and it's packed so tightly that the whole car has to come apart to fix anything that's not on the surface of the engine bay. I'd be scared to own a car like that.

I have one of each, a '99 Miata and an '03 CooperS. For rapid transport the MINI wins, summer or winter. The points about the costs are valid and favour the Miata. I've done nothing more than consumables on the Miata since I bought it in 2006.The MINI has fried a power steering wire harness,eaten a supercharger,needed front control arm bushings ,needed a new exhaust system and is showing a bit of mushrooming in the front strut towers. The Miata has rusted through the rocker area and the front frame rails ,a problem with the NBs but not the NAs.
If these were the only two choices and I had to pick one I'd take the MINI, just because it's a better all round vehicle. BUT, there's nothing like cruising a country road in June with the top down on the Miata.
You're on your own. Update us once you've made your choice.

I just looked at your profile to see where you live.I lived in Tillsonburg for 17 years. If you're regularly commuting on the 401, or driving wind blown county roads in winter I'd lean to the MINI.

If you're going to work on it yourself, or are contemplating vehicles 10 years old ,or more I'd take the Miata. Easier and cheaper parts supply, easier to work on,and will be for a lot longer than the MINI. My big fear with the MINI is if the electronics start to act up.

Just be aware that, realistically, both are 2 seat cars unless you're a very small. I borrowed a Mini for the day before I bought my Miata. I'm about 6'2" and with the front seats were I could drive the car, my son (10 years old at the time) wasn't even comfortable in the back. If I moved the seat back where I was comfortable, it was nearly touching the front of the rear seat. As for a Miata, while I think its a great DD, I wouldn't recommend one as an only car. There just isn't enough trunk/storage/trash hauling capacity in one. I've never winter driven mine, so I can't advise on that. The Mini I borrowed was TERRIBLE in the snow, but it had UHP all seasons, so it clearly wasn't prepared for the weather. Both are great handling cars, so that really comes down to a FWD/RWD preference.

I know this is an option A or option B question but, because this is GRM, I'm going to propose option C. I think hatchbacks are incredibly practical and fun cars as DD's. I'd say look at a comparably priced Civic SI or Focus SVT hatch. Both may be a quarter/half-step back in performance, but will have at least a usable back seat and should be WAY cheaper to own. I'd be afraid a $4K Mini was hiding a lot of differed maintenance.

I run both cars year round. That means snow tires for winter for all my vehicles. I'd like to try a Miata with a limited slip to see if I'd change my opinion of which is the better winter car. In my MINI I leave the rear seats down ALL the time. It's a pretend back seat, as Kazoospec indicates. I even went as far as putting a modified Saab trunk floor in mine to create a level load floor. It makes it easier to throw my hockey bag or golf clubs in. Neither bag fits in the Miata with the top up.
As Kazoospec said, a larger hatchback might make more sense. I have to put my hockey sticks in the MINI on the diagonal because the load floor is so short.The blades end up between the passenger seat and door and are marking the door panel.It's a little thing,but a bit of a nuisance.

^^ What he said. ^^

I own both. I prefer the seating position and driving experience of the S.

But I wouldn't want either as an only car daily driver.

The Miata looses on space and storage.

The MINI looses on complexity, reliability, and maintenance costs.

I've actually just driven another NA Miata and an R53 Cooper S back to back yesterday. Nonewithstanding the fact that both were overdescribed sheds, the Cooper S is definitely faster and more practical. For a year-round car I'd be tempted to get a Cooper S if I were willing to put up with the maintenance costs.

My 90 Miata did year round duty for 10 years. A lot of that wa on the 401 commuting to Milton from London.

The only issue was visibility in the "ground haze" region caused by truck tire spray. I made it home many a time when the 401 median was packed full of pick-up trucks.

Never met a FWD that was any fun to work on; way too much stuff jammed into the space. The Miata is pretty simple to get at anything. Good amount of used stuff on Kajiji.

Miata. Because cheap and easy. Mini doesn't seem worth the hassle to me.

There's more to life than "because cheap" .

Probably easier to find a Miata that hasn't been winter driven than the Mini. Many people put them up in the winter. I see a few of them driven all winter in Anchorage though. Why are these two the only cars on the radar?

SVT Focus are fun and cheap. Integras are thrashed, but there are other choices. Why not buy one from away?

Unfortunately, the value of used rust belt cars seems to be about the same as non rust belt cars, until they are about to come apart.

I prefer Miata, which is why I have one. Not a big fan of MINIs.

I would have to say Miata. I like the mini. I wish the mini had any resemblance of reliability. I would love to have a mini but I just can't see providing the care and feeding that a mini requires. Not for a car in that pricing bracket.

The only problems I ever had with my 3 miata's were my first one would burn oil if I didn't drive it hard enough. The prior owner never exercised the car hard and I think the oil control ring stuck. A good track weekend once a year solved that.

Maybe mine's an anomaly, but I've no issues to speak of in over 3 years of ownership of my '06 R53 MINI. I replaced the thermostat housing recently and did a timing chain tensioner mainly for preventative maintenance, but that's it. Also, just turned 100k miles and have put 40k on it during that time span. It's pretty much been an anvil in terms of reliability. I've owned Miatas that have needed more.

And compared to my 370Z, which has needed a ton of expensive stuff lately, it's been pretty good as well.

I wouldn't have an issue with either a MINI or Miata is what I'm saying.