Hi all,

I am looking forward to owning my first mini. Quite excited. I was first planning to buy mini cooper s, however, after seeing the jcw I am kind of impressed wit the driving experience. I am considering to buy white body and roof 2011 Mini Cooper JCW at 101k miles fully loaded except navigation. Asking price is $10.5k. I checked that is a factory jcw.
I'd like to get the opinions of you experienced mini veterans. Would high mileage on these car can be problem?
Thank you all

 

I have a 2011 JCW and love it. That being said, That is a lot of miles. It really depends on the maintenance history so ask for that information. Ask for a Carfax it may show some maintenance history too. Take it to a Mini dealer for an pre purchase inspection before you make the deal. They can also tell you if the car was serviced by a mini dealer and about any open recalls. Also do a forum search on the N14 engine. The most common issue is the timing chain.

Good luck

 

I think you are better off buying a 2011 S model with N18 engine, less money and miles. If you need more umph go for a $500 Manic tune or JB+.

 

Too much mileage for a Mini and this could be a money pit.

 

Thank you guys all, great advices and tips.
Apparently the car has problems, owner does not let me to see it. It has broken antenna and windshield. It may have had an accident.

Anyway, I bought a loaded dark blue 2010 Mini Cooper S yesterday, it was quite a deal, left me room for tuning. I'll check out tuning options.
Now, I have a MINI too.

 

Congrats! With a couple bolt ons and a manic tune the S can be faster than the JCW. Check out manic tune, it seems to be the go-to for ECU tunes in this community nowadays.

 

Good call...red flags everywhere.

 

100k on a MINI is alot. Especially an n14 motor. Only way I would get a mini with an n14 is if it were low mileage and I was on top of everything. Like I just did. Bought my n14 jcw with 16k miles recently. To be very honest having worked on MINIs for years now Doing your oil change every 5k instead of the normal 9k will keep ALOT of problems from happening. At least topping off your oil helps. These cars can burn a quart of oil every 800 to 1k miles. Alot of people don't top off their oil and after a few oil changes with a motor running over a quart low here and there will cause problems. Stay ontop of coolant leaks and be aware of any chain rattle at start up. The majority of the timing chains I have seen go bad have been due to low oil.
Some quick preventative maintenance , check that your motor has the updated water pump(not the black plastic one) also the updated chain tensioner. I think the updated one has a hole in the middle don't quote me on that. Check the oil banjo bolt on the turbo . They get sludge on them. Might as well replace it.
Aside from that enjoy. I love my JCW.

 

Oh no! Now you can't post in the JCW forum!