I am looking into buying a Mini, if i do it will more than likely be a "S" model. Is there an advantage to one of the generations other than looks? After a quick look it looks as if there may be many nagging issues ( cooling fans, lower control arms, fires, psp, window regs, etc) are these easily cured or not? I really like the cars but dont want to work on it more than I drive it. Thanks in advance

 

Buy a new one, it'll come with warranty

 

+1

The warranty covers everything, even oil changes IIRC. You can even get it extended to 6 years/100k miles. I got my R53 because it fit my price range and I intended to start learning to do some of my own maintenance, but so far, things have gone well.

 

The warranty covers defects.

The maintenance agreement covers oil changes and such.

The newer cars are more powerful, roomier, get better fuel economy, and will usually have fewer miles than the older ones. They are heavier and (from what I have read on here) have less of the go-kart feel of the early ones.

CVTs and early 5-speed transmissions have issues. S models of all years tend to be used harder than "Justa" models.

All years have their problems. I'm not sure you can say one is particularly more reliable than the rest. But a new car would indeed have a warranty and the service agreement.

 

@renegade17

I'm selling my 2007 Mini Cooper S for $13,400 OBO in case you are interested. It's an awesome car - new body style - new tires - cold weather package - premium sound. More details and high res photos are at https://sites.google.com/site/2007cooperforsale/

 

get something with a Warranty, but that will be expensive, new minis are not cheap!

R53(first gen S) is the best in my book, and a 2006 is the best of those.

 

Get what you like, just get a warranty.