I've been looking and I see alot of Minis for sale. I've done some review searches and there seems to be some problems with some of the transmisions among other things. I was looking at getting around a 2002-2003 but I need to know what to be aware of. What should I stay away from? Should I get a Car fax report?
Any help would be appreciated.

 

Best advice is to start reading here and on Motoringfile.com.
There is enough information on both sites to help you with both general information and specific cars when you get to that point.
For transmissions the CVTs seem to have the most problems but some here have a lot of miles with no problems.
Carfax is a good tool and gives an ok idea of the car, but you will hear many cases of it being incorrect.

 

Hey Wrangler, I too was originally in the market for an 02/03 but after reading motoringfiles.com I decided to up the budget to get an 04. The first year models just didn't have everything worked out yet. 03 is much better than 02, but I bleieve motoringfiles recommends not buying an 02. I'd focus your search on an 03 or higher... and a manual transmission :D

 

The Aisin built 6 speed auto found in all auto S models has been proven to be solid and reliable.

 

Not available until 2005.

 

Thanks for the reply's. I'm assuming that the Cooper "S" is the way to go...

 

Yes the S is probably the way to go, but I would pony up the bucks for an '04 as minimum, better yet an '05. Also try to find something with less than 45K miles. Beyond that the normal cautions for buying a used car apply!