Anyone care to break it down for me? I'm trying to set aside money for upcoming repairs and predictable issues on my 03. It occurs to me I maybe should have gone with my original desire-a classic. Every so often someone's selling one around here. Are the classics (thinking 80's, fuel injected) all that rough to maintain after a decent restoration?

 

Depends on how you plan to use the classic.

First question: can you spin a wrench? For all repairs or is there a level beyond which you need to get a mechanic? If you plan to use it as a daily driver, then you really MUST have access to a local shop for the repairs you can't (or won't) do in your garage. Things WILL break, always at the worst possible time, and when they do, you'll need to go on a site like MiniMania or GBCarparts and order supplies, which can take a week or so to arrive. Once you have the supplies, can you swap out a clutch? Work on electricals? Disassemble the front end suspension, swap out a CV boot and re-pack the bearings with grease? Cram yourself under the car to swap out seals? All this and more are things you'll be able to look forward to.

All that said, only a select few shops will generally work on classic Minis, so get that set up ahead of time BEFORE you buy a classic if at all hmanly possible. There's no way I'd have a classic as a daily, primary driver unless I had access to a skilled mechanic a phone call away...

Second question: do you have a backup car? Like I said, something failing in a classic generally means ordering parts and wrenching them yourself. It's bad if your classic is your only way to get to work in such an event.

Honestly, every repair I've done so far has cost me less than $100, with the exception of a full set of new wheels and tires I just put on ($800 - ouchies - but SO worth it), but that's because I did all my own mechanicals, or had friends who knew their way around the stuff I conldn't handle help me out. that's great IF you have that access to helpful people, but again, it's probably not the best scenario if the car will be your daily driver.

Honestly, I think *I* have the best-case scenario: a 2005 MINI for my daily and winter driver, and my classic for sunny days and any time I want to drive something stoopidly fun. if I have to put the classic up, as I do for a few months in the winter, or for a few weeks while I suss out a repair, I have NO stress about it.

 

*sigh*
The best possible scenario for me would be to buy a classic mini and kidnap a skilled mechanic. I think I'd come out ahead with some careful food cost analyses.

 

Go on mini mania and look at both sides. Pretty much similarly high in parts cost. Your run of the mill mechanic really doesn't want to work on either of them so it depends if you can find good labor either way. The local MINI dealer here charges 106 an hour. Correct me if I'm wrong but I thought fuel injection didn't come about till around early 90s.

 

Cost wise a classic probably less $, but time wise, more is spent repairing the classic.

My 03 s currently has 196,000 miles on it and has only been of the road for 2 days due to repairs. (replaced supercharger at 191,000 miles) I expect to have it off the road for another day or so when I replace the clutch in the next few months. Total cost so far for repairs and gen maintenance on the 03 is probably around $1000 to $1500.

My classic since we got it about 4 years and almost 50,000 kilometers ago has been off the road due to repairs for probably 4 months total, but probably only costing ~$300 to $500 total for the repairs.

So if you need something reliable I would go w/ the MINI, if you can handle cheaper and have other means of transportation then you might be able to swing the classic. I have saved ALOT of money because I do all the work on both cars myself. example - new supercharger at dealer $1800 to $2800 - did it my self for a total of $500.

The classics (especially the efi ones) can be very reliable, once I got the bugs worked out ours has been working great. It is my wife's daily driver (she sold the reliable honda pilot )

Good luck

Nik

 

Stick with a carbed classic either way... those injected models always have a TON of threads on the UK forums asking for diagnostic and repair help. Carbs, by comparison, are dead-simple. Based on the oxygen sensor port on my header and some redundant wiring under the hood, I think my car (a '92) began its life as an injected model and was down-conveted back to carbs. Thank God.

 

Good point - when the efi's start to fail it can be a world of hurt. Almost impossible to get any work done to them. Luckily mine is SPI (single point injection) and can be converted to carbs quite easily. As far as I know the MPI's cannot be converted.

Nik

 

I thought only 25 yr old cars could be grandfathered in under emissions standards here. When I realized I couldn't afford a new MINI, I thought going after a discontinued British model would be the answer to high cost, but sadly no. I'm not enough of a mechanic to do major work. I have replaced some parts like starter motors and pumps on older American cars, but I can't say it was fun-just a necessity.

 

Well, the ENGINE in my car was from a 1992 Mini Sprite (the successor to the Mini Metro ion the early 90's), but my car is TECHNICALLY a 1976 - that's how it's VINned and certified. They did the engine work before it was imported here from the UK, and as a '76, it passed under the classic car statute.

