Hello Everyone! My name's Sanjay and I'm actually looking into buying a Mini. It really started awhile back but my actual dream car to get was a Subaru Impreza (which I own and love now) but I need to put the car aside for some serious work and looking to pick up a reliable fun daily driver - Loved Minis since Italian job and I've always loved small cars - would love to pick up one newer than 06. Any tips/advise for a new buyer? Looking for a mini under 100k, so anything I should look out for? Thanks beforehand!

 

Hi Sanjay, welcome to NAM. Have you decided if you want an S or a "justa" Cooper? The '02 - '06 S cars are supercharged, the "justa" Coopers are naturally aspirated. From '07 on the Ss are turbocharged. '05-'06 are the end of the first gen and are generally considered to be pretty reliable. If you're willing to consider something slightly older, you might start with the first gen buyer's guide, found here.

There are lots of threads here in the respective first and second gen subforums on reliability, stock problems, etc., that are helpful for prospective owners and worthwhile reading.

When looking at a used MINI, a PPI (pre-purchase inspection) is $150'ish well-spent, especially if you find a car at a non-MINI dealer. In that case, find an experienced, independent shop or call the closest MINI dealer for the PPI. That way you can get an idea of what maintenance might be due soon or other issues not apparent during a walk-around in someone's driveway or on a car lot. You can also call a MINI dealer with the VIN, and they should give you the maintenance history (provided the work was done by MINI). Note: I say "should" because some people have run into stubborn dealers who won't do that, while others will. YMMV.

Good luck, and hope this helps.

 

If you're getting a Non-S your options are pretty wide open. They're all good for the most part. If you're looking for an 'S' and also want reliable, you're best bet will be a '05 or '06 (I know you want '06 or newer but these are the facts ). 05-06 were the best reliable years and will not cost too much these days. If you have extra coin in your pocket you could search for a '11+ 'S' with the N18 engine (be sure to pay attention, there is a build date split with the N14/N18 engines). The N18, so far, has proven more reliable.

If it was me, and I had my Impreza, I would get the 'Justa' (non 'S') and play with the suspension.

 

Wow! Very useful information already! I've only sat in a few S's (turbo and super) and I've loved the feeling. Are the n/a cooper's more high maintenance than the S's? I'm doing my absolute best to not really mod the mini, just make sure it runs for a good while - My Subaru is still going to be a daily come back winter, but something I can thoroughly enjoy in the meantime would be great.

I do remember reading a guide and ultimately deciding to get something newer though due to stock issues. Hm, think I need to do more readings indeed. Through regular maintenance, how many miles can these motors cover (with on-point and on time maintenance done)? My Subie is running on 234k somehow lol

 

Yeah, deeply leaning in that direction there. They are fun cars period, but don't want to overdo myself lol

 

I think there is a 1st Gen 'S' with over 350k now. And there is a 1st Gen 'Justa' with over 500k.

I'm not sure if there are any 2nd Gen's that high yet.

 

Whoa, nice! Yeah, Do see some 05' 06' justa's on sale around me... Maybe I'll hop to them this weekend. You guys rock, thanks for the info! I'm not the type to just buy a car, and when it gets old, move on... I always like to build up again. Love cars!

 

Here is the deal:

Unless you can do your own repairs, then I recommend that you buy a car that is covered under the MINI Next program, or has a warranty.

Avoid -
2007 – 2010 R56 S model (N14 engine)
2009 – 2010 R57 S model convertible (N14 engine)
2008 – 2010 R55S Clubman S (N14 engine)
Also - the JCW used the N14 thru 2012

Lastly, if you’re ever thinking about buying an older MINI and the acronym “CVT” pops up in the conversation...run like H-E Double Hockey Sticks!

 

The only ones I would avoid are the ones with the CVT transmissions. All others your odds of getting a reliable car are the same as buying any used car.

 

I'd agree with this 100%

 

Oh i know about the CVT transmissions... I didn't even know some mini models had them lol

 

So I am looking at 05 - 06 base models, and people are saying they are expensive to maintain. How expensive is expensive? Can anyone give me a rough idea?

