My sister has been wanting a mini for a long time after I got mine. Her civic is dying quick and shes found a mini to look at tomorrow from a private seller. Its a 2006 PW/B just a cooper automatic with 30k on the odo. Is there anything specific to look for with the '06? Were the auto tranny problems taken care of by this time? Anything else? Thanks!

If it's got a CVT then it's always a potential big $$ fix. I have a friend who's a top exec for Zipcar which has a MINI R50 fleet of several hundred nationwide all with CVT tranny's and their cars average 50-60k before needing CVT replacement. She should go with a manual R50 or auto R53 with the Aisin tranny.

Oh dang... I thought the cvt was in the earlier coopers... and was taken care of by 2006... I'll definitely let her know.

If she any experience at all with driving stick, get a stick shift and get the S. That way she'll avoid the auto probs and get more fun to boot. :-)

yeah I pretty much got all the car/racing/motor interest in the family. She just needs a commuter for work and would never drive a stick... I definitely think she should get what she wants, but not at the cost of a new transmission in a few miles. How do we tell if it has a CVT trans?

so...basically all the auto R50's have the cvt.... for some reason I thought they changed it in the later years of the 1st gen...boo... she wont go for manual...and she wants the justacooper...should I tell her to look for an 07? was it changed in the 2nd gen?

It was changed in the 2nd gen. All 02-06 Cooper autos are CVT. A 2007+ will have the Aisin.

She found an '07 in Irvine... She'll probably be buying it tomorrow

Sweet!

I just brought a used 2006 which now I guess has CVT, is it really that bad?

It has 20K Miles on it.

It's still under warranty for at least 3 Months, is there anyway to get it fix within warranty period?

TIA

Cool!

I am going to preach extended warranties for Coops with a CVT. We just had one replaced along with the axles. The total for all the work was $9500ish. The tranny and labor was over $6000. We paid $100 for the deductable. The warranty paid for itself like 8x over the first time we used it in this car. From what I have read, there isn't any fixing them, it's replace the whole thing.

How do we find that CVT is or can be issue? Local shop said I have slight oil leak at oil pan, is this the sign?

A lot has been posted on the ills of the CVT. I have an '03 with a CVT and have had no problems with it so far. It has seen the Dragon and MOTD 3x and was tracked in 2 Phil Wicks HPDEs in '05. It now has 42k and is driven sparingly to carshows and out and about. I have an '06 MCSa to do all the daily driving, Dragon-slaying and HPDE work now and it is getting yeoman's work!

As for the oilpan leak, My CVT once leaked tranny fluid and I took it to the dealer. He found that the lip on the pan had been crimped [probably at the factory itself] and the leak had compromised the gasket, too. And so, I got a new pan and gasket without charge...and, more importantly, nary a problem since.

Take it to your dealer if your car is still under warranty.