Hello and help! - buying advice needed

[3 Minis]

Hi - first post here. I've had a first generation silk green Cooper - ordered on the day of lauch and kept for 5 years before being replaced by a sparkling silver second generatiion Cooper also bought at the launch. So only experience so far has been of new cars covered by warranty up to 50,000 miles - all good apart from all the recalls on the first one.

Tomorrow (Wed) I'm going to look at a 51 plate Mini One as a birthday present for my daughter - everything prior to seeing it checks out nicely and I know my way round a car to check if it's a good one. This particular example has done just over 100,000 miles, but sounds as though it's been very well looked after with FSH and has a new MOT and supposedly good tyres.

My question is, bearing in mind this kind of age and mileage is new territory for me as far as a Mini goes, is are there any particular foilbles, common faults I should look for? (I'll have a trolley jack with me so no problem to have a good look underneath if there's anything in particular I should look for.)

Any help would be much appreciated.

[Paul]

First thing that comes to mind is the gearbox. They're basically made of cheese, and by 100,000 could well be melted or crumbled.

[3 Minis]

Ta - what symptons would a duff one show - chrunchy gears? sloppiness? hard to get into gear?

[Paul]

Pretty much all of the above. Ours went at much lower mileage and didn't give much warning really, was perhaps trickier to engage with more movement than usual, nothing THAT dramatic until the day it decided to fall apart.

[3 Minis]

Thanks Paul - seen it now and bought it (£3550). Gearbox seemed fine and the rest of the car was amazing for the age, let alone the miles - looks more like a one year old with 10,000 miles on the clock - still has the showroom shine - even the wheel arch liners had been polished (I'm also sad enough to do that on my cars, although the 'carpet' in the arches of our new Cooper prevents it), 4 or 5 tiny chips on the bonnet, a bit of dulled paint on the rear bumper and a tiny supermarket trolley type ding and that's it - no scuffs or scratches. Drives beautifully - it was 340 miles to get it back home - with not a shake or a rattle from the inside, which compared to our original 51 Cooper is amazing. Full service history, BMW up to 90,000 and then by an AC Schnitzer specialist since - the owner was an AC enthusiast with a BMW (didn't see what) and a 370hp 350Z.

Here it is - my daughter is grinning from ear to ear!

By the way - are there any new Mini breakers from where I could get the chrome covers for the bumpers? - looks so much better with these.

[dalboyne]

Quote: Originally Posted by 3 Minis (original)

By the way - are there any new Mini breakers from where I could get the chrome covers for the bumpers? - looks so much better with these.

Looks like a nice car - your daughter is very lucky!

Maybe try eBay for your chrome bits - there are often breakers selling parts there....

Ian

[bazzaric]

I've been trying to buy a mini for the last month...you got yourself a nice bargain there! The full service history is great, and I would think you will get the same price back in a years time too!