Any advice or thoughts towards the price or reliability of the following would help a lot! This will be my first mini purchase. I currently only have a 9 minute commute and my 7 year old son rides the bus to/from school. I’m 5’2 and he is on the smaller side too. We don’t have many passengers. My last two cars I kept for 11 and 8 years respectively. My last car got totaled so I’m under a mild time crunch. I’m hoping to buy a car I love that I’ll keep for at least 4 or 5.

Within town is a 2019 Solarius Orange 2 Door Hardtop Mini Cooper S Fwd that has leather hearted seats, nice carmats, spec’d out, etc since it was a courtesy car - it has 5,545 miles on it at $23,900. I think the MSRP was $33,000 - I love everything about this car & Im OBSESSED with the color but having a kid in a 2 door makes me a bit nervous. Plus the sunroof of a 4 door looks beautiful. I was able to test drive this car.

3 hours away is a 2018 Certified Mini Cooper Red Clubman with leather seats in amazing condition with only 6,812 miles for $20,984. I’ll have to call about the heated seats. I prefer the Orange however the Clubman is larger & red is still nice. I’m concerned though of the reliability & ability to resale of the Clubman vs the hard top. Could make this trip in a day.

My third option is a volcanic orange 2016 2 door hardtop S through CarMax with 26k miles for $18,998. CarMax has great extended warranty & with the money I’d save I could get the extended warranty. The orange is nice but I prefer the richer Solaris Orange.

I did find a 4 door hardtop 2019 fwd (not an S tho) in solarius Orange but it’s 14 hours away so I’d have to ship it - but it’s at 23,900 at 7,662 miles.

Im really leaning towards the 2 door though. Any thoughts would be appreciated! I’ve been looking and researching on my own the last week. Thank you!

 

A personal anecdote to consider: We've traveled many great adventures on our R52 and my co-pilot's car was a '02 Buick. 4 years ago she decided she wanted a MINI as well. She went to the on line MINI store and specked out her choice. After 4 years, she loves her Countryman justa. Regular attention to its general health and well being has kept it trouble free and it has plenty of room to take grandchildren for a ride along with all the stuff they pack..

 

Thank you so much for your reply. It’s nice to hear your experience in reliability. I’ve taken great care of my precious cars so I feel confident in that I will take care of my Mini Cooper. It’s frustrating though because the moment I mention that I want a Cooper - people IRL immediately try to dissuade me. I wanted a Cooper as my second car, but I let others convince me otherwise. Not this time!

 

Before you close the deal, with help from other MINI people in your area or from experience, identify THE reliable BMW/MINI independent shop near you.
As explained various ways many times herein, dealerships make little or no money selling cars, it all comes from their shop. An indie shop has no sales floor or staff to support, do the math.

 

Not sure what the concern is with a kid in a 2 door car. And yeah, I have no kids so be kind if I'm off base.

Generally speaking newer is better so I'd be leaning towards the 1st car. My 2018 JCW is a 2 door hard top and the 2 doors and the hard top (I had a Boxster for 15 years and I got the top down driving out of my system) I really like.

If an extended warranty is important then the last car wins based on the warranty. Before you sign on the dotted line though read the warranty fine print to see what's covered what you have to do to ensure coverage remains in effect and then speak with the service department of the Mini dealer where you'll have the car serviced about its experience with CarMax warranties.

Regardless of the car you end up with be sure you give the car a through used car check out.

You may find the following of some value:

The 3 Minis you are considering are just used cars, so you should inspect/check everything.

My general advice is to visit the car cold, open the hood and check the oil level if you can at the engine, look to verify the other vital fluid levels are ok. Get a feel for how the engine compartment looks. Afterwards, leave the hood open.

In the car start the engine. Be sure all warning lights come on and then go off once the engine has started. Pay particular attention to the CEL. Be sure the A/C is off. You test the A/C later.

Let the engine idle from cold. You want to listen for any signs of ticking/noises or any other signs the engine may not be healthy. A rough idle, backfires, spitting back, anything out of the ordinary.

