Hi all -

What a wealth of info

Will hopefully join most of you in Mini ownership...looking for an 06 base Cooper, hopefully with a bit of warranty left.

Appears to be quite a few Mini's out there on the market, so suspect if I'm patient all will work out. This car is for fun, so no rush.

thanks in advance for the hospitality & knowledge sharing!

 

Hi Stumpie.

Take your time, do your research. I purchased my lil guy in Nov. after spending about 4 months looking for one. I suggest Yahoo Auto, and Auto Trader. I made offers on 4 MINI's before finally purchasing mine. Patience will pay off. I travelled 1,300 mile to pick him up, that was just a Southwest Airline ticket of $59. Good luck, and I hope we see your postings as an owner soon.

 

Good luck with your search. These are really fun cars to drive and you will enjoy motoring when you get your MINI!

 

Yes, definitely be patient. I just picked up my 2007 Mini a few weeks ago. Started looking at it in November and the price dropped 5 grand from the time I started looking at it til the day I bought it. As the saying goes: Patience is a virtue. And it can save you a lot of dough.

 

Good luck in your search, I'm sure you will find what you are looking for.

 

Good luck with the search and welcome to the wonderful world of MINIs and NAM!

 

The used car market favors buyers right now so definitely be patient. There's also a great buyers guide on www.motoringfile.com

 

I'm sure you will find a great car, but try taking to a trusted mechanic and having inspected, preferrably before you sign the papers. if you can take it to the local dealer they can run the vin and print the history, ex. if it has been in 7 times for overheating, you should prob. move on. good luck, best wishes.

 

You've sure come to the right place!
Read NAM daily and your search will become even more exciting.
Good luck in your search and don't settle until you find what you're looking for.
When you do... I guarantee... you're gonna love it!

 

Heading out today to check out one ... an 08, less than 10k miles for $16K....that baby should have a bit of warranty left on it...will advise.

 

Have a target mini in my sights to look at this week...19K miles, '06, with warranty left thru 12/10 of this year.
Question: would you nevertheless make the effort to have such a beast completely checked out by an indy or dealer shop?
It's about 50 miles from my home, am not sure of shops in area (altho can probably find one), and am thinking the low miles and warranty factors mitigate risk considerably.

Thoughts?

 

If you will be getting a full warranty with the car, the only reason to have it checked out independently would be to negotiate the price down if something was picked up by the inspection.

 

i agree the full warranty is a great thing to have, and the independent wants to earn your business so likely he'll give you an honest unbiast opinion of the condition. but if the seller has been going to one dealer for his maintenance plan. (3yr, 36k). you can provide the dealer with the last seven of the vin, from that they can provide a warr. repair history. a long list of unscheduled maintenance visits to the dealer may indicate an underlying problem.