Moving the older cars seats to the 2005 will result in an airbag light if the car was made after Jan 2005...it has a weight sensors, not present on the older ones....
Guess if you don't car when you try too sell it...not an issue, but will likely be an extra $$ reduction in value.

 

Airbag fooling resistors will keep the light off.

 

I figure we would just move the sensor from the seat, its not the first time I have taken one out of the passenger seat, not a fun job but it can be done.

 

The WEIGHT sensor is more than just a resistor...(does work if you have a PRE-FACELIFT CAR that has aftermarket NON AIRBAG SEATS INSTALLED)....
And doing so to car so you can sell it....ouch...ALMOST booby trapping a car...kinda sounds like a lawsuit waiting to happen....and recorded online, forever....
And isn't the point of buying a low mile car is to get LESS WORN SEATS?!
Installing 163,000+ mile seats in a car with 65,000 miles...kinda defets part of the reason for BUYING A LOW MILE CAR...getting less worn out stuff.....

 

Yeah...it has been done...
I might suggest buying the car if he likes it, and getting seat covers, or better yet, get a set of comfy gen2 seats installed....still OEM, airbags will work, and foam, etc will be better.

 

I've driven and rode in both gens for many miles, I prefer the facelift. The gear ratios alone are worth it to me. There's plenty of threads to tell you why the facelift is better and the majority of the enthusiast feel that way.

 

No argument about the improvements on facelift cars. It's more the difference between a high mile over a low mile 1 that's being compared in this case.

 

low mileage vs high mileage is hard, could be good to have higher miles because most issues may have been addressed already. Where a lower mileage the issues may not have appeared yet. Like most say, it all comes down to the maintenance and luck really.

 

To be honest with you, the interiors in my car are pretty much impeccable, no tears or anything at all and all the dash components and the doors are very clean and with no evidence of wear...I keep them real clean and conditioned. The seats on the low mile car are in "ok" condition, the black and blue leatherette seats tend to start getting bad sooner than the regular black leatherette for some reason and from my experience. My 05 doesn't have the passenger airbag seat sensor equipped because it was an early 05 build, so it's kind of those weird ones that came with some facelift and pre-facelift things, I won't have to worry about trying to fool anything and a good lawsuit lol, not trying to be stupid or get in trouble either, if I do things I do them how they are supposed to be done with no shortcuts.

My interior is ALL BLACK literally, pillars, headliner, etc. (OEM, thanks to COOPER) and that's why I like it so much, my interior is a 9/10. What inclines me to the low mileage car is the mechanical part (and from what I saw, a lot had been taken care off already), also all the exterior (aero kit). The interior can be fixed easily and little by little.


I'm waiting it out right now because I want to get the best deal I can, and that is probably by the end of the month when everybody is trying to get rid of inventory in their dealers . I'll have 2 cars for a while if it happens. And if it doesn't happen I won't worry about it, there are many other opportunities out there to find a lower mileage car. I'll just keep riding my Mini until it decides to die lol.

 

I understand this and the differences, I'm not looking to drag race the car though hahaha. What I want is a ride I can comfortably ride with no worries for a while, I like Minis a lot and I work on them all the time. I really don't care about the difference in the transmission, pretty much a .3 second difference in acceleration from 0-60 (which is a good amount, but I won't cry about it).

 

Tranny also makes it a little nicer to start in first I think. Which makes easier to drive as a daily.