Hello all,
I love this forum already. I've been lurking through it the past day or two. Quite informative stuff. I can get a fair idea of what I might be getting into. I'm a newbie to MINIs but not BMW's. I just don't have one of my own yet. So, I'm scanning dealers/ebay/etc... for something that I want. I'm currently in Knoxville, TN. I'm wondering if any of that track driving stuff exists here? I have no experience at it. Just curious if it exists. I suppose my MINI shopping has inspired me to take a look.


forgot to ask...

What do you all think of purchasing high-mileage MINI's from a dealer? My orig. price range I was considering is $16k-20k. However, I'm game to take a look at anything and evaluate the car as it is. I found a 2008 MINI S with 94k on the odometer. My first thought is to skip it but I'm going to take a look anyways just because the pictures show a very clean car. Whatever is going on under the hood? I'll see. I am picky about service records. I like to get something that's been maintained so I can keep it that way.

 

Test drive one! That's honestly the best way to see if you like it. It's what sold me on my Mini.

I'm a new Mini owner though so I don't have too much advice, but I got mine preowned and while my car doesn't have super high milage (it's a 2012) it has high milage for only being a year old so I was also super picky about warranty, and service records. Basically making sure everything was kosher.

Good luck finding your perfect Mini! I'm sure you'll know it when you see it, just like I did!

 

In your price range there are many lower mileage MINI's out there. Check all the for sale websites and you can find them. For the higher end of your range you could get a very low mileage 2006GP. But go test drive any and all of them 1st. Keep your emotions out if at all possible before you jump on the 1st one you see.

 

Here is a good place to start

https://www.northamericanmotoring.co...e/cars/search/

 

Welcome. Being only 60-70 minutes form the Dragon I would bet a MINI will suit you just fine for a quick run down to Robinsville or Fontana Dam for a Saturday lunch.

As far as a car goes, for $16-20k you should be able to find a '08-'10 no problem, possibly in warranty (4 yr, 50k) or a CPO (6 yr 100k warranty) hard top with a couple of options to suit your taste. Personally I have found that MINIs can be a little finicky with maintenance and repairs but if you search good you can find a car and dealer that will work with you to give you service records that will show religious maintenance, more frequent that what the car recommends and any repairs or parts replaced (timing chain tensioner at a minimum)

 

Welcome aboard and good luck with your search.

 

A MINI is an awesome car to own and super fun to drive. Expand your search to include Craigslist and don't forget to forget to search nearby places like Chattanooga, Tri-Cities, Lexington, and Nashville (maybe even Asheville).

As far as cone courses or road racing, I'm not sure what nearby. Google "MINIS on the Dragon." Its an annual cruise with hundreds of MINIs and a cool event sometime in May.

 

Howdy all,
For the heck of it, because I like to be bottom-line on how much I fork out for a car, I've tested out several MINIs that are over 60k in mileage. I must say, I give up on looking at anything not with a warranty attached to it. I'm hoping that the cars I went to look at were simply examples of poor maintenance because they were outright offensive to drive, much less look at. I drove one today that had 90k+ on it. It was crap. I know better. I've had cars with 100k+ miles that drive pristine. My Touareg is past its warranty yet drives brilliantly. I hope that these example MINIs were crap due to poor maintenance. I've test drove 2009 and up MINIs at the MINI dealer which were superb.

I am concerned about these cars longevity. To be blunt, are they just made cheapo by BMW? Are they supposed to spontaneously fall apart after the warranty is up? I was guessing the MINI was like a down-scaled front-wheel drive version of a 3-series?

I like these cars a lot. You could have blindfolded me during my test drive (uh,maybe not). My judgement is based on how it drives. The MINI does indeed have driving character that I'm not finding from other makes in this price range. Ok, if I didn't need a car that can capably transport a large dog, I'd probably also be looking at a Nissan 350z, any BMW 3-series, and others like it. But, the MINI hatchback gives me the best of both worlds. I get a fun sporty car/hatchback/and dog-mobile. Awesome! It's like miniaturizing my SUV and granting me a manual transmission.

I do question some things on these MINIs

The Sunroof -- That's just too much glass up there, imo. I've read that these things can possibly shatter. I've also read that MINI isn't too fond of backing the warranty on sunroof repairs (like, if the glass breaks). I think it's not recommended to tint them? (no bother, I'll just either cave and get the sunroof or hunt for one w/o it)

The oil changes -- every 10k? Yeah, it's synthetic oil but I'm beginning to think that MINIs need meticulous maintenance. I figure change it every 5k? I'd rather shell out $ for oil than a new transmission.

Rattles irritate me. I've test drove some 50k+ MINIs and there's rattles galore! So, I'm now thinking maybe a lease makes sense. Lease = warranty/fixed cost.

I hate run-flat tires. Good news is that I can just slap regular tires on the car. I've never had a flat on any vehicle I've ever owned anyways.

Maybe I should learn how to change a flat, just in case?
I'm your typical girl on that. Clueless on tire changes. But, these MINIs appeal to me enough that I figure I can learn this stuff. They're fun. But, I do NOT want BMW to nickle and dime me on a car that's not up to snuff.

From reading up on MINIs, I am a bit concerned about quality control issues. Maybe what I've read is true or merely rumor? Like, the early CVT failures? The MINIs are such an awesome concept, but what's ownership reality like beyond the marketing hype?


Things in the MINI I could care less about:

 

[QUOTE= Keep your emotions out if at all possible before you jump on the 1st one you see.[/QUOTE]


Yes, that should be my mantra? Keep emotions out of this. Keep emotions out of this.

Now, wait a second, isn't that the top reason I'm even looking at MINIs? Same for everyone else.

If I kept emotions out of it? Consumer reports would be my bible. I'd buy a bland 4 cyl. auto. Honda Civic with cost-efficient beige boring interior. Naaahhh!

I'm joking around. Certainly taking your advice to make sure that cars I look at get a thorough vetting.

 

Thank you for that daydream visual. I ought to head down there. True, I'm maybe an hour away.

 

An hour from the Dragon? Truly blessed!