Ok so after being obsessed with minis for years I'm finally looking into purchasing a mint condition 2003 Mini Cooper s w/ 47k for 9000$. I could use some advice from members. Do you think it's a good price? Is there any big problems with these earlier years? I checked out the car and it is flawless condition. Only thing is the guy never changed the supercharger oil and it has 47k on it. How often should the sc fluid be changed? Other than that eveything works perfect on the car and all maintenance was done.

 

It should be fine. I have 200K on mine. and only swapped my charger out at 180K.

 

As long as normal maintenance has been performed I would imagine this is a solid MINI, and the price is within range.

The supercharger oil doesn't need to be changed in my opinion. Some motorists do it around 100K, but even then it's probably not needed.

Shop around, see what else is on the local market. Ask your local MINI club if they have opinions about it, or if they know of other MINIs for sale.

 

I bought an '03 R53 two years ago and haven't had any major problems with it. The biggest one I've had was the serpentine belt tensioner seized. That was around $300 to $400 at a local independent shop. I'd recommend getting a mechanic to do a pre purchase inspection. I had a couple minis that I rejected based on the results of those. My car had a little over 110,000 miles when I got it, it was slightly cheaper than yours, but it had so many more miles and it was a two year newer car when I got it. The price sounds about right.

-Eric

 

With a car with this low mileage, one thing you might want to have checked out is things that can go wrong from the car sitting for long periods. For example the hydraulic systems (clutch, brake), flat spots on tires, etc. This car has averages around 5000 miles per year since new. It's possible that it could have been put on at 100 miles per week, which would be ideal, but it's also possible that it sat for months at a time. From your description, it sounds like a pretty good deal to me though.

 

This information may be helpful: http://www.soopercooperinfo.com/Used...questions.html

 

Awesome thanks for that list it will come in handy. As for the car I mentioned earlier I waited about a hour too late and it was sold :( I was super pissed its gonna be hard for me to find another one in that condition in my area for a while I think.