Thank you to everyone who replied to my question regarding our buying a new to us Mini.

My next question is concerning the automatic transmission.
How can I find out which transmission is in the car? Or did all '05 (auto) come with the CVT?

I have the vin#.

Thank you very much once again,

Christian

 

The 05 Cooper had a CVT, the Cooper S had the new 6 speed auto.

My neighbor has a 05 Cooper with CVT. She's not a "motorer" and thinks the CVT is fine. Her husband thought it was boring. I thought it was fine (and actually enjoyed it) in paddle-shift mode. She had an issue with the "rubber banding" when backing out of their driveway in the mornings (cold transmission). Their driveway has a slight uphill incline they need to back up out of.

They also had a fuel pump go on them - rather expensive to replace.

Seeing as she missed performing oil inspection service and inspection 1 by 6 months each, (based on the MINI's service mileage counter), I might be inclined to feel, their "unreliability" issues were caused by themselves.