 

I do a lot of my own maintenance work so I am NOT paying someone for maintenance. If I DID pay someone to maintain the car, it would ALWAYS be in the shop and it would have cost me many many thousands of dollars.

MINIs are NOT reliable. If you want reliable, go with a boring honda civic. If you want FUN and you are mechanically inclined (or willing to learn) welcome to the club.

 

I see you are from Central Jersey...there is a guy in Bridgewater (a former BMW Dealer Technician) who I just took my wife's X6 to and he VERY reasonable. I was talking to him about my Cooper and he works on them also.

 

Yeah I heard that from my friend's father - I would love to learn and probably a 05' or 06' justa would be a good starting point.

That's good to know! My local shop is a performance guy, but he really works heavily on hondas, acuras, nissans - recently got into Subaru. If I go the MII route, I would try to find someone more familiar with them.

 

If it makes you feel better, I'd never worked on a car before and I've learned a lot from this car. Plan on doing lots of research, buying tools, and God help you if you get the mod bug like I did. Hitting 20PSI is daBOMB!

 

Sanjay,

I hope it all works out for you...the key is to have a plan before you buy of how you're going to deal with the maintenance of your car. Do not rely on your local MINI dealer, because they charge BMW prices.

If you're not going to do your own work then a small shop like cayjoran mentioned can be a good option. We actually have a guy where I live that split-off from the dealer and he has his own repair shop as well.

These cars are a lot of fun to drive and they make weekends better...I wish you only the best!

 

Yeah, don't plan on dealing with stealerships often (never did in my subaru yet)

Thanks for the information and encouragement guys! I actually am going to check out a 2005 Cooper S (auto) with 105k on the clock for a decent price tomorrow. Any tips/pointers or things I should be sure of?

 

So fingers crossed that it wasn't a CVT - It WASN'T! Just sitting behind the wheel had me excited and the wonderful woman selling it gave me the raw input on the car itself with carfax and VIN number - No accidents or anything. She allowed me to test drive it on my own, so I drove on the highway to get a good feel, and I think I am in LOVE. Car has a hair over 105k, transmission and motor run smooth both in drive and manually - rare hard shifts, but definitely driver error, not hardware. Reasonably priced - great car!

2005 Cooper S (6spd auto)





CONS : The steering did get a bit hard when i was back to the small parking lot doing a K turn, might look into the fluid Saturday. The seats are very bucket-y, love that, but I think I need to play with the lumbar support.

One thing I noticed, in this pic,


The water temperature looks kind of high. It did slightly move up from there a bit and stayed there but while we were chatting, the fans kept kicking on.. and would turn off within 3-4 seconds and repeat. So I'll probably check out radiator support and fluid.

Any thoughts/opinions? I'm quite interested.

 

Normal operating temp is about 180 F

Motor on!

 

Interesting... Awesome! Going to go back Saturday for a more thorough look through, but this may be a winner

Thanks for the input JABowders!

 

I agree it's not a CVT. The CVT was in these models:
2002-2006 R50 MINI Cooper Hatchback (the non S)
2005-2008 R52 MINI Cooper Convertibles (the non S)
(the S did not have the CVT)

Enough about that... it's a nice looking car! Good shopping Sanjay!

 

I know! Super excited. I was looking to ask someone if they knew if an 05 S was CVT, glad the S isn't and turned away from non-S models. These cars are amazing - would love to do suspension work on em though. Anyone running non run flats?

 

Sanjay,

A lot of people step away from the run flat tires, first of all because of the outragious cost. The dealer charges around $1,300 or more to install four new run flats. The other reason is for the better ride.

A can of fix-a-flat and a $25 cigarette lighter air pump from Walmart are essential items if you go with non run flat tires.

 

That's what I thought. My friend's father was like... eff these and dropped em. Looking to go the same route there. Standards for rims are 17s right? Bigger than my scubaru -_-

Doing more and more research here, but Saturday may be the deciding day. Getting a loan on it to buy it, but may get a slightly hire loan or going to negotiate a lower price just to run a full tune up on it. It does run beautifully now though, i'll have to get more paperwork from her