Hey guys! I very recently sold my '08 MCS hatch and I've been looking into purchasing a 2012 R59 S. It does have an N18 and it's a manual transmission car with the manual soft top. Are there any things about the N18 to get examined that an ordinary mechanic would miss, as well as R59-specific issues that should be examined? I have a specialist shop in mind that I will use, but I want to make sure I am definitely not going to fall into the pit of timing chain issues or other common but fatal problems.

 

Do you know the build date? After March 2012 they changed to the newer fuel pump design, which is built better. As long as the maintenance was performed regularly, timing chain should be much of an issue. My January 2012 Clubman with N18 engine has been very reliable for me. Only issue I had was the fuel pump, but it was replaced under warranty. Haven't had any issues from the new pump.

I think the LCI Minis have been pretty reliable overall.

 

The build date is early March 2012, potentially the 2nd. I will ask the shop to measure the timing chain slack if possible too so I can be safe because I don't think it has been done. Mileage on the roadster is just below 82k.

 

Make sure that the convertible top is in good shape and all of the electrical is OK.

 

Luckily enough for me, the roof was replaced 2 years into ownership under warranty so it's not 8 years old thankfully. Having seen the car in person, the roof looked in decent shape. The car had been sitting in a garage for the past 8 months or so until recently. I'm getting the pre-purchase inspection tomorrow and will note how it goes!

 

You don't mean "timing chain should be much of an issue," right? Do you mean it shouldn't be much of an issue but it's still a possibility?

 

Yeah, should have said "shouldn't be an issue"

 

Gotcha. I started to freak out for a moment until I realized it was most likely a typo