[beebleb]

Hey all,

I'm really close (need to confirm today) to picking up the following for $29,500. Any last minute hints/advice that anyone would like to give?

* 2002 Mini Cooper S
* Electric Blue / White
* 95,000km
* FSH
* Warranty till August 2005
* Xenons
* Sunroof
* Interior Lights
* Cruise / Steering Wheel
* Climate
* Leather
* 17" alloys
* Great condition

The mileage of course is the main concern. The seller says it's freeway mileage and I believe him. What do you guys think of the deal? Oh and any particular questions I should be asking on it? I'm buying sight unseen, as it is an interstate car.

*hopefully a soon-to-be MCS owner*

[enzothemaddog]

umm.....theres no real things to look for unless you know what to hear/look for. Most problems can be sorted out after since its still got abit of a warranty. Plus most problems with Minis are gremlins anyways so you probably would'nt notice unless something was seriously wrong.
But damn...95k in 2.5 years is alot.
Maybe a high K driver might post up.

[n00b]

Try ask Tiaan, one of the blokes he knows got a 130k km car.

[Tit]

I'll put it to him if you're interested...

[IML337]

If warranty is until Aug 2005, it must have been an August 2002 delivery, and the owner purchased Triple 3, or the third warranty year... But *DO* verify that, to ensure there's no funny business going on. Either way, that makes it a VERY early car, especially early to have Xenon lights. Does the car have a glovebox? I'd be wary of buying the car, sounds like it could be a pre-spec to me (though pre-spec cars didn't have xenons I don't think) and those were the cars with the most crappy build problems... Ask for a full history of warranty visits and servicing. Mind you, if it's done 95000km, it could be quite alright. Just ensure you check it out.

There's an issue with 2002 cars that have xenon lights where the left xenon is intermittent, and the only way to fix it is to replace the WHOLE light. You don't want to be paying for that to be done

Are you going to be driving the car before you pay for it?

[beebleb]

Quote: Originally Posted by IML337

If warranty is until Aug 2005, it must have been an August 2002 delivery, and the owner purchased Triple 3, or the third warranty year... But *DO* verify that, to ensure there's no funny business going on. Either way, that makes it a VERY early car, especially early to have Xenon lights. Does the car have a glovebox? I'd be wary of buying the car, sounds like it could be a pre-spec to me (though pre-spec cars didn't have xenons I don't think) and those were the cars with the most crappy build problems... Ask for a full history of warranty visits and servicing. Mind you, if it's done 95000km, it could be quite alright. Just ensure you check it out.

There's an issue with 2002 cars that have xenon lights where the left xenon is intermittent, and the only way to fix it is to replace the WHOLE light. You don't want to be paying for that to be done

Are you going to be driving the car before you pay for it?

Yup, it's an August 2002 delivery with Triple 3. Not sure about the glovebox; what exactly is a pre-spec car?

The history of warranty visits seems good (less than one would imagine, but I would put that down to the heavy freeway driving; Triple 3 gave the current owner free servicing up to 60,000km anyway).

That Xenon issue seems scary, I might research that a bit more. I'm NOT driving it before I pay for it.

BTW: How's the GTI going? I'd still prefer your car

[Tit]

I think the NRMA / RACV (or the equiv) do full warranty checks - you can take the report back to the dealer and tell 'em to fix the found faults under warranty - it's worth getting it thouroughly checked out, and if you do get it...try squeese as much out of the remaining warranty as you can before it expires, perhaps even before you collect it...

if it was triple-3, there would be no reason it shouldn't have a full service history...BMW/Mini should have that info on their database anyway...

[n00b]

NRMA inspection is a joke - I used to work in a smash repairs and often we buy write-off's from the auctions, fix the bang and flog it. There's couple of cars that had bent chassis and other major structural damage left unfixed (or wasn't carried out properly), NRMA didn't even picked these things up. One particular that we knew had some sort of engine problems, one cyclinder was down in compression big time but the report states there's no issues with the engine.

The biggest joke was this Accord wagon, the car had a major front end impact and nothing aligns anymore - yet the report says "no major accident damage"...Go figure

There's couple of good ones even car dealers are afraid of - State Roads (sp?) and a few others I've forgotten over the years.

EDIT: that's another guy I can think of: http://www.vipinspections.com/about.html

Even if you decided not to get these mobs to do the inspection, at least use their handover service - very secure and professional in arranging things. I've had buyers using them when buying cars from me. At least they know they (the buyer) won't lose the cash and I know (as the seller) I won't need to arrange freight.

[TeeBee7]

Quote: Originally Posted by beebleb

Hey all,

I'm really close (need to confirm today) to picking up the following for $29,500. Any last minute hints/advice that anyone would like to give?

YE HAH - just do it!!

[beebleb]

Quote: Originally Posted by dairyboy

There's couple of good ones even car dealers are afraid of - State Roads (sp?) and a few others I've forgotten over the years.

