As far as I am aware the clutch on the R50 was the same throughout it's production. But some are great and some are not, just stay away from the autos. A 2006 with 160k km's seems very high for its age, but by the same token if the clutch has lasted that long it must be a good one.
The MINI in question is a 2006 Park Lane Cooper. I haven't made enough posts to link to the site, but if you Google "mini cooper park lane thornbury" it should come up on the Trading Post. $17,800 is certainly too much for a car with such high km's. Looking on Car Sales, it's the highest km 05/06 model I could find, and by a fair bit.
I've emailed the seller and got two more photos sent. "No major accidents", however the crack you can see in the front bumper was from when the owner "drove into the tap", and there is apparently scratches on one of the wheel arches from coming out of the garage. The 'Park Lane' decal on the A-panel is also peeling off. Apparently it's used a lot for short trips, a bit of a negative.
It also doesn't seem to have been optioned much (if any) apart from what came with the Park Lane. No MFSW or 3-spoke wheel, no chrono pack (a positive!), and I don't think it has a sun roof.
Without having looked at the car, my personal feeling is that it's not worth anywhere near the asking price. Even most of the earliest R50s are yet to reach the 150,000 milestone.
Is it likely a car to stay away from?
An interesting thing is that it's rego number is only 1 higher than a Park Lane S for sale close to me (unfortunately can't drive that model S).
hi i see your earlier post about cheaper minis here in qld,dont be fooled!! i have spent weeks checking these out for my wife, most are totall rubish, the blue one on car sales for example has a ripped drivers seat, dents in the rear drivers side,and the seat inserts are black they are meant to be blue but its so dirty, my wife got the right hump when we whent to see it
car sales folk want to get there heads checked
Thanks very much for your reply mav889, I've been getting the idea lately that it isn't perhaps as good as I was expecting - your comment confirms it. Did you find the owner hard to communicate with? We've sent a lot more emails than we've had returned. The PPSR search showed it was under finance, which I hadn't been told anything about (one of the questions that didn't get a reply). However, I did discover that it originally came from Victoria! "SIG-889" was the registration. Anyway, good luck with your search for a MINI, and thanks for telling me about the blue S.
We were down Melbourne-way last week so went and had a look at that Park Lane Cooper mentioned above. It has been fairly neglected, and could possibly need several thousands spent on it to get it as it should be. The seller was negotiable, she said she wasn't sure exactly about what it was worth. I wasn't sure either because there's no other cars around with such high km's to compare it to, but it'd be a fair bit less than the asking price.
After looking at S's and Park Lanes, I might just look into a family friend's 2002 BRG Cooper. Although not exactly what I was looking for, I know it's been very well looked after. Plus, they've already done the gearbox, so I shouldn't have to worry about that, at least for a while!
i ended up getting the yellow 05 chilli s that was on car sales with 139000k's on it, it seemed hi k's untill i went to look at it ,the car was mint, not a mark on it, one older lady owner from new, lots of extras, MIN1 56 plate, full service history, had a good deal and payed 14k
Congratulations, looks like a very nice car. I had a laugh when I saw the registration though. The friend who's selling the green Cooper mentioned above just upgraded to a 2007 MINI from Queensland with the exact reverse number plate, 651NIM.
Looks like I may be going with the BRG Cooper. Many thanks to all who have helped answer my many questions.
I think it's first trip to Melbourne may be the BMC Grand Day Out. I heard that MINIs were still invited? I'd love to go to the 10 year event in SA, but it's right in the middle of VCE exams - I hope there'll be plenty of photos to look at afterwards!
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