Going to look at a 2004 MCS Saturday. 60K with the 60 K service done.

The guy is the original owner. States it has Sport, Leather and Premium. He didn't recall Convenience being an option when he bought it. Also has the Harmon Kardon Sound System.

It's a green with white top and white 8 spoke rims and he want's 14K firm.

Does this seem like a good deal if it's clean?

 

Sounds like a good deal if no accident history and it's a clean car. If you like it, jump on it!

 

Sounds like a great deal if it's in great shape and he has the maintenance records to show you. Love that color too! Good luck to you!

 

check and double check everything... carfax, service history...etc

 

Once I have the VIN I'll do a carfax but how do I get the service records.
I find most owners don't keep the paper work.

Would a dealer provide these too me or Miniusa??

 

MINI service should be able to give you a history of the service and work that has been done on it using the VIN number.
60K is on the high side but the price makes up for it, just make sure it hasn't been beat up.
Good Luck, I hope it works out for you.

 

With my Z3, I have a maintenance book that I get stamped and logged every time I have it in for maintenance. I would bet that if the owner doesn't have any record of it, they could get that info for you from their service center. I would recommend it, as some cars (not meaning Coopers) have problems which you can see when you review the maintenance records.

 

Automatic or standard?

 

It's an '04 S, so it's got a 6 speed manual.

 

OMG...I died laughing at your dog quote. LOL

 

Just got back. The car is on a lot for the owner so no details.

The MCS runs well and feels good. The PS makes a whine and the coolant overflow is leaking. Rust on the door sills is very small. No mushroomed strut towers either.
BUT, you can tell this was his commute car.

Drivers door has a ding and the door edge is a little bashed up like he kept opening the door into something.
The rear bumper cover has a piece of damage to the urethane. Not a hole but it sticks out some like he was rear ended. Pass side has some scraps on the black wheel trim. Pretty much every rim has curb rash.

Inside was clean but the stitching on the drivers side leather has let go were the seat belt meets the seat.
Everything works fine but I can't tell if it has a Harmon Stereo. It's not labeled on the head unit.

I can see now why it's priced the way it is. My big issue as a car guy is a car reflects how well you take care of it. Letting so much go usually means you aren't **** about the maintenance as well.

My wife still liked it and we can get some of the damage fixed, but with my budget of 14K I may have to look for an older year.
Torn on what to do as in CA the MINI just seems to cost more even for the 2002.

 

Yeah, I have to agree with you on that. If he has bashed it up that much and doesn't care, then who knows about the maintenance. I don't understand why people would pay a lot for a car and then not take care of it. Crazy! I'll bet if you keep watching, you'll find one that has been taken better care of. Even if it's a few years older, it would be worth it. I wish you the best!

 

I agree, keep looking and maybe spread out your search to outlying areas that are within a 4 hour drive of your location. Finding a used MINI will be tough, but I believe that it's totally doable. Good luck!

 

definitely keep looking. I was looking for an 04 S, and ended up getting a great deal on a loaded 05 S. The 05s have some cool newer features and less problems if you can afford one. I agree though, if the guy let it get all dinged up and leaky just imagine what else he let happen to it. I dont think youll regret passing this one up. Keep looking! Your Mini is out there somewhere! Also, consider looking at the marketplace minis for sale page, they have a lot of cars available from good mini owners who take care of their cars. Good luck!

 

i wousl find ANOTHER deal as i agree with other nam input..

 

I know this may sound crazy, but I found several used MINIs for sale through Craig's List. Not a typical place to look, but we have had several listed in there lately.

 

Hey, check this out...Sacramento, CA.
2004 MINI Cooper S - $13900 (Sacramento)

55300 miles, call Paul at 916-607-3340 Here's the link: http://sfbay.craigslist.org/eby/car/767593806.html

 

just be careful on craigs list, I found two on there in the month or so I was looking and they both ended up to be scams. Just keep your guard up.

 

I check Craig's List daily. Autotrading has nothing but huge dealer markups.

Some owners want 20K for some 2002 MCS out here even on Craig's List.

I've been watching this site's for sale section as well.

 

Thanks Chungiakgirl,
Paul is on my list but he is 2 hours away. No Premium package and my wife hates those rims.

 

Rims can be changed tho, so if you happen to find a car that has everything else that you want and just has something little that you can fix, I say go for it and replace the unwanted item later.

 

good luck. I love my MCS

 

I found one on craigslist (pic included). It was just under 15k. 65k miles, BUT there was NOT a door ding on the thing, all service records, great color, decent aftermarket wheels, very nice guy who owned it. It had premium and sports package (not sure what all that means) as well as the dual moonroof, etc....

I was looking multiple times a day here in Socal. I would look craigslist, carmax, cars.com, autotrader, automotive.com, carsdirect, all these mini sites, etc.....

All the decent ones seem to sell very very quickly. The small used car lots seem to have them in stock, BUT they are asking crazy prices. I usually was looking at craigslist on Sandiego, orangecounty and LA sections, every once and a while I would look at inland empire. Sure enough I found one that was just listed. He promised he wouldn't sell it til I got to look at it after work. By the time I got there, 3 dealers and 2 private parties offered him $14k without even seeing it in person. I ended up buying it for a bit more, but I got him to come down 1k from what he was asking.

Here is my new (old) 03 MCS

https://www.northamericanmotoring.co...8&d=1216960191

I do have a few problems
1. Dash rattles like a freakin hyundai, but that sounds like a familiar problem I should beable to fix
2. Passanger door panel rattles as well, I hope to fix it
3. When I turn the steering wheel as far as I can, it makes a weird noise, I don't think it is an issue with the power steering as he just had that fixed.
4. The windows, when going up when it is hot rattle stutter like crazy (hope to fix that as well).
5. The stereo sucks, but this is my 3rd car, so I really don't care all that much

Body looks very very clean and motor runs great, so those are the mosti important things to me at this point.

https://www.northamericanmotoring.co...8&d=1216960191

 

Man this is discouraging. We went to look at another one today.

Rear was all scratched up and the rust on the bottom of the door was pretty bad. The front fender has been repainted and they did a horrible job on it.

Cloth interior and this one handled like a FWD car when floored with TQ steer. Halfway thought the test drive the dash rattle was killing us.

On top of that it was $3K more then the Green MCS and more miles.

We going to give the Green MCS some more thought.
Carfax shows it has some real work done about 2 months ago. Valve Cover Gaskets, Lower control arm bushings, Rear crankshaft oil seal.

I would hope if there was anything wrong MINI would have addressed it at the time.

In the mean time will keep searching.

 

i know its tough...BUT patience will pay off when u find "THE ONE"... u iwll find it..