Hello,
I found a manual 2004 S with 200K km on engine *well maintained* with all new BMW parts and only serviced at BMW. Two hours drive away in Canada. Price tag was $4,000 cash, talked down to $3500

I found a manual non-S 2014 with 124K km on engine at a Volkswagen dealership. Price tag was set at $8999. Sent a random msg I would take it for $7500 and they asked when I can come in (Desperate sale). I would put a down payment and finance the rest @ $250/month for 36 months

Both are very good deals. My only issue is the 2014, with 128K on engine, will for sure need parts at some point where as the 2004 S has all new BMW parts/fresh fluids

What's the better buy ? 3 people said take the 2014 non S, but to me it has a big question mark (?) hovering over it. If the 2004 got all new parts though and the fluids have been changed, shouldn't it be reliable? The seller said exactly "she was well taken care of" - isn't the point of a mini to drive the S?

Why do you all drive S over reg? Is the S just a labor of love? My friend said "And when it breaks it breaks your bank account" but isn't this just a mini in general?

Always wanted an S (or one day a 911) but I always lived downtown so never saw the point.

Have 24 hours to decide. Not against the reg. Just need advice it's a big moment for me . Not the fattest wallet right now

 

04s

Nik

 

losing sleep over what's more reliable in the end

 

It depends on how much of the maintenance you plan on handling yourself. If you are going to be paying someone to service it, you should go with the newer car. If you are comfortable doing the work yourself, the R53 will keep you busy. Low mileage or not, after 16 years, things start to randomly fail. As a guy that bought a high mileage 2004 R53, my experience has been that every time I go to work on it I discover some half-assed fix that one of the previous owners did. 16 years and 200,000 kilometres is a lot of time and space where you have no idea who drove it, how they drove it or how they "repaired" it. If you are comfortable with a wrench and have a garage, get the R53, it will reward you in ways that I can't really put into words. If that's not your thing, no worries, get the newer car and just enjoy the MINI experience. Despite what the haters say, the F-generation MINIs (even the non-S) are really a lot of fun.

 

If you cant decide maybe neither of them is a strong enough pull for you
This isnt shopping at the gap for two sweaters you wouldnt buy but are considering them as they are smoking deals. theres more financial outlay here

i say walk away from both
then ID what you really want and look again. dont get emotionally attached to two examples just as they are in front of you. Get the closest to what you want (not what 51% or more of strangers on the internet say) for the price you can afford.

 

Example: Bought my '04 MC40 for $4,000. I've put that much into it again just in parts and tools ($8,000 total). That's with me doing all the work. Given all my repairs, very expensive dealership labor costs would have bumped that to $12,000 and up, I'm sure. If you don't have the garage, the tools and the know how, buy the newer model.

 

That’s the truth right there.