Longish story, please bear with me:

At the beginning of the year, me and the wife, sat in a mini at the auto show and liked it. I found this site, and started doing research, and it sounded like alot on Cooper-S's had trouble in cold weather, so I brought that up, and the mini kind of fell of the list.

Fastward to Past Weekend...
I actually drove a clubman-s this past weekend, and really liked it, Its a bit out of my price range, but I liked the balance of power/handling, size wise still small. But then again, 90% of the time I drive the car alone, the other 10% its just me and the wife.

Yesterday...
Heard from a friend that his co-worker is trying to get rid of his less then one year old cooper-s, for a really really good price, because they are having a baby, and the wife wants it gone. At this price, I could easly afford the mini, and not be upside down if I needed it gone.

But here comes the problems.

Wife still remebers me talking about the cold weather problems, and they scare her. To be honest, they scare me a bit too.

Wife also worries about buying a used car... personally, i'd rather buy new myself, but this is a nicely loaded mini, that new I would say puts it out of budget.

My problem is I'm very a.d.d. when it comes to what my next car would be, the mini is on the list, but theres easly a handfull of cars i could live with.
So the wife says if I still want the mini in a month, she'll help me get it. She's probably right about waiting about a month to see if I still want it. So i'll have to talk to the current owner to see what his plans are, i dont want to rush into buying a car, but at the same time, I dont want the deal to pass me by.


But I still have to convicence here that the 'used' mini will be ok, and their wont be problems with cold weather.


Thanks for reading/ and for offereing any advice.

 

My story is this. I drove one after seeing one at a car show in 2004. Loved it but still wasn't sure. I wasn;t due for a car [it was my wife's turn] so i knew it would be a while. Fast forwar a year. My 1994 Ford Ranger Splash's block cracked at 214,000 miles and it was done. We bought a SportTrac for the wife and I took over her 1994 Honda Accord. [sucks all the fun out of driving!]. Meanwhile I am still obsessing about the MINI and driving the wife nuts. I am also driving them nuts at Cincinnati MINI by lurking around the dealership at least once a month to the point they know me by name.

Over the years other cars would comeand go. Chrysler Crossfire [Cool looking but i didn't like thr drive] PT Cruiser Covertible GT [Somrthing about it said "nah"]. Miata [This came closest to stealing me from a MINI] Solstice/Sky [cool but seemed bloated and impossible to find at first]. Each one always brought me back to a MINI.

Fast forward to 2008. We have a freak blizzard in March. Driving home, I total the Accord which I have hated from day one. I take a day off work and I drive all sorts of used cars for low cost alternatives but I couldn't see getting into a car I would not like for several more years. I end up at the MINI store looking for a used one bottom line, for the prce comparisson, it made more sense to order exactly what i wanted and be completely stisfied with it.

The part i was worried about was convinceing the wife about the car. She was never too keen on them so we went to the dealer one Saturday and she drove one. After 10 minutes in the car she realized why i had like them for so long and we ordered that day.

So to get back to your original question, of how to convince the wife, let me kick out these selling poiints.

It is a Consumer Reports "Recommended" pick.
It has the lowest depreciation of ANY car out there.
It is very safe. Look at the Insurance Institue crash tests
Very gas efficient.
The cold start issue apparently has been addressed as I have not seen it my 2008 R56
If you have found a good used one for a good price go for it. In many cases used are commanding a price that is almost the same price as new.
It is the most fun you can have in a car with you cloths on. Okay that may not be a selling point!

GO FOR IT

 

There's no way I can top Callahan00's post, so I won't...I can only +1 it and give it a .

As for the cold-weather start thing, this mystifies me...I've owned two (a 2004 MCS and now a 2007 MCS) in some pretty darn COLD climates (mountains of Germany) and i've NEVER had an issue, cold weather - hot weather - and in-between. if you like his price, I say go for it.

 

Just to clarify, the cold weather issue, i was talking about is the nosiey engine/no power on the 2007+ S, that this forum has a long thread about.

The price is very attractive, since the guy is in a bind to sell. Maybe I just need to take a test drive with the wife.

 

YES you do...and I strongly suggest you let HER drive. If she's got spunk, she may end up buying it for herself!!!

 

She got a car last year :-p, and she doesn't drive stick yet.


I do have a more serious question.

when I buy used, The free maintance & warrenty transfer with the mini right?

 

That will depend on what he has currently, and with which dealer. One of the things you might want to check before handing him the moolah is if the dealership will honor it. I don't doubt they WOULD, but...just in case.

 

If you are referring to the MINI warraty and maint, yes it does transfer. If you are referring to the extended, it does as well. I have the extended maint and it transfers to the new owner [as if I would be retarded enough to sell it]. BUT, lets not get into beating a dead horse over whether or not the extended maint is worth the price. to me it was.

 

I'm just refering to the original warrenty. I've seen a copy of the PO for the mini, and he bought it in januraury of this year (a fairly loaded, left over 2007, with a stick)

 

Yeah, what HE said. MINI and BMW have excellent maintenance programs. So really, opfreak...don't you think you should be out test driving/wife-convincing right now, instead of listening to us fanatics???

