Class C - Towing Mini Cooper

OFDPOS wrote:
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What are your thoughts on the mini's ?

the other day we stopped at a Mickey D's and a MC pulled in beside us. Out got a man and wife, and three kids. reminded me of the clown car at the circus when about 40 clowns pop out. :)
I would not want to be in one in an accident. don't bore me with safety ratings. when a bowling ball hits a grape, the grape loses.
bumpy

I know this is about towing a mini , and don't mean to hi-jack the post. We have been looking at mini's and I've been lurking on about 3 Mini talk forums, and alot of what I have read ,it all but scares me away from getting one.
I sure as heck can't afford a new one, read horror stories about the older ones 2003-06's . Stopped by a Mini dealership and test drove an 09 then 12 and of coarse both my Fiancee and myself thought the 12 was awesome , till we looked at the price 29K Holy %$#@ talking with the salesman he said there are 1000's of ways to build one ,base $22k to $50K.
So to get this back on track if we did get one we would tow with the MH .
What are your thoughts on the mini's ?

We unbolted the ramps from the Dolly and stored them in the back of the car. Just block the ramps on wood blocks to load and unload, and the ramps don't hit the body of the car under the doors. That is the only contact point. As stated, the Mini Cooper S John Cooper Works with GP package is the lowest Mini stock.

Yep, we like MINIs. We are on our Sixth MINI. Green, Yellow, Red, Grey, Mellow Yellow, and White. Mellow Yellow is a repeat, we traded it in 09, and discovered it two months ago at a dealer 4 miles from our house. We had to rescue it, and now are towing it again. :B

Oh, and there was no damage from towing either Mini on the dolly. The blue on both bonnets is blue painter's tape. I made a masque to protect the paint from rocks.

I currently tow a 2008 Mini Clubman flat down, but it is a manual. A tow dolly works great for an automatic Mini, I towed my 2005 convertible MCS from VA to NV behind a moving truck.











On anther trip, we towed a Mini GP (lowest and fastest Mini from the factory)on a dolly:



As for the Clubman, I have flat towed it for over 20,000 miles with no problems. The owner's manual has directions for towing it with a rope, I just do it with metal. ;)

Moderator edit to re-size pictures to forum limit of 640px maximum width.

Unfortunately, it appears that you cannot tow automatic Minis 4 down. The owners manual for both 2007 and 2011 say that automatics can only be towed with the front wheels lifted or on a tow truck.

And as you suspect, I doubt you'd be able to use it on a dolly but it's not even because of the back end (although that might be a problem too). We've got a 97 Sebring Convertible (which I'm sure is higher than your Mini) and it barely fits on our Demco KarKaddy (it actually has some damage on the front lower fairing from putting it on / off the dolly and I had to cut away part of the front lower airdam so that it doesn't catch when backing it off the dolly but the car is 15 years old so it's not a big deal).

Automatic - don't think you can tow it four down. Visit http://www.remcoindustries.com/Towing/Store.php and plug in your info.

Also, cars that low to the ground dont like potholes too much. i know the Wynn's had to replace a rim on their smart car because of this.

tafalf wrote:

Also, I keep hearing that I should even be cautious about towing 4 on the ground, as the transmission lubricant isn't disbursed through the system while off and I could burn up the trans?!

IIRC that is the biggest problem with towing an automatic 4 down.being cautious has nothing to do with it, avoid it period. you could add a tranny pump which "might" work and would probably double the weight of the mini.
bumpy

Boy, I really appreciate your replies! I wanna do this right.

My Mini is an Automatic.

Also, I keep hearing that I should even be cautious about towing 4 on the ground, as the transmission lubricant isn't disbursed through the system while off and I could burn up the trans?!