I have an opportunity to buy a 2005 Cooper S with 55,000 Miles and 6 speed manual. Both air bags went off but were replaced and car fixed for $1400 so very little damage. It is a friends car. Aside from accepting that it was repaired, how have the 05 Cooper S been for reliability. I know of oil leaks and am not concerned about minor issues but are there any major problems I should watch for. Supercharger? or major engine issues.

 

Most consider the 05/06 supercharged the best ones.

 

Most the bugs were worked out and the supercharger was revised in 05.

 

And in the manual transmission, the gearing was improved.

 

I had a 2006 R53 for six years and 75,000 miles, only thing that went bad

was the water pump housing and I believe most of the first generation

cars had that problem. The only reason that I sold it was I just ordered

a R58 JCW, it was built this past Friday and is waiting to be loaded on a

ship for Baltimore. Go for it!!

 

I have a 2005 with 59k on it. No problems with it at all. Runs strong.

 

The upper engine mount is prone to failing and leaking black goo. I'm on my third but otherwise no problems at all at 127K miles on my 2005 S. My wife's has only 51000, most of them on the Dragon. No problems either.

She was in a rollover accident and came this close to being totaled, but she fought for it and it was repaired good as new.

 

GO FOR IT !! and never look back.

 

Check with your insurance company and see if/how they'll insure a salvage title'd car.

 

Recently I was told by my local service advisor that having all three power steering hoses spring leaks more or less simultaneously is "one of the most common repair problems on MINIs." He claims it happened to my MINI. After two trips to the dealership, the leak(s) was/were finally repaired. So I've been looking online in an attempt to verify the SA's claim and so far, my research suggests that the most common repairs are for transmission failures (only on automatics) and leaking thermostat housings. I can find nothing to suggest that power steering hoses failures are all that common, and certainly not that all three are likely to fail simultaneously. I have read where there have been some power steering pump failures, but not all three hoses.

Does anyone have a similar experience of having all three power steering hoses begin leaking within a couple of days of each other? How common is this failure really? Is there a current list somewhere of the most common mechanical failures for the 2002-2006 MINIs?

Thanks.