Hi all,

I am a college student getting ready to graduate. I am also ready to graduate to a new car and since I am absolutely in love with mini's, that's where my mind went. My question is, due to finances I will be purchasing a "newer" used mini. Prob. around '05, '06. Also due to finances I will be prob. doing a 5 to 6 year loan. Due to the age of the car it wont be under the warranty the whole time I am paying for it. Do you think its risky to be paying so long on a used car? I understand a lot of things come into question, but i mainly want opinions. BTW, my current car is a 1991 Isuzu Rodeo V6 4x4 and I get about 8MPG around town. So this car will DEF. be an upgrade.

P.S. sorry for the long post.

Thanks All
matt

 

it would be worth it to me. although regular maintenance is a little expensive. i am a freshman in college and still owe a little money on my 03 and i'm not worried about the risk of something bad happening. it's worth the upgrade, trust me. i had a 98 wrangler, it got the same mpg.

 

Thanks for the reply, if you could please explain what you mean by expensive regular maintenance. And avg. annual cost approx.

 

This might be a helpful tool for you, Edmunds has a "cost to own" section on their website.

http://www.edmunds.com/apps/cto/CTOintroController

 

Wow,

Times sure have changed. When I was in College my transportation was my worn out Nike sneakers

"what you mean by expensive regular maintenance"

You might have to sacrafice a keg party or two for a $150 oil change, and maybe a semester for Service II.

 

Well I dont party AT ALL, so the whole keg party reference doesnt apply to me. And I am graduating in a few months so I feel that I deserve a new car finally. I have had my old beat up Isuzu for 7 years. Its all paid for but it won't last to much longer. I worked 30 hours a week throughout highschool to pay it off in two years so I wouldnt have a car payment duriong college so I didnt have to work just for a car payment. I found it more important to do school work. So, I feel liike I have put my time in with an old car and deserve to do something nice for myself after all my hard work and sacrifice.

 

hahaha keggers.
well it might not be too expensive for maintenance for you. but compared to my jeep i could do all maintenance myself. now i've got to take it into a BMW/MINI dealer which is spendy. like he said, $150 oil changes. since it is european, the price tends to jump a little when repairs come. but you do deserve a new car. i hope you choose a MINI, you'll be completely satisfied.
Good luck finding the right one!

 

My response was "tongue in cheek" and not meant in a derogatory fashion. Kudos to you for working you’re a$$ off, and I hope you find a great car at a great price. Maintaining it will be more expensive. If you get the “S” you will have to buy premium fuel, if you want to run performance tires, they are much more expensive etc… I got a reality check when I went from a Toyota to a BMW years ago, and I do not think I am the only one that had had that type of $$$ experience.

BTW, Consumer Reports showed reliability and nagging maintenance issues really got a lot better 05-06.

If you end up getting a something in the 05 - 06 range >36k, pay close attention to the health of the tires, brakes etc... Some of those types of wear items are most likely getting close to replacement. If I remember correctly, standard "full maintenance" which covers brakes, only went 3yrs/36k unless it was extended. You do not want to be surprised by an expensive brake job several months after buying it.

Gotta go back to my keg party. (Just kidding, I couldn’t resist)

 

congrats on graduating.. you deserve to upgrade your transportation.
Primarily you want to plan your expenses within your expected budget (so you don't lose your car if you lose your job.) Like another poster suggested, check edmunds "cost to own" calculation is helpful.

When it goes out of warranty (as many used cars would be by that time) you can assume the risk, or buy an extended warranty.
But assuming 4 years later, you car is 6-7 years old, it will have higher maintenance costs. (I don't have experience with our mini yet, but have a been to bmw and porsche service and it's not like honda and toyota service.)
I kinda accept it as price of ownership with this car. Maybe by then, you can do some of the service, or sell the car, or pay it off.

The other option is I seen a lot of ad's for new cars discounted to almost what I paid for our used mini.. and they have full warranties. But it's not a mini.

 

The day I pay $150 for an oil change is the day they'll wrap a shroud around me! Good grief people, just because the car was made in England doesn't mean that it's impossible to service or that there is some secret, magical tools and techniques that you need to know. The pieces all look exactly the same as my chevy truck and they are in pretty much the exact same place. A spark plug is a spark plug, an oil filter is an oil filter. I changed my oil myself the first time and it took 10 mins, and no problems. Incidentally, you'll only change the oil every 15000k or so anyways if you follow your computer. Are the parts more expensive? Yes, but that's due more to the fact that there are a smaller number of cars on the road and not as much jobber parts around. Would I take my car to a dealer after my warranty is up? Last choice for me, I've got a good tech who understands cars and it won't cost me any more to fix my mini than it will to fix my mini-van, cost of parts not withstanding.

