Wife Doesn't Like Driving the 172

[skinner]

We both have cars at the moment, but should really consolidate, as she did less than 1000 miles last year.

We can't keep her car as it is too small, but she hates driving mine. Actually it's worse than that, she refuses to drive it!

Test drove a Swift Sport and a Cooper S earlier, and was pretty disappointed with both.

The Swift is pure poverty with its cheap plastics and hessian sack seats. It doesn't even have string on the parcel shelf.

The Cooper S had a nice gear change, but seemed pretty slow, maybe it was a bad one. It had only done 14,000 miles in 5 years. Hold their value though, so is a sensible choice, and she liked driving it. Problem is can I ever get used to the speedo?

Any ideas? Other than divorce....

 

[Vern]

Divorce it is mate.......

or perhaps a pushbike

 

[Fletcher]

What doesn't she like about the 172, is it the heavy clutch by any chance?

 

[The Seer]

Convince her she'll get used to it. In fact what is there not to get used too?

 

[DrR]

Why does she not like it?

 

[bmh.01]

As far as i'm concerned thats probably a blessing in disguise.

 

[MRBILLYUK]

A 1000 miles a year . Get her a fuckin bus pass mate and keep the 172 . Who said blokes can't compromise

 

[MarcC]

Look for a Cooper S with the chrono pack option, this moves the speedo to on top of the steering wheel with the rev counter. My missus has it on her 04' One.

 

[bmh.01]

Look for a Cooper S with the chrono pack option, this moves the speedo to on top of the steering wheel with the rev counter. My missus has it on her 04' One.

Thats how it should have been in the first place imo. Don't see many with it spec'd though.

 

[skinner]

Got it in one. Heavy clutch is number one on the dislike list.

She doesn't like "the way it is just stop and go" either, nor the overly sharp brakes. In fact she hates pretty much all of it.

She drives me home from the pub though, so she does need a car.

Chrono pack sounds good. With the std one is it possible to get the speed to display in the little LCD at the bottom of the rev counter?

 

[clairemae]

eashh if my boyfriend had one i'd drive it more than him.

 

[Dafthead]

CooperS will feel slower, in reality there's not much in it, this is purely due to the very linear power delivery of a supercharged unit, there's no "kick" like the cam change on a renault 172/182 engine

or like on vtec when it kicks in "yo"

 

[stinkee]

eashh if my boyfriend had one i'd drive it more than him.

My BF does and i do lol:approve:

 

[FlameR]

 

[Hutchie]

the cooper s should be real quick, but like said above they dont kick into power, its just there all the way through, put your foot down and 100mph+ will be showing on the speedo in no time at all, but it only feels like your doing 55mph

 

[rclio2006]

We both have cars at the moment, but should really consolidate, as she did less than 1000 miles last year.

We can't keep her car as it is too small, but she hates driving mine. Actually it's worse than that, she refuses to drive it!

Test drove a Swift Sport and a Cooper S earlier, and was pretty disappointed with both.

The Swift is pure poverty with its cheap plastics and hessian sack seats. It doesn't even have string on the parcel shelf.

The Cooper S had a nice gear change, but seemed pretty slow, maybe it was a bad one. It had only done 14,000 miles in 5 years. Hold their value though, so is a sensible choice, and she liked driving it. Problem is can I ever get used to the speedo?

Any ideas? Other than divorce....

the swift sports interior is far superior to that of the 172...(in terms of build quality and comfort)...

 

[myleS16]

Thats strange that!, my missus loves driving my 182, she doesnt want me to trade it in for a r26 later this year. Driving a "fast" car didnt bother her before but she likes to have the power now and couldnt go back to somthing like a 1.4 fiesta for example.

 

[nath17t]

at the risk of coming under fire i think the driving position is sh1t and thay are very boggy in low revs:rasp:

 

[myleS16]

at the risk of coming under fire i think the driving position is sh1t and thay are very boggy in low revs:rasp:

The driving postion isnt very good, I wouldnt say that they are boggy though?.:S

 

[nath17t]

at the risk of coming under fire i think the driving position is sh1t and thay are very boggy in low revs:rasp:

The driving postion isnt very good, I wouldnt say that they are boggy though?.:S

i find them not very nice to drive at low speeds

 

[Chally]

My Girlfriend hates the clutch in mine too and she hates the Responsiveness of the accelerator. I gave her the car to drive last week and she says she is getting used to it now....

 

[daviebroon]

same here really... my gf hates driving my car.

Only cos she says she feels it is unsafe. She says it slides around a lot more than her Puma. What she doesnt realise is she is taking corners 15-20mph faster in the cup than she does in the Puma

 

[Martin_172]

my 16yr old mrs loves driving mine haha!

mum hates it though "it feels to powerfull" shes scared of it at junctions lol says you just touch the accelerator and it shoots off, wish it felt like that to me feels slow now im used to it lol

 

[MarcC]

Chrono pack sounds good. With the std one is it possible to get the speed to display in the little LCD at the bottom of the rev counter?

Yes but iirc (and my memory aint great) this was only possible with 54 and onwards, i.e. my missus's 04 can't do it, you get to it by pressing the little button on the top of the left stalk. Hers is a cabriolet so i'm not sure if the digital output has different functionality on the hard tops. However i distinctly remember the new turbo S we test drove could, but she didn't buy it because it's impossible to move the speedo on the new Turbo model! and it wasn't alot different to her current one for £13k more!