 

Sounds like the OP is mostly worried about the cold start issue in the 07 cars. You could ask the owner if he's ever had a problem, since he did get it in January, and you could ask the dealer if it's ever been in for any warranty issue or complaint. If not it sounds like you'll be OK, a lot of 07 Minis have no such issues.

 

From reading this (or most any other product) User Forum,
you can develop a fear about the quality of the product.

No idea of what the true percentage would be, but no doubt there are a small amount of 'Lemons'.

Problem with forums is that you usually only read about the 'problems' as 'no-problem's arn't usually posted.

As you read here, many (most?) have no "Cold-Start" issues and I know I was lucky to draw one perfect MINI myself.

Here you have a chance to save money (most used two year old MINI's ask more than MSRP).

Even better, given your concern about 'Cold-Start', you have a chance to 'Know Before You Buy'
the *truth* about any issues (including Cold Start) with this particular auto.

*can't see "the co-worker of a friend" not being truthful about issues*

Best of luck on your purchase

 

i think you should get it, as long as your finances are in order and you can live with the options and color the car has. less than a year old, is still practically brand new and you have the benefit of buying a car after it has lost its new car premium. if the price is as good as you say, it will probably be gone in a month. these cars are flying out of mini dealers even with the economy the way it is.

my wife got hers in april and loves it. i actually try to drive it every chance i get. its really fun to drive and the gas mileage is great. and every car has issues. my last car was an 03 infiniti g35, bought it brand new and that car had a slew of problems. go on any g35 forum and you will see. people come to places like this for answers for problems that they have. it doesnt mean the majority of the cars have those problems.

and the mini warranty is a manufacturers warranty, just like every new car sold in the us, so every mini dealer has to honor it based on mileage and/or age.

 

Something else to consider. If you get into it and just hate it [doubtful] you can sell it resonbly quick and pretty doggone close to what you paid for it.

What is he asking for it anyway? What options does it have? If you are not comfortable divulging that info that's cool. I'll just scamper away and mind my own business. I think that anything under, say 10 percent of MSRP would be pretty good

One minor concern to some is how close to a dealer you are for sevice. I am in the same city as one so that is not an issue for me. Some people are uncomfortable being hours and hundreds of miles away.

 

buy my car
https://www.northamericanmotoring.co...d.php?t=156679

i drove it for one winter and it was fine. heated seats are so good in this car!

 

i wont divulege the price, but its a steal since his wife wants it gone.

From what I remeber from seeing the spec sheet:

laser blue /w black strips

premium package (sunroof/auto climate, something else)

punch black leather

the different headliner

xenons, rear fog, back up sensor (on a mini, really?)

And a few other little things, that I forgot, but thats the major stuff.

 

TheBigNewt is right - talk to the dealer and see what the car has already been in the shop for...And I'd have to agree with callahan (again! great minds think alike); the distance from your nearest dealer can be a pain. Mine is 30 min away, IF there's no traffic through the STATE CAPITAL.

 

lol
that's so true... who would look for backup sensors on a MINI..!

 

laser blue /w black strips $450

premium package (sunroof/auto climate, something else) $1500

punch black leather $1800

the different headliner $250

xenons, rear fog, back up sensor (on a mini, really?) $500, $100, $250.

He probably paid around $27,000 fot it. May be a little less if they were dealing since it was a leftover '07. 24-25K would be a fair price based on used prices I've seen. If so, go for it.

 

My comments are below. I have a 2009 MCS which I picked up 3 weeks ago today.

- The "cold start" issue has nothing to do with cold weather. It has already happened to me once in 80 degree weather. That one time, I had started the engine to move the car forward 2-3 feet and shut off the engine after less than 30 seconds. If you'll read the thread on this subject, that SEEMS to be the cause: not letting the engine oil warm up before shutting off the engine. It may not happen every time you do this, but that seems to be the common thread. For my money, if that truly is the cause, I don't really care...I will just never do that again (it gives me an excuse to drive the car, even if I only need to move it a few feet!)

- There are no guarantees with a used car...you never know what the previous owner has done or not done. That said, new cars also can have their issues (every make and model, without exception, has lemons. The big question is how many, and according to all the reports I've read, MINIs are very reliable, statistically speaking). If the new car and the used car are both under a manufacturer's warranty, it shouldn't make a big difference.

- Because all MINI dealer maintenance is logged into MINI-USA records by VIN number, why not go with the current owner to the local dealer and have them print out the maintenance history on the car? If there has been any work done by a dealer, it will show up. And I doubt that anyone would have any significant work done by a non-dealer, if the vehicle was under warranty. And if the current owner doesn't agree to doing that, I'd be suspicious.

 

have you tried guilt? Buy her something nice (not expensive, but thoughtful) and then keep up with the subtle suggestions about how you really want a mini. Stress that it has great resale, is a real deal, great gas mileage, etc... It'll work! (worked for me)

 

Thought that the Clubmen were introduced as '08's.

 

this isn't a clubman, just a cooper s

 

Guilt is good

 

So...??? Are ya gonna get it??