EDIT: that's another guy I can think of: http://www.vipinspections.com/about.html

Even if you decided not to get these mobs to do the inspection, at least use their handover service - very secure and professional in arranging things. I've had buyers using them when buying cars from me. At least they know they (the buyer) won't lose the cash and I know (as the seller) I won't need to arrange freight.

That sounds like an excellent idea. I've always had my doubts with NRMA and RAC, so that sounds the business.

[IML337]

Quote: Originally Posted by beebleb

Yup, it's an August 2002 delivery with Triple 3. Not sure about the glovebox; what exactly is a pre-spec car?

The history of warranty visits seems good (less than one would imagine, but I would put that down to the heavy freeway driving; Triple 3 gave the current owner free servicing up to 60,000km anyway).

That Xenon issue seems scary, I might research that a bit more. I'm NOT driving it before I pay for it.

BTW: How's the GTI going? I'd still prefer your car

Pre-Spec cars are the first ones that came to Aus - BMW Aus specced all the cars as they saw fit and sent them out to dealers and as press cars. People who got in really early got their hands on them, and a lot of them were dealer demo cars as well. And those were the demo cars that really got flogged within an inch of their lives...

All the early cars (all pre-spec and some that came in the following few months) had no glovebox. Gloveboxes weren't fitted until about June 2002 builds (or maybe late May) when the "new production" started, and I was always told (and experienced, too) that these were the cars to steer clear of. There were issues like pulling to the left and lots of bugs that hadn't yet been ironed out. I think they had a slightly different suspension setup too?

Again, these are all the negative things, but as I say, the car could be 100% OK or have had all the little niggles fixed under warranty. It's just a bit more of a gamble on the earlier cars, that's all.

I agree with dairyboy about NRMA inspections - I've seen too many cases where they turn out to be a waste of money.

What state are you buying the car from?

There's not a lot of info around on the xenon issue, just that they fail intermittently, and swapping components of the light doesn't work (as I found out the hard way) and the WHOLE UNIT has to be swapped.

As for the Golf, VW Aus don't have any test drive cars here yet... I won't be able to tell you much for at least the next two weeks (when the cars are *supposed* to be available)

Good luck!

[n00b]

The new suspension wasn't fitted until Feb 03 but that isn't a complete fix - the driveshafts with the Mini's aren't exact the same length on both sides plus weight distribution isn't the same on both sides either. Some Mini's will have more wear on one side and it caused the car to feels like pulling towards the left.

Swapped my tyres, had an alignment and it cured the problem on both of my Mini's.

[IML337]

Quote: Originally Posted by dairyboy

The new suspension wasn't fitted until Feb 03 but that isn't a complete fix

there was a more fundamental design change made in early 2002

[beebleb]

Quote: Originally Posted by IML337

What state are you buying the car from?

There's not a lot of info around on the xenon issue, just that they fail intermittently, and swapping components of the light doesn't work (as I found out the hard way) and the WHOLE UNIT has to be swapped.

As for the Golf, VW Aus don't have any test drive cars here yet... I won't be able to tell you much for at least the next two weeks (when the cars are *supposed* to be available)

Good luck!

I'm buying from Melbourne, Vic. I'll definitely ask about the glovebox now, I'm so glad for this forum and really happy I didn't buy a local Maay 2002 car which I recall was missing a glovebox (just had a shelf).

Oh well, it's sounding that if the condition is okay, the price isn't too bad? What do you guys think? (I think I'll definitely have me a VIP inspection, shame they're so pricey for the actual transport though ($1050).

[Todd!]

Do you know the plates? Are you buying private or from a dealer? What part of Melbourne?

[beebleb]

Quote: Originally Posted by Todd!

Do you know the plates? Are you buying private or from a dealer? What part of Melbourne?

Private sale, from plate: SPAZZ.

The chap's in: Burwood East

[minigolf]

Isn't he, or wasn't he a MINI2er???

[beebleb]

Quote: Originally Posted by minigolf

Isn't he, or wasn't he a MINI2er???

Whaddya know.. it is!

Darn it, wish he had mentioned that before... Hey spazz! This makes it all easier then, anyone wanna vouch for him and his car? That would really put my mind to rest.

[n00b]

Quote: Originally Posted by beebleb

Oh well, it's sounding that if the condition is okay, the price isn't too bad? What do you guys think? (I think I'll definitely have me a VIP inspection, shame they're so pricey for the actual transport though ($1050).

$1050 isn't too expensive, it will be sent via TNT that is trackable on the web with the VIN. FYI: Toll will set you back $997 for freight Syd-Perth.

[minigolf]

Quote: Originally Posted by beebleb

Whaddya know.. it is!

Darn it, wish he had mentioned that before... Hey spazz! This makes it all easier then, anyone wanna vouch for him and his car? That would really put my mind to rest.

Have a search of things here, you might find some stuff that helps you???

http://www.mini2.com/forum/member.php?u=2446