Get out of the car and walk around the car checking body panel finish, alignment, and gaps. Note the condition of the wheels, looking for any curb rash. Check the tires. Ideally they should be factory sanctioned tires and in good condition. Check the brakes, look at the rotors for signs of damage/excessive wear -- a lip around the rotor outer diameter.

Check the hood and trunk hinges for any signs the fasteners have had wrenches on them. At the front carefully check the radiator fasteners for any signs of wrenching. Do *not* stick your hands into the engine compartment with the engine running. For careful check of the radiator fasteners check these before *you* start the engine. Be sure you have the key in your pocket so no one can start the car while you are looking inside the engine compartment.

After some few minutes -- the longer the better -- of idling and with the engine still running ok and sounding ok have the seller take you on a test ride. The route should be around 15 miles long and chosen to give the driver a chance to demo the car as you intend to use it. What is wanted is a mix of city driving with stop and go, steady moderate speed cruising on like a boulevard, and some highway/freeway driving.

If equipped with an automatic while it is still "cold" have the driver perform an K-turn to see how the transmission responds to repeated and rapid changes in direction.

Ideally there should be some opportunities -- once the engine is up to temperature -- for some rather hard acceleration with the driver starting out from a standstill or a slow roll and accelerating hard up through at least a couple of gears. No need to smoke the tires or try to duplicate the factory's 0 to 60mph time but you want to experience the engine under hard acceleration to verify it pulls good, runs right, and afterwards shows no ill effects from the hard acceleration.

While a passenger of course pay attention to how the transmission shifts, how the car rides, feels. The car should not want to pull to one side or the other and the hard acceleration should give the driver a chance to perform a hard braking. No tire lock up but you want to verify the brakes have plenty of bite and the car tracks straight under hard braking.

With the transmission up to temperature, or at least warmer -- have the driver do the K-turn test again.

After the 15 mile test ride then back at the starting point -- leaving the engine running -- get behind the wheel and drive the car over the same 15 mile test route and drive it pretty much the same way although since the car is unknown to you you can dial back on the hard acceleration test. You don't want to let the car get away from you and wrap it around a telephone pole.

After your 15 mile test drive then at the starting point if you still like the car confirm all systems work. From the head lights to the tail lights. From the horn to the back up camera (if fitted). The A/C. Check all the controls. The wipers. Everything.

At this point if you still like the car and believe you can buy it for a good price -- based on your market research -- it is good idea to arrange to have the car given a pre-purchase inspection (PPI) by a tech who is qualified to evaluate the car. A Mini dealer tech can be used. These guys evaluate trade ins all the time.

This PPI gets the car in the air so a check can be made for any leak sign. At the same time a check can be made for any signs of damage or damage repair.

The test ride and drive are important. The engine runs about an hour and should have plenty of time to run through all the readiness monitor tests. If any fail this should have the CEL on. It should get the engine and the drivetrain plenty warm. An engine might not leak cold, just sitting there, but hot...

During both the test ride and test drive, you want to really experience the car in its natural state: engine running and on the road. All cars generally look good on the lot. But it is how they look and run and feel and sound and smell on the road, or after being on the road, that really matters.

If possible you'd like to know the service history of the car. Some brands the dealer service computers are connected but with other brands, not.

Unless the seller can supply paper work the services are current or you can run the VIN through a Mini dealer (perhaps) to know what services were done and and when, get the service schedule and see which services are due or close to being due and budget for those. Also adjust your offer to reflect what you will have to spend to bring the car up to spec.

Tires should be on good condition as so should brakes. If tires are worn unevenly budget for an alignment assuming wear is not severe enough to suspect the car's bent. In this case you don't want an alignment you want to walk away from the car.

Remember these things: Price is not fact only an opinion. And there is always another car. If you find something seriously negative about a car don't feel you have to buy it. There is another car out there you'll like just as much if not more than this one and it won't have any negatives.

Happy shopping!