I am looking at purchasing a 2007 Mini Cooper S. The purchase is from a good friend of mine, He takes extremely good care of his cars. Always serviced at the dealer or reputable/experienced shop. I have a file folder of all maintenance records since purchased new.

Maintenance performed by the dealer from New until Jan 2015 at that time he switched to a reputable shop in the Seattle area - Eastside Bavarian. My concern is the history of poor reliability of the 07' MINI's. His repair history is extensive, Starting in 2009, Replaced Chain Tensioner & Timing Chain. After hearing "the rattle" (I am aware of the recent class action settlement). Early 2014 Coolant and oil leaks discovered on routine inspection and repaired. April of 2014 - timing chain #2. Technician notes "found upper guides demolished and timing chain very loose" $2000 total for that fix. Feb of 2015 engine failure, Intake valve bent, full valve job performed, head recondition etc. etc. $4700. November of 2015 replace clutch and flywheel $3400. After he bought a new car, he dropped the MINI at my house cuz he couldn't drive both home- asked if I could try to sell it for him and he would gimme a nice finders fee. I said yea- I'm a better salesman than he is I guess... Not the first time I've done it for him.

Then I drove the little sucker... Wow!! Besides all the repair work listed above and maintenance "by the book" He has had suspension work done to improve handling, had it lowered, installed $4500 in stereo gear, had in "wrapped" in a flat black.. Has the John Works Body Kit, The car handles and drives like a dream.

He will sell it for $8000. I see it "books" for less than that - but similar models without all the extra bells and whistles seem to actually sell for more than book. So on one hand I'm thinking maybe he has taken the big hits, and I could get it at a pretty good time , OR I'm buying my way into a nightmare?????

Thoughts??? Help!!

 

Great to hear he's an awesome guy taking good care of his cars, and that you've had good success with his other sales.... But that won't help with a time bomb that may be lurking with the 07.

When you see 2 timing chain replacements, and a catastrophic failure as well... It will likely continue for your ownership too.


Yes, I am biased.... But there is good reason for that (as documented by his records) Hopefully 07 owner's can weigh in and make you feel safer about them
Or you can buy an 06 for the same price or less, and have a very well sorted out (mechanically speaking) ride.

 

Bump

 

This is a tuff one. When one sits in a MINI it is very easy to get hooked by the handling and pep it has. Make no mistake the car looks very nice too. This comes down to what are you willing to pay for fun. That year and others on up have had some very serious problems. I had a 07 and loved the car. But things went from bad to worse with it very quickly. I would ask yourself..do you have the extra money if something major goes wrong.. If you can answer that then you have your answer. By no means think this is going to be like a trouble free Honda. I bought my 07 new and it was an S. By the time I had 17k on it, it went in for a timing chain tensioner. Then the tensioner was replaced again with another updated one. By the time I had 32k on it, it had to go in for a complete timing chain assembly and carbon cleaning of the valves. There was other little things too but those were the more major ones. My point here is that the car was very much new yet and I was beginning to lose that warm fuzzy feeling. So I sold the car. It wasn't long before the buyer of it had it back in the MINI dealer with over heating issues and a HPFP code. I don't want to tell you not to buy the car because sometimes no matter what one says on here 9 times out of 10 people go and buy it. My only advice is to pay very close attention to the car and check all your fluids all the time. Good luck my friend!

 

The N14 engine was a total failure in much the same sense as the Maginot line. The most reliable has proven to be the W11. The W11 will be found on the years '02 to '06 with the later years being the best. You would be happiest holding out for a '06 S and enjoy the whine of a supercharger as an added benefit.

 

Looks like all the major things were done, the bent valves and stuff does bring up some concern down the road with warranty from the shop. If the engine was not wreaked before I would be interested. I did my timing chain, water pump, thermostat, aux pump recall, oil lines, and all the others. Then my R56 MCS was fine.

Looks like there has been some money but into the body and graphics.

Good luck.

 

I wouldn't buy a MINI with an N12 engine. Especially one with that kind of mileage. Repaired or not. There are lots of very good MINI's out there. Start looking.

 

You mean the N14 engine

 

With the reliability issues the Mini has I wouldn't own one that didn't have a factory warranty.

 

I'm a new Mini owner in the last 6 months. Did a ton of research before buying my 06. And my 2 cents is to stay away from the N14 motor that if my memory serves was from 07-11 then they went to the N18 mid production?
I almost bought an 07 last summer. Did some research and ended up with an 06 R53. But don't get me wrong, my 06 had a handful of issues that were thankfully taken care of free of charge by the selling dealer.

Anyways, I'm sure there's others here more knowledgeable than I, that can confirm and expand on the N14 info.

Good luck with whatever you decide. It is a nice looking ride from the pics.

 

Heck of a good looking R53. Excellent aesthetics. Any chance of changing the Motor in the '07s? Or do the electronics prevent that from being done easily?