[joshie]

I am planning on buying a seocnd hand MCS, probably 54 reg. I was just wondering what milage I should try and not buy over, (at what milage do problems start to appear, performance dropping etc..?)

Thanks!

[ALD0]

I'd say providint it's been serviced, anything upto 100k will be ok, all depends how the car has been looked after, and how much you pay for it with what options etc!

[joshie]

Oh.. I thought after around 40k on the clock the performance starts to slow a little...(.i.e. worn out charger,,?)

[feenaldo]

Not really but if its been driven hard then obviously more things are likely to have worn. If its coming from dealer then ask them to give you an idea on what type of person the previous owner was.

It can also depend on location, so Scottish cars more likely to corrode from salt, hilly areas will have more clutch wear etc etc.

Remember that anything above 40K will soon be out of TLC. If you purchase your MINI from MINI themselves you off course can extend the warranty of the car in some cases. You can also purchase a warranty for a montly fee from a company like warranty direct, far better than the RAC cover an independant would perhaps give you... have a friend that has dealt with them for things like steering rack and had no troubles.. off course you get a fiesta courtesy car tho

There are deals out there though! I spotted a great spec on a MCS recently on an 05 plate with LSD and lots of other toys, 17k miles for only £13,490. Most 04,54,05,55 have taken the majority of their depreciation from new plates and the R56 coming out now so its good.

MINI Select is a great finance package if you intend to change cars every three years or so, staying on the ladder so to speak.

[cooperSMark]

To give you an idea what's out there. I paid £9888 for mine. It's an October 2003, 53 plate CooperS with 40000 miles on the clock. TLC pack on mine runs out in October so i'll be going for the TLC+ pack for £300

[MINI-Morgan]

How about a nice black 04 Facelift model with 40.5K miles on the clock?

[MINIMANIAUK]

Always go for condition over mileage, a car could have super low mileage and spent its life crawling round the m25 and hit every kerb daily !! ask for a compression test to be done on the car and better still have an independent check done ,it could save you lots in the long run .
The tlc package is fairly meaningless as they all have had this ,and it is only a minimum level of servicing.
Enthusiasts as a whole tend to look after their car more than say ex company cars,and would be a good place to start looking ,they also add more extras so you could get a bargain

[JAMIE1131]

I had a 64K 53 plate MCS, it was in imaculate condition and had been looked after to the highest standard. When driving it felt like new, until that is I got my 04 JCW with only 30K on the clock. Performance wise I think the 53 hadn't lost anything but it generally felt a lot "looser" (steering, suspension etc) in comparison with the JCW which feels tight.
The 53 plate blew its head gasket at 64k after what I believe was a botched coolant change, I think it would have gone on forever but the dealer agreed to buy it back and sourced the JCW (which I'm now selling!)for me.

[feenaldo]

A car maintained to a high standard that has high miles shouldn't be too bad. As MINIMANIA said a car with low miles that somebody has used to crawl round the M25 with or perhaps 5 min trips to and from Tesco is probably going to be more worn out than a nicely looked after one with perhaps a few more 1000's on the clock.

MINI's, tuned and un-tuned have and do live beyond 60k nicely with the correct level of maintenance and servicing.

Best thing is to get a good picture of what the cars history is and what the previous owners were like and what type of driving they did in it.