 

You can find high mileage ( 75K+) 2002-2003 base model MINI's for under 10K in great shape. They will be far more reliable, if you buy carefully, than a nice condition classic which would cost you around the same amount. You might pay more in repairs over time for the new MINI because it is much more sophisticated with more to go wrong, or maybe not if you are not doing the work yourself. A lot of the new MINI bugs will have been repaired by 75K miles and you can get used parts cheaply now. Look for one with a new clutch and stay away from the automatics. Better to avoid automatic climate control and any other do-dads as well to avoid costly repairs. Keep it simple and you should find a good deal on a reliable car. As another poster noted at 196,000 miles and going strong, the engines and tranny's are generally bulletproof.

Here's an example from local Craigslist ( hey that's my oil supplier in the backgound!). Actually, this is a very good deal wiht Nav and roof if it checked out.

2002 MINI Cooper Hatchback 2D - $7200 (Acton, MA)

Reply to: sale-n23jg-1092874957@craigslist.org [SIZE=1][[/SIZE][SIZE=1]Errors when replying to ads?[/SIZE][SIZE=1]][/SIZE]
Date: 2009-03-26, 11:29AM EDT



Fantastic little car with a BIG car feel. When seats fold down in back, storage space is bigger than most other regular sized cars.
Mileage is really great. With gas prices on the rise again, you will make out nice with this car. Great for COMMUTING. This version of the Mini gets better mileage than the S (turbo) version.

STATS 4 cylinder 1.6 liter engine, front wheel drive, 5 speed manual for better mileage, AC, power steering, power windows, power door locks, tilt wheel, cruise control, AM/FM stereo, single compact disk, NAVIGATION system built in, dual front air bag, front side air bags, 4 wheel ABS system, moon roof, new front tires, alloy wheels.
7 brand newoil filters included
Miles per gallon: averages 33 MPG by my own calculations
101,800 miles

The car is in excellent shape and has had all it's checkups. It just had an inspection and only needed new tires in the front, which I replaced. Everything is in good working order. Give this little guy a new home!!

 

Thanks, Tr6drvr. That's actually what I did already. I bought a high-miles 03 that was taken care of. Now I'm laying out long term maintenance and repair plans/projections. My original desire was a classic mini, and it's a die-hard wish. I just saw an ad for a nice looking '80 Leyland...
Living close to the Bruce Weiner Microcar Museum doesn't help.

 

Looks like a good deal of rust showing through the bottom grill on that picture.

 

The R50 Coopers had that lower metal grille - just stamped metal. It rusts. Hit it up with a coat of Rustolium and you should be good to go...

 

Anyway, here's that Leyland:
http://atlanta.craigslist.org/cto/1091106384.html
The color is so right on, the name is so beyond lame.

 

Off topic, wrong forum but also this:

http://atlanta.craigslist.org/cto/1064193273.html

 

That Mini and that Fiat are awesome. I like that brown on the Mini.

 

From that Craigslist ad:

"You cant go to the gas station or store without someone stopping you to look and ask about the car."

This is totally true.

 

Another local listing:
http://atlanta.craigslist.org/cto/1061009706.html

Let me know if you need me to test drive anything before the sale!

 

I think everyone should own one of each. If I had to choose one as a daily driver, my choice would be simple: MINI for practical reasons.

 

I want what I cannot have, and therein lies the rub.

 

...And furthermore:
http://greenville.craigslist.org/cto/1109380222.html
This one is tempting as it is almost on the edge of affordable.

 

That's a nice Mini. It's not a Morris though because it's not old enough (no external hinges) but still it looks to be in good shape and a good price.

 

i have owned many classic sport and muscle cars 60's & 70's era--a friend was going to sell his modern nissan sedan to buy an old vw karmangia--this vw was to be used as his daily driver--i said to him that the secret to driving an old car is to own a new one too

 

This one looks like a mutt... Definitely a re-vin. You get what you pay for 9 times out of 10. I suggest you start burying jars of money in the back yard till there's enough out there for a decent one. You can either buy a nice one in a few years or spend a few years fixing the piece of crap you bought now.

 

Yeah, I'm just window shopping in a public forum-hope you don't mind. I currently have my hands full with my newer MINI keeping up with maintenance. The above mini also has a weird paint job if you look closely at the engine area there's sloppy overspray.