I have been looking around for the perfect gem for more than a year, looking for used mini.

I was up at the cottage this past week minding my own business and passed in front of a dealer (hyundai) saw in the back written in big in the window.. 2006 WORKS.

So I go see a 2006 Works with only 31 000 km. Talk to the sales person and we go for a test drive. I'm with my 3 year old son, so take the seat off the truck put in in the mini and off we are. Tranny is VERY Stiff to a point that it's hard to shift and find the gears. Then I see that the engine light is on. Salesmen tells me that it's been in storage all winter. I do a normal acceleration shift 1-2 at 5000 rpm. All seems well. Then do another acceleration 2-3 and EML ! WTF.. so we came back to the dealer very slowly.

I get a phone call at the cottage the next day and I. The car if fixed and I'm still there. So I go for a second spin... take the baby seat out again. They tell me it had some water in the spark plug holes and the fixed that hard tranny. 3 person drove the car to try it at the dealer and it was perfect. Take the car out.. do a hard 1-2-3 acceleration at red line.. all seems well. Try another one and EML and check engine.

So I'm thinking.. this car could be a lot of trouble. To bad it's rare to see a Works and even more one in that good of a shape. I'm giving up on this one. I'm suppose to go back in about 2 weeks there (it's 5 hours from home) and he said to come back that it will be fixed.

 

Pass on that one. Keep looking.