In terms of reliability, will you have to fix a mini more than a toyota? That's a good question. It seems to me that from 05 on the builds were pretty solid and you would expect to have a normal amount of things go wrong. So much maintenance often depends on your driving habits and whether or not you have a mechanical feel for you vehicle. If you plan on thrashing your car, which is hard to resist in a mini, you can expect to pay more for upkeep. I certainly drive mine differently than I drive my mini-van and that will show up in the maintenance that I have to perform. If you pick up a good one (mini) you can expect to pay a normal amount for upkeep, comparable to anything else out there, you will pay more for parts definately, but that's the cost of ownership for having a vehicle that is not run-of-the-mill. Is it worth it in the value of fun per dollar? Sure. Comparing it to a VW GTI or Mazda 3 which I think are the only 2 cars that rank close in the fun value, I would expect to pay the same amount for upkeep for the VW and a little less for the Mazda. I picked up an 05 and so far have replaced an o2 sensor, and a headlight washer, leaking thermostat, all still under warranty. That was in the first 6 months of ownership, 50,000Km on the car. I bought the car used and the service history before I got it was: New tie rod end, fix door latch - reconnect cable, alignment, brakes and that was it. If you buy from a dealership you'll get the extended warranty which may be worth the extra you'll pay.

 

Get an 05 or 06 if you can. You'll likely be They made very substantive changes to the cars build (from motor mount design to dashboard construction). The 02-04 is a fine car, but the 05*06 is just much better. They even made changes to the 06 from the 05 (like the rear hatch mounts for example).

I own an 2003 works car and an 06 works car and will keep the 06 long term. The 03 is plenty cool, but I'll give it up first.

 

JCW Driver, i have never seen your car on the streets of portland. lol

oh also, if you do get an S the best thing to do first is get rid of the run-flats!

 

I actually spoke with a close friend today who told me he was going to be selling his mini. It's an '05 S with 26,000 miles. He's asking $20,000 negotiable. Sunroof, seat warmers, etc. He told me that recently he just put new tires on, about $800, so the run flats are history. He is the 2nd owner but the car seems to be in good shape. Is it normal to ask someone to let you take the car somewhere to get is checked out before purchasing? Oh and BTW, he's selling 'cause he wants to buy a jeep.

 

Don't foget to factor in a MINI Modding Budget of appx 600.00 per year..

MINI's presently are holding their value. Mine is worth about 3-4 grand more than what I paid for it back in April.....

What you don't want is to have an upside down auto loan 4 years down the road. That's where you owe more than what the car is worth. It could be a problem should you ever decide to sell the MINI during the course of paying off the loan.

Therefore, I wouldn't ever reccomend going 6 years on any auto loan. 5 would be absolute MAX.

As you get towards the end of your Warranty, and you believe that you will keep the MINI until it is put into the crusher, start looking as some ESP's. Extended Service Plans. You can pick one up that covers bumper to bumper like original warranty, and will only cost little over $1,000.00. In the scheme of things when it comes to major auto repair, that is cheap insurance. Most companies like Continental, will allow you to pay that 1,000.00 out over a 6-7 month period as well. And depending on how many miles you drove, and time into the plan, you are given a portion of that back if you trade the car in to a dealer.

I have one on my Jag and I am covered up until 80,000 miles. Since I ticked over 50,000 miles, I have had over $3,000.00 worth of work done on her plus the plan paid for my rental car!

Make sure you look into it before the factory warranty runs out. You get a better deal if you purchase the ESP BEFORE your factory one has expired. And, most plans are transferrable to next owner in private sales as well for small fee. ( $25.00 most states ) and a good selling point to tell prospective buyers.

Remember, either make a MINI Modding budget for yourself, or plan on working some overtime in the future to pay for the mods...

 

Invest $75 bucks with Amazon for the Bentley Publications Complete Official Mini Cooper manual. It's the factory workshop book.

With this amazing device, you can cut your oil change costs to about $25-30, and save a lot of money for many maintenance issues.

DIY! Put tools on your xmas list!

 

Thanks everyone for all of the help. I will look into that book. I don't know anything about cars but I am more than willing to follow instructions out of a manual and try fairly "small" DIY jobs. Who knows, maybe it will make me bond with my mini more?

 

+1 except $600 every 2 months. that's the safest thing, it'll balance out after you have fun.
you might say you wont mod it for awhile, you will change your mind haha.
especially when you get that amazon book. little DIY's turn into tunes before you know it