Hi, my first post...glad to find this place!!

Basically I am looking at two minis...both about the same price.

1. 2006 MCS - 165k. The car looks clean though although it has some imperfection (torn hole on the driver seat leatherette, minor from bumper blemish), sunroof, manual...everything else looks fine.


2. 2003 MC - 118k. Looks even cleaner than the MCS...no visible exterior blemish, manual, sunroof, shifts slightly harder of the two...again everything looks fine.

First of all, is there anything to pay particular attention to for these two year model? any part that commonly fails?

The 2006 cooper S, has 3 spoke steering wheel but no control button on it at all (zilch, nada). Is this normal? I thought at least it should have horn or cruise control...

The ride is hard...and i do notice a bit of rattles...is this normal? My 98 Honda rattles less despite being older.

Can I check the Vin number and know what package the car has got originally? These cars are sold by wholesaler.

Both sells for about the same...which would you go for?

 

IMO, keep looking...
Too many miles on the s....it is basicly VERY close to the end of its life....
The non-s....first make sure it is a stick...the CVT is short lived and $$$$ to fix...
The 5 speed used till 2005 (a midlands unit) had issues...so listen for noises...
The hard ride means the struts are dead....the mini rides firm...not hard.

 

Anyone else?

 

Keep looking, I waited a year a year to find one in my price range that was In decent shape. Usually you will find even more problems after purchase so try to find a pretty clean one. Look for an 05-06 with under 120k, as for steering wheel buttons the 05-06s don't have horn buttons and some have no buttons at all.

 

forgot about the price: $6000 for the S, $5800 for the "Justa".

Both cars look clean despite the high mileage. What do you guys think?

 

I sell aftermarket parts and the biggest let down I have to give to people is that tuners don't mess with the base models. They make fewer parts because of the intended purpose of the car. The S model is more fun for tuners to tinker with because of the results that come from a boosted engine.

I say keep looking, go for the S and try to get one with lower miles or budget for a freshen up on the motor.

 

MotoringFile - MINI R50/R53 Buyers Guide

BMW VIN Decoder

 

I would be curious what has been replaced. I know the power steering lines have a tendency to leak, also the crankshaft pulley/harmonic balancer go out early on sometimes and it seems like the supercharger would be nearing its end of life on the S. I'm not here to debate the end of life on these cars as some have had great success, others not so much. My cooper is at 90k and has been super solid. I plan on driving him forever. They are not a car you can skip maintenance and expect to drive it forever though.

 

wholesaler....they buy and sell. they wouldn't know the maintenance history of the car.

 

Both those cars are at least 2K high on their prices. FYI that wholesaler probably got each car at or less than 2K. I am all for giving someone a profit but that's a heck of a markup.

As zippy has already said mileage is way too high. You are looking at a massive amount of maintenance items at that mileage. Read the motoring file article to start and move on.

See kbb and also edmunds trade in value for fair to good. Add about $500 and that's probably about what the wholesaler paid.

If you are in this for a rebuild project - fine - but know that going in that you are going to be turning every bolt.

Zippy - your point on end of life...would you say that extends out beyond motor and transmission or are you saying shell would be shot too at that point incl all rolling hardware...brakes etc.

 

So each car should only be selling for $4k? Both cars are under KBB value especially if you factor in the sunroof.

I looked at the exterior of the car, opened the hood to see the engine bay...nothing major jumped out at me. Of course, if I decide to pursuit further I will let my mechanic have the final say.

 

Make sure your mechanic is familiar with MINIs -- there are a lot of quirks to these cars that the run of the mill mechanic is not going to notice. LCAs, upper strut mounts,

Use Edmunds not KBB and pay only private party. As a wholesaler you are not getting any of the benefits of a dealer so why pay dealer pricing.

I don't know what region you are in or anything about these cars -- but if he can't tell you that the maintenance has been done you should always assume that it needs all the maintenance and subtract those costs from the price of the car -- LCAs ($800 dollars), Clutch ($1,200), Brakes on all 4 ($900), Power Steering Pump ($1,200), Upper Strut Mounts ($200 installed), Shocks/Struts - $300 in parts.

The S model is beyond the extended warranty mileage limit on the Power Steering pump so DEFINITELY do not get that one.

You can see how I very quickly have gotten to $4k. The trade in value for a car in good con