Hi,
I am not a Cooper owner(yet) and I have some concerns with reliability; I come from a family, that only own *** cars. I understand there will be more frequent stops at the mechanic, but by how much? I will paste a link to a Cooper s for sale and it looks to be well cared for. If you guys could let me know what you think of it and tell me what I should be looking for I would appreciate it immensely. Cheers!

http://newlondon.craigslist.org/cto/5846174012.html

 

I guess an abbreviation for japanese cars is not allowed lol.

 

It looks pretty decent to me. The questions I'd have/things that could fail are:

the power steering pump (covered under national recall)
the coolant reservoir (they're notorious for cracking)
The crank pulley/harmonic damper (I'd say they tend to fail around 100,000 if not sooner)
ball joints, tie rods and lower control arm bushings
I'd look at the top of the strut mounts and evaluate it for mushrooming
check the strut bushings for cracking/tearing
When were the struts replaced, were they replaced?
Low speed fan resistor functioning? easy to test by turning on the AC and listening for Fan
When was the coolant system last flushed? these cars need it every 2-3 years and tend to be neglected
Any weird noises from super charger?

That's all the mini specific stuff I can think of, of course there's the normal stuff, like make sure all the switches work, make sure the keyless remote entry works, that sort of stuff.

Mod mini has a video on how to buy a used mini and what to look for. I think you should be able to find it on youtube.

 

Thanks for the info. I watched the video and it seems there are a lot of things to specifically check on the cooper. Is this just **** retentiveness?

 

Meh, it might be a little bit of **** retentiveness, but I think it's more of a function of these cars being around for 13-14 years and most of us have seen a lot of these things happen. I bought my first R53 in 03 and My second in 2014 and I think I've had to deal with all those repairs at one point or another. None of them are the end of the world but they're repairs that are common and can cost up to $1000 if you're paying someone else to do them. When you're talking about a $5,000 car it's hard to justify spending $1,000 on repairs. A worst case scenario of all those repairs could cost more than he's asking for the car.

I get the impression that this guy has taken good care of this car so he may have done some/all of these, but for example if he hasn't replaced the coolant tank in 5 years, it might be a good bargaining chip for you in negotiating the final price as that part is something like $100. It also can give you an idea of how well he's taken care of the car if he has records of some of that work being done, or says that it has been done. It also makes you look like a more knowledgeable buyer which can't hurt.

 

This guy.

Sorry to break it to you, but it's the life of R53 ownership!

Pretty much all of the aforementioned things will break before or around 100k. If you take care of all of those things, the car will last you more-or-less forever. There are major wear/failure items, and then everything else just always works.

I'm 20 and in college, so I don't have a lot of money to blow on my MINI. I learned to work on my own car, and in doing so, I brought it back from near-death (thanks previous owner) for less than $2k when I was quoted over $6k at the cheapest indie mechanic I could find. We have lots of do-it-yourself guides here on NAM, if you carefully follow them, you will be surprised at how much you can do yourself!!

A mentor of mine once told me:

Oh, by the way, the R53 is probably the best driving experience you can have in a FWD car, and that particular one looks amazing. It even has the sort-of-rare anthracite-grey interior trim! I say go for it!!!

 

Honestly, that's a pretty low price. I'd have a prepurchase inspection done, but if it all checks out, you're into a good R53 for a pretty solid price.

If you're mechanically competent, these cars are not hard to work on. Just be aware that a major service requires the car be put into front end service mode, which can take about an hour, but gives you access to damn near every square inch of the engine. I just did about 25 different things to my mini and it took one day (blower oil, new bellows, new coolant hoses, new valve cover gasket, spark plug tube o rings, crank sensor o ring, water pump, thermostat, 15% pulley, belt, coolant hoses, dipstick o ring, tranny and diff flush, oil change, and a few other gaskets and things)

Nothing was wrong with the car beyond the belt squealing when cold, but I figured since my car has 125k miles and this is the first service I'm doing since I bought it, even with an extensive service history, I decided that I should do a major service and change the blower oil (which is very often neglected and requires the whole front of the car come off to be changed)

Personally, I would NEVER buy another mini that didn't have a complete service record. You may pay a grand or two more for that service record, but it's worth every penny. Even as a home mechanic, I add to the car's service history with parts receipts and typed up overviews of what was done, when it was done, what mileage, what needs doing next, just like I was at the shop.

Reliability wise, for a well cared for car, I honestly think for the r53, parts are damn near identically priced to my fiance's old 97 civic. Reliability for a well cared for care will be on par as well. You can't ABUSE a mini and ignore oil changes and maintenance like you could on a honda, but if you change your air filters, oil, flush your transmission and differential on a regular schedule, and stay on top of things as they crop up (like they would on any car passing 100k miles) then you won't run into a cascade of failure.

So I wouldn't suggest an R53 for someone who is maintaining their car while also living hand to mouth, but if you can keep a good $500 set aside at all times for things like a new alternator, a water pump, etc. as they go, then it'll be a perfectly reliable little car.

that modmini guy on youtube is fantastically helpful for servicing your car. If you do pull the trigger, bookmark his ****. He will save you HOURS.

 

Racingguy covered the list perfectly.

If the control arm bushings have not been replaced they will absolutely be bad if they are still original. On a recent post the person paid $750 to get them done.

The crank pulley will fail eventually, and the best choices all start around $300 just for the pulley.

My clutch was gone when I bought mine with 90k miles on it, but I purchased mine from a 25 year old. The seller of this one sounds pretty responsible but it's something else to consider. If it you can't change one yourself a clutch install is pretty expensive. If you haven't already driven it, take it for a very good test drive. You don't need to try and blow it up but make sure that clutch isn't slipping. Mine first started slipping in sixth gear, then gradually all the gears.

If you can, or are willing to learn how to fix it yourself, buying a Mini is a great choice! The car you posted looks great with some nice extras. Good luck