Any thoughts on the subject? anything I should be wary of?

2003 Cooper S, checked the carfax hasn't had any accidents or anything reported.

99,000km (61500mi)
$17,900CAD ($16,110USD)

has a little dent in passenger side door, scratches below the hatch from people sliding things in and out. haven't taken it for a test drive yet.

any comments??

 

couple more

 

Gosh, that seems way overpriced to me. My old '05 MCS with 61,000 miles, two sets of wheels & tires (one set of winter Blizzaks on Web Spokes, and a ultra-high perf. set), one owner, clean Carfax, has been sitting on the lot at $16,500 for awhile. But I know that things cost more in Canada.

 

Not sure where you are located, but I just bought (3 weeks ago) an '03 MCS with clean carfax and 63xxx miles nearly fully loaded for 12250.00.

It may be worth looking around some more.

ETA: I see you are in Canada.... I am not sure what prices are like up there...

 

editted original price... think I hit divide instead of multiply.

but yeah, that's one of the best prices out there in my area

 

I see the edit. I was in the middle of replying that you should get a new 2009 MCS for 3K more. Just ordered one for about $23,500 (New York) that had some nice options. Still seems like a bargain to get a new car with 0 miles, 0 dents (hopefully) and full warranty for 7400 more. If you don't mind me asking, what would it cost to order an MCS in Canada?

 

to order more or less that MCS with a couple options came to about 33,600$CAD (30,240USD) on the mini.ca website.

 

Warranty and maintenance packages are up, car is 6 years old, has dent in door......Hmmm. Personally I'd opt for a brand new non-S with options you want, warranty and maintenance and no miles for a few thou more, but you know better than I do what you can afford. I do think you might do better on a newer used S too.

 

Yikes! Thanks for sharing.

 

Hey that one has been for sale ( @ Lenux) for months for some reason or another, plus you'll have to pay PST & GST, but they should be ripe to make a great deal. Generally up here in Canada we pay more for our vehicles (rip) so comparing to US prices is completely fair, but here's another 03 with less kms but no roof, private deal so no GST: http://vancouver.en.craigslist.ca/cto/1207593985.html

Here's another good deal:

http://vancouver.en.craigslist.ca/cto/1201487917.html

a friend just paid $21,000 for the exact same car but with only 34kms 6months ago.

If you could afford to get into a 05/06 you'll have what are considered the best of the crop, no real faults, stronger tranny etc. Good Luck and check out:

http://www.vancouverminicooperclub.com/

 

Its high, you could find one anywhere else and get it shipped fo like 500, may not be worth it but what u found is definately high.

 

I don't think it's as high as you guys think unfortunately. I wish it were... because then I could be paying a lot less if I kept looking. these are just a few I copied arbitrarily from Autotrader.ca for my area

2003 MINI COOPER S
107,400kms
$17,799.00

2005 MINI COOPER S
$22,995.00

2005 MINI COOPER S
42,026kms
$23,995.00

2004 MINI COOPER S
89,984kms
$18,900.00

2002 MINI COOPER S
$19,900.00

2005 MINI COOPER S
63,873kms
$22,900.00

2003 MINI COOPER S
52,000kms
$19,900.00

2005 MINI COOPER S John Cooper Works Edition
77,440kms
$23,900.00

 

same exterior as mine. i love the BRG with black stripes.

 

I've got an all 2003 BRG as well but no stripes.

Its got 50K on it and the only problem was the crank pulley.

 

Now who put their dirty shoes on the seat backs??
I don't think I'd spend that much for an '03... it looks nice but like someone else said, and '05 or '06 with the better transmission would be the way to go OR, if you have a decent down payment and don't mind making monthly payments, then go BRAND NEW. Order one that's NEVER been owned.
Good luck, whatever your choice.

 

I'm with others - price seems high to us US folks. I've paid that much for 06 Convertible with 23K miles

 

Not sure if I'm allowed to do this or not. But it feels a bit necessary.

Lenux Motor Cars
1790 Boundary Road
Burnaby
British Columbia
Canada
(hopefully this way it can turn up in a google search or something and maybe help somebody else before they're in the same situation)

I went to see that cooper s, loved it, talked them down a bit, put a deposit on it for the week. from the very start they were a bit sketchy but I let it go because I liked the car so much.

all week they have been dinking me around, not explaining things (I'm a bit inexperienced at buying a car), misquoting numbers (they made a 5400$ boo-boo on wednesday that I caught), not returning phonecalls, all sorts of misinformation. just absolutely horrible in every way.

friday night I called to confirm the amount I had to bring to drive the car off the lot on saturday morning. and whaddayaknow it's 1400$ higher than I was already quoted. I asked why and he explained was a 750$ and a 350$ administrative fee. he then told me he would call me back.

he called me back and told me that the 350$ fee was actually worked into the payments, and that there was never a 750$ fee. explained that the 1400$ were actually taxes on the downpayment and then explained to me what taxes were. regardless of the legitimacy of government taxes, that's an awful lot of money to just leave out until the day before. especially when I was given the impression that I was bringing a nice round number that goes towards a taxed total. that was enough BS.

all these little red flags just kept popping up throughout the week (that's just a few by the way) whether they were large or small they were still there.

Worst customer service and most difficult purchase I've ever been involved in.

so I pulled the plug yesterday. withdrew my offer on the car, and asked for my deposit back. the manager (who said he would be there at 11am to explain to me the paperwork) was the only one who could write a cheque, and he didn't show up until 5:30. we went to the aquarium for the day, and then came back and loitered in the center of the lot for an hour and a half until he got there.

The business manager had said I could go home and they would mail me a cheque. we told him we doubted we'd ever see the cheque if we allowed that. he got all offended and said we had no reason not to trust him because they're "governed by the better business bureau just like every other business."

I checked their rating on the BBB on friday night before I left. they have an F. I let him know that. and he told me I shouldn't take the word of a "few disgruntled customers." I told him I was now one of them. they even had a complaint from the better business bureau sitting on the desk behind the front counter....

I got my cheque, explained to him that the car was a slam-dunk for them. it was everything I wanted and all they had to do was sell it to me. but the customer service I'd recieved throughout the week convinced me otherwise. I want nothing to do with their company and I certainly don't want them to have my money. there will be more Cooper S, though it would be nice to find one in BRG.

I love that car, but I'm absolutely amazed at how uselss they were.

that's my rant. sorry.

 

For an "inexperienced" car buyer, you did a fine job! I don't blame you in the least and you handled it perfectly. Sounds like you researched their track record and had your facts straight. I'm not sure whether they were shady as much as just plain inept or even stupid, but you probably did the right thing. I'll bet that they'll be calling or e-mailing you a lot in the next week or so trying to get you back in the showroom. Would you do the deal if they actually sold it to you at the original agreed upon price? Don't let this sour you on MINI. They are awesome awesome cars. I've been driving for 40 years and have owned close to 30 different cars from almost as many different carmakers and my MINIs are the two greatest I've ever owned or even driven.