Ok, I've got 2 test drives scheduled tomorrow and could be looking at a third over the weekend. Obviously that will have a lot of say in which of these comes out on top, but I'm interested in your opinions, please:

1) 2006 Mini Cooper, manual, mileage <54k, asking price $13k

Pros: Getrag tranny; least expensive price tag of my options.
Cons: Seems like very high mileage for a relatively new car; CARFAX?

2) 2006 Mini Cooper, automatic, mileage <24k; asking price $16k

Pros: Relatively low mileage; still under warranty (?)
Cons: CVT costly to replace if needed; upper end of my budget; vague CARFAX

3) 2005 Mini Cooper S, automatic, mileage <50k; asking price $16k

Pros: Cooper S; ok CARFAX
Cons: Supercharger costly to replace if needed (tho far less so than the CVT); upper end of my budget

This car will be used primarily as a daily commuter (short city mileage; I average about 3k/year) -- but also as a "getaway" vehicle on weekends. So, all things being equal, which would you choose?

My guess is there will be lots of votes for the '05 MCS, but how do I convince my wife that the extra $3k is worth it?

 

I vote for a Mini Cooper S. However, unless you really want an automatic, I would continue to search for an S with a manual. Since you have a short commute the manual will be more fun and less expensive to maintain.

 

#1, the manual is a blast & I have more miles than that on a 03/06 build

 

I've heard a lot of complaints about CVT.

 

Asking price does not necessarily mean price paid. You may not have to spend as much for the cars as the listed price. I would test drive all three, explain you are test driving more than one car, ask for their lowest drive away price, then compare your driving impressions with the final asking price and see what you think then. Some cars are just in better shape than others, both cosmetically and how it feels to drive them, sometimes even if the cars are very similar in mileage and equipment. As for convincing the significant other to go for an S, her driving one can be your best argument. I say drive all three, get a price for all three, then post again with your opinion and prices. Maybe at that time you wont need any help, the test drive may tell you everything you need to know.

 

The S automatic would be my suggestion. The supercharger can be rebuilt/replaced for less than $1000 now.

The CVT and 5 speed manuals in the Coopers are all known weakpoints.

 

OK aside from the fact that, as stated, asking price is not set in stone etc (I can help if you want, PM me, I do this stuff all day), I'd go for the MCS, HP, in my opinion, is a safety issue, and this is no insult to any non-S owners, but if given the option I would take a 1 year older car with, what, 20-30 hp extra, vs the slightly newer slower car. especially with city driving

plus, it holds it's value better

 

Thanks to everyone for the thoughtful feedback so far. I did check out the first two cars today -- but only test drove one of them for reasons I can explain in detail tomorrow. (It's late now, and I'll give a full run-down of how things went so you can tell me how paranoid I'm being... or not.)

However, there's yet another possibility to add to the mix....

4) 2005 Cooper, manual, mileage 39k, asking price $16k

Pros: manual tranny (?); good CARFAX; well appointed (winter pkg, premium pkg); the wife's in love with it (chili red w. white roof/mirrors/stripes)
Cons: it's not an S (?)

 

Did you see the one on NAM. 2005 MCS JCW, 36K for $16.5....and it comes with a road trip to Texas to pick it up....move quickly. I would if I hadnt bought mine already.

 

Stay away from the standard coopers. CVT and the 5 speeds have some real issues.

 

Thanks again, folks!

One quick question: A couple of posts here have suggested that the CVT and 5-speed manual transmissions are "issue-ish". I'm certainly aware of the CVT problems, but I thought that the problems with the manual transmissions were primarily relegated to the Midlands units of the earlier ('02-'04) Coopers. Didn't Mini switch to Getrag starting in '05. Are the Getrags all 6-speed?

(Please forgive all the newbie questions.... I'm learning as I go!)

Anyhow, to catch everyone up on how yesterday went:

1) First car was the '06 Cooper 5 spd with <54,000 on the odo. Apparently the car's one owner is the owner of the dealership, which might explain the relatively high mileage.

The car was nice and clean, but the CARFAX report (obligingly provided by the dealer) showed an accident in November '07 ("involving rear impact -- it hit another vehicle"). Upon closer inspection, it looked like maybe the front panels around the hood -- particularly the right fender -- weren't quite lining up cleanly/evenly, and also the left rear fender didn't seem to match the the right. Signs of a bent frame?

The tires -- Pirelli's -- would need replacing relatively soon, and there was some staining -- early rust? -- on the muffler casing.

