I have a 2007 mini cooper in excellent condition, except that the valve in one cylinder blah blah blah (I think I blacked out when the mechanic got to that part) and now it needs $6k in engine work. That's too much to spend on a 10 year old car, but it's otherwise in quite excellent condition - I take good care of it. I was going to donate it, but it seems like the parts must be worth quite a bit. The interior, for example, is in near-perfect condition. Or maybe there's a way to assign a value to it so I can at least get a decent tax write-off for the donation? Thoughts? And thanks!

Signed, Mourning in San Francisco

 

How many miles you have on it and is it the S model?
Did you get a second opinion? Does the car start but act funny?

 

85,000, and no it's not an S, but it seems to have fallen prey to hey same defect that felled so many of his brethren. I haven't gotten a second opinion, but I'd trust these guys with my life. They're scrupulous to a fault - known them for years. It does run - on 3 cylinders. Sounds and runs like crap.

 

I dont know of N12 engine failures like that. As for the trust thing, i would not trust even myself with anything. Humans are prone to take advantage of those who dont know and the weak.
at any rate, did they do compression check, leak down test, i prefer numbers vs words. (Mechanics can talk all they want, if i dont see numbers, then know something is fishy.)

I say this because i guy came to me after TWO mechanics diagnosed his car for a spun bearing and the cost to fix was 6500...when looked amd listestened, it was a $10 belt! Go figure!!!

 

Parting out a car can be a lot of work and will probably take a long time to complete.... If your mechanic, or someone else is interested it might make sense for him to rebuild it to sell it.... Or put a used engine in it. At least this approach would keep another MINI alive...