Have you looked over at the Mini Forum i'd bet you'll find the answers you need there :d

 

[karlos100]

My wife hates mine too and she aint driven it yet either.when we got together she said she wasnt the jealous type.................hmmm yea ok.

 

[2 live]

The driving postion isnt very good, I wouldnt say that they are boggy though?.:S

i find them not very nice to drive at low speeds

i find them not very nice to drive at all tbh. a step backwards from reno

 

[ibrahim7]

We both have cars at the moment, but should really consolidate, as she did less than 1000 miles last year.

We can't keep her car as it is too small, but she hates driving mine. Actually it's worse than that, she refuses to drive it!

Test drove a Swift Sport and a Cooper S earlier, and was pretty disappointed with both.

The Swift is pure poverty with its cheap plastics and hessian sack seats. It doesn't even have string on the parcel shelf.

The Cooper S had a nice gear change, but seemed pretty slow, maybe it was a bad one. It had only done 14,000 miles in 5 years. Hold their value though, so is a sensible choice, and she liked driving it. Problem is can I ever get used to the speedo?

Any ideas? Other than divorce....

 

[ibrahim7]

you have to rev the nuts of them to get the best from them,drove moregos demonstrator cooper s (new shape) which is in evo magazine,new ones are alot better, and quite quick.tell the wife its you or the car? just kidding.good luck

 

[Richyy182]

haha my girlfriend drove mine a few weeks back and she said why is the clutch so hard. I hadn't really realised.

 

[Spark]

less than 1000 miles a year. sure its cost worthy getting a car? Taxis work out roughly a quid a mile. I reckon you could easily spend that on maintenance/tax and depreciation on a car. keep the car and tell her to get friendly with the local taxi drivers

 

[Iridium]

Look for a Cooper S with the chrono pack option, this moves the speedo to on top of the steering wheel with the rev counter. My missus has it on her 04' One.

Thats how it should have been in the first place imo. Don't see many with it spec'd though.

Yea you need the sat nav to get that (presume that's the chrono pack?) which was a rather heavy coin option. Perhaps find a JCW one? When I drove my mates I have to say I was quite unimpressed - the thing that killed it for been nippy was the insanely long first gear - 45mph in 1st ffs! Just took all the thrill out of setting off quickly heh.

Dan


Edit - Unimpressed is harsh, underwhelmed would be better. It was a nice car, the kinda thing I'd buy for my mum, quick enough to not be annoying but not a fast car (I'm aware of the paper figures but it didn't feel fast) - well made and the seats were ok. Was a bit cramped mind.

 

[fuel_slut]

My Mrs loves driving mine even thou she says the clutch is heavy. I guess if she drove it all the time she might complain more, but she only drives it the odd time.

She said she loves the loud sound the engine makes lol. I think she just like the feel of my gear stick

I must admit I dont like driving in slow traffic the heavy clutch gets real heavy after a while of stop starting.

 

[White16valver]

Show her the door

 

[Pete.]

My missus won't drive mine either, something to do with being frightened of scratching it as I spend so much time cleaning it. Also doesn't like the noise it makes when it gets loud. She says that the steering is too heavy and the clutch is too heavy for her. This coming from someone who can't park their Metro as it hasn't got power steering!

I'm sure that she would drive the Clio if forced as she used to drive my Escort GTi and Focus 2.0. She hated my Megane CC though as it was too big and she couldn't see to reverse it.

 

[Spark]

She hated my Megane CC though as it was too big and she couldn't see to reverse it.

typical excuse lol

could easly have edited that to somethin nasty haha

 

[MarcC]

Thats how it should have been in the first place imo. Don't see many with it spec'd though.

Yea you need the sat nav to get that (presume that's the chrono pack?) which was a rather heavy coin option. Perhaps find a JCW one?

No you don't have to spec the sat nav, as my missus hasn't got Sat Nav in hers but she does have the Pepper pack so that might be a qualifing option.

 

[Iridium]

Ah right I thought you did - what do you have in the centre then where the speedo would be if it's not the Nav?

Dan

 

[Damski]

its oil pressure, oil temp and petrol. On a side note I test drove a new golf GTI DSG today and they fly. Try a test ride in one of them very recommended

 

[Ex-User (19928)]

With the std one is it possible to get the speed to display in the little LCD at the bottom of the rev counter?

Yep it does.

 

[Ex-User (19928)]

Chrono pack sounds good. With the std one is it possible to get the speed to display in the little LCD at the bottom of the rev counter?

Yes but iirc (and my memory aint great) this was only possible with 54 and onwards, i.e. my missus's 04 can't do it, you get to it by pressing the little button on the top of the left stalk. Hers is a cabriolet so i'm not sure if the digital output has different functionality on the hard tops. However i distinctly remember the new turbo S we test drove could, but she didn't buy it because it's impossible to move the speedo on the new Turbo model! and it wasn't alot different to her current one for £13k more!

Have you looked over at the Mini Forum i'd bet you'll find the answers you need there :d

It's done so on all the Coopers I've been in, even an 04 plate One D.