The orange flag was under the hood. In general things seemed okay, except that the radiator expansion tank was completely empty. Of course I'm a newbie to Minis, so I erroneously thought this was the coolant tank and was wary of taking the car for a test drive without any coolant in it. Still, I'm not sure how much fluid actually *is* supposed to be in the radiator expansion tank....

Still, we may revisit this car once we've checked out some of the other options.

2) '06 Cooper (CVT) with <24,000 miles. Nice looking car, though the interior wasn't as clean as I would have expected (dirt on the front passenger seat, stain on the roof by the rearview mirror, McD's napkins in the glovebox). Purchase date was 7/2006, so it's still got another 14 months/16,000 miles under warranty.

Exterior looked ok... there was a ding (1" x 0.5") on the hood next to the grill. Didn't look rusted, but a yellow flag. The brakes showed a little bit of staining, but probably from lack of use/outdoor storage. The muffler casing was actually rusted through in a couple of spots. Tires -- Contis -- were generally good, although the front right was noticebly more worn than the others and would need prompt replacement.

Still, we took the car for a spin, and it's quite a nice little car. Kept it in automatic for starters since I wasn't completely comfortable with the Sport Shift. I don't know whether it's just my unfamiliarity with the CVT or a sign of future problems, but the transmission didn't seem as responsive as I would have expected -- honestly not far off from my wife's Corolla. I did try out the sport shift, however, and that seemed fine for the most part -- although I'm not sure how much the issues were indicative of my inexperience as opposed to the transmission itself. The car seemed to pull slightly to the right (right front tire again?), but otherwise handled like the proverbial go-kart.

There was a very noticeable grinding sound from the back of the car under even light braking. The salesman suggested this was from lack of recent driving, and that it probably would have gone away if we'd had the car out longer (?).

Only other issue was that the remote locks didn't seem to work at all. Don't know whether it's a simple battery issue, or a sign of larger problems.

Again, the jury's still out on this one, and I hope to have a better feel for how it compares once I've checked out the other two in the same price range this weekend.

In the meantime, any feedback on the above is appreciated!

 

Had a very nice test drive of car #4 ('06 Cooper, 5 spd Getrag [?], chili red, ~40k miles) yesterday afternoon.

The car looks to be in very nice condition, although the salesman (pre-owned high-end cars) was upfront that the brakes would need to be done before the car went anywhere. (By policy he doesn't touch brakes until a car is sold, but will do them once it's found a new home.) That said, I didn't notice any particular issues with them while driving. Sadly, I think the car is *just* out of warranty on mileage (has another 6 weeks time-wise).

The manual transmission felt great -- definitely my preference above any of the automatics I've driven thus far. I noticed that the car seems want fairly high revs to get maximum torque -- but then again I have to remind myself that a) I'm driving a 4-cylinder (rather than my 6-cylinder Audi); and b) this isn't a Cooper S.

A couple of other things I noticed: Looks like it might need an alignment, as it tended to track slightly to the right. The tires (Goodyears) were in good shape -- fronts were more worn than rears, but evenly so -- seemed to be higher profile than on the other Minis we've checked out so far. Wondering if this has something to do with the "Winter Package"? Could barely fit my hand under the wheel well to check the treads on the rear tires. Also, seemed like more road noise than on the car I drove the other day.

Only complaint was that the cupholders were too small (surprise!).

I'd like to have my mechanic take a look before I bite the bullet on this one, but he's about 40 min away. There's a Mini dealership just down the street from the used car dealer. I suppose I really should push to have my guy look at it -- although this particular dealer (Mini of Peabody) seems to get good ratings for service.

Asking price for the car is $15,990, which seems reasonable. I'm not sure how much I might ask him to come down. (I suppose that might depend on the pre-purchase inspection.)

Anywho, one more Mini to check out this morning -- #3, '05 Cooper S, automatic. Same asking price ($16k), but a few more miles. Looking forward to taking this one for a spin; will report back later with details.

PS -- The dealership I was at yesterday has a gorgeous lightning blue '07 MCS for sale, sadly out of my price range at $22k -- but wow!

 

Give that paddle shifting 6 speed auto in the S a chance! In the sport mode using the paddles, it can be a lot of fun!

 

1. Justa
2. Justa
3. Not a Convertable....

 

I bought a 2006 Mini Cooper with a CVT last summer and have put 14,000 miles on it since then. It's a great little car and the CVT is as fun to drive as the stick though completely different and just about nothing can be done with how slow it is off the line. It's been getting 28-32 mpg depending on how aggressive I've been driving it. It has 15 inch Track light wheels and 195/55/15 Yokohama S-Drives on it.

