So I'm not new to cars or performance cars as we have a few M3's and other performance cars in our stable. My thing is even though we drove the JCW and other Mini's we never gave it much thought in terms of buying one (just too cute for us)....

Fast forward about 10 years and recently my friend bought one and let me drive it around town. I guess age changes us as now I have a new found respect for the car as it drives a lot like our pair of s2000's but more practical. Anyways long story short, the car is not for me but I'm thinking about buying one for my dad who is now retired.

He likes smaller fuel efficient cars and we were shocked to hear the regular model gets almost 40mpg (almost as good as my wife's CT200h)

I did some reading and heard most people do not recommend buying the Mini out of warranty, is it really that bad with the clogging and timing belt issues? :(

What years do you recommend is ideal for a used Mini? We probably need an Auto for my dad, so does that rule out the GP or JCW models?

Color and owner maintenance history is very important for us. We prefer a white or yellow car with some stripes, color accented roof, etc. Mods are ok if well done professionally such as wheels, exhaust, etc.

Budget wise I'd like to stay around $10k

thanks for all the advice and hope to get out to see some nicely modded Mini's someday. Who's got some of the cooler modded cars out here that you can link me to? We'd like to do some HW before pulling the trigger on one for my dad.


cheers@!

 

For a budget of 10k, you're probably looking at an R53, (first-generation MINI), from the 2002 to 2006 era, if you want the higher-performance S model.

I just Kelley Blue-booked my 2004 R53, with 70k miles, and in "good" condition. Private sale, it's going for about 10k, trade-in value is around 8k, to give you some idea.

A JCW of any year may be hard to come by for 10k...

JCW GP's would never be as low as 10k, and they're are all manual tranny's.