I was just over at a local Toyota dealer and they've got an 02' MINI Cooper in on a trade. Car has 138km (about 85K miles) on it but has an exhaust, air intake and the sales man believes a chip. The car is BRG with white hood stripes, runs very well. I'm just concerned with the mileage, they are asking $14,995 canadian and I think that isn't a bad price. This was a mature/one owner car and has been rust proofed regularly. Runs very well, is there anything else I should be concerned about? Maybe the original owner was a member of this forum, if so that would be great.

Thanks in advance for any help.

Glenn

 

I can't speak for the Cooper, but my 03 Cooper S (sept 02 build) has been great, and I would imagine that the standard Coop would be as well. If I remember correctly there were some trans troubles on the early ones, linkage cable or something. (a recall item I believe) Other than that should be strong.

Maybe someone with a high milage one will chime in.

Nik

 

I own a '02 Cooper CVT with 38K miles and no problems to speak of. I took delivery brand new 4 years ago, on September 7th, 2002.

 

The sales person called and said the previous owner was in getting service on his new car (Toyota FJ). So he asked him a few questions for me.
Looks like the car had the sport suspension option, always used synthetic oil and with the chip, exhaust and intake he believes the car now has around 140 hp. This seems optimistic but the car does run very well, he also had the brakes done at 100km - all four.

Thanks for your help so far.

 

I've got a very early 2003 Cooper with over 100,000 miles and I'd recommend you pass on this deal. There are just too many little tiny things that might or might not have been updated on the early cars - seat mechanisms, seat airbag wiring, door handles, I forget what else... there's a whole long list of things that the dealerships might have replaced or might not. There were a bunch of service bulletins that went out for those early cars.

Then there are the things that have not (yet) had service bulletins - rusty door hinges, transmission seal that doesn't hold up to extreme cold, etc, etc.

I love my car, but I still say pass on this one - it's just too much of an unknown.

 

thanks for your help on this, and Snid, I enjoyed reading your 100K story.
Yes I am going to wait and look for something with less mileage. I could just wait until the Civic is paid for and trade on an 08' or 09' - that sounds good too.

 

It's not so much the mileage as the model year. As good as the 02 and 03 MINIs are, the 04-06 are that much better.

 

Good (if "dated") thread. I'm wondering if the above quote carries into the `07's & `08's?

Thanks,
g ...