Mini Cooper S FTW......My CEO is on her second one......Great car and hella fun to drive. As stated above, I wouldn't load it up due to the price territory you'll enter. And no you won't get many discounts now due to gas prices and Mini resale value is really good.......good luck........................Phil

Thank you all for your opinion. I have passed the info to my wife, she has to make the ultimate decision since she will be the one driving it. I'm happy with my 2011 X5. :)

The mini cooper has been around for a while, so it's due for a new update all around. However the 1 Series has just come out. So in essentially, you are buying a newer car, and there are less of them on Ebay, craigslist etc... When you go to sell it a few years down the line, you'll get more money for your car, and of course the name BMW never hurts vs MINI.

The resale value is much better on the Mini Cooper and those that know, know it's a BMW product..............Phil

1 series is older than the current Mini. It is also due to be replaced in 2012, this is the last year for the current model.

BMW E82 - (2007–2011) 1 Series Coupe
BMW MINI (2001-2011) Coupe / Convertible

The Mini...
 

I have driven both and have had a Cooper S Club.....dependable and always funny to drive......besides if you don't like it in 2 years everyone will still want to buy it from you.....

The Mini was LCI in 2007 for MY2008......Supercharger to Turbo was one of the changes......Phil

1 series came out in 2004, and is based on the E46 platform, which is even older. It just came to North America in 2007, and got the coupe body style. The standard 7 year cycle is up in 2011, which is why this is the last year for it.

When the Mini was redesigned for the 2007 model year (R56 replaced R50), there were lots of changes. It was more than an LCI, as there was a new platform. The turbo was mentioned above, but I think the use of the Prince engine (joint BMW/Peugeot/Citroen) instead of the earlier Tritec engine (Chrysler Brazil) was a pretty significant change as well. The R50 was designed by Rover as much as by BMW. The R56 is a product of BMW engineering. They just kept a lot of the styling cues.

Correct; the MINI R56 was all-new in 2007. The R56 just received its LCI treatment (MY2011) with DI motors, revised interior, revised front/rear fascia, updated electronics/infotainment systems, new colors; the usual.

2011 is indeed the last year for the current 1-series.