It is a fun, little zippy car. The CVT makes it easy to drive in traffic and the sport mode and manual shifter makes it even more fun and a little quicker. But no performance mods can make it close to as fast as an S. Plus the CVT supposedly can't tolerate torque like the manual can.

But compared to an Cooper S it is a DOG! I love my MINI but everyday I point out to the Wife that we need to trade it in for an S! Either car will be a blast to drive but the S has so much more power it would be my choice next time.

Be certain to find the MINI that really makes you smile.

Joe

 

SSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSS!!! !!

 

I would never buy the auto...

The dealer alway gave me automatic loaners & I couldn't believe how crappy they shift!

I also drove a CVT equiped car & it wasn't any better.

Japanese cars have had good automatics for decades so I don't know why BMW/Mini can't figure it out?!?

 

... And I'm glad I did!

I am freshly back from a test drive of the '05 MCS. Very sweet car!! No significant issues that I can think of; it looks to have been very well maintained. The front tires may need replacing soon, and as run-flats that may be a bit pricey ($300/ea?). But really that's about it.

I was a little wary of the Sport Shift at first, but it's very easy to get used to and looks to be a lot of fun. The transmission seems perfectly fine.

My two main concerns at this point are:

1) Can I do justice to the car? Honestly, 95% of its time will be spent commuting back and forth from the train station -- about 3 miles of city driving each way. It almost seems like this is too much car for that. (Though the other 5%.... )

2) How will it be in the winter? The other main contender -- '05 "JustaCooper" -- has the "Winter Package" which might be helpful in icy New England winter weather. I'll have to compare the specifics options on each car, I guess.

The S has a dealer limited warranty, which would be nice, if hopefully un-needed.

Anyhow, I like... the wife likes.... Drool!

 

sounds like you need a Beater to park at the train station and a Cooper to have fun.....

 

I bought some 185/65/15 Bridgestone Blizzaks to put on my Holies for winter here in Denver. It turned the MINI into a tank. I drove it instead of the wife's Mazda Tribute AWD.

 

hi there. i did a simple search in Autotrader and found some 06 MCS for under $14k...

This one is in IA and has less than 11k miles for under $12,000 asking price (definitely do a Carfax on your own) - you can pay $25 for a 30-day Carfax access with unlimited reports:
http://www.autotrader.com/fyc/vdp.js...standard=false

here is the search results:
http://www.autotrader.com/fyc/search...=1243097970171

GL with your search... I would go for a MCS with the manual tranny

 

Lotta wrecked a flooded stuff

 

BMW/MINI DID figure it out. The automatics in the 2nd gens are AISIN transmissions... AISIN is owned by Toyota. Toyota is a Japanese car company.

To the OP: Don't get the CVT unless you absolutely *need* an automatic, like I did, and if that's the case... I'd look into buying a used 2nd gen before I bought a MINI with the CVT. The CVT, if it needs replacement, tends to need to be replaced at right around 60k miles and that's pretty typical mileage for cars of the age you're looking at. Odds are good you'll be spending that money sooner rather than later.

If you're set on the 1st gen (and I can see no reason why not. I would have been too if it weren't for the fact that I can't drive a manual), get the manual.... and honestly the last car you looked at sounds like it might be the right one for you.

Good luck.

 

that's very true... that's where research comes into play. Last year I bought a 2006 MCS with 19k (one owner) from a dealership for around 20k... that was almost a year a go.

One of my customers bought an 05 MCS with upgraded rims and other goodies here in Phx for 15k with 50,000 miles...

the deals are out there...

 

Hey all....

It looks like the winner will be the '05 MCS (dark silver, <50k miles, Steptronic transmission).

The asking price is $15,995. I had my mechanic check it out and he noticed that the front bearing(s?) needed replacing ($850), and that the Goodyear runflats ($280/ea -- assuming I stick with the runflats, which is unlikely) will need replacing before winter.

I called the dealer with this info, and he's agreed to fix the bearing(s?), and will take $200 off the price for condition of the tires.

KBB (fwiw) gives a price of $20,695 for a 2005 Cooper S in "Excellent" condition. Not especially helpful.

I also checked out TMV which ranges from $15,417 ("Average" condition) to $18,588 ("Outstanding" condition). The dealer is hesitant to go less than the $15,795.

We'll also see what sort of trade-in value I get for the A4....

Anywho, at risk of jinxing myself, here's a dealer's teaser shot of the car in question: