Hi,

I have had my first generation Mini Cooper S from new in January 2005. It has now done 110,000 miles and the only major non-scheduled maintenance has been a new clutch, discs and pads at 100,000 miles. in addition to that it had a new rear windscreen wiper motor at about 50,000 miles and a replacement exhaust oxygen sensor just before guarantee expiry at three years. It still runs just like new and compares very favourably with other cars I've had that at about 70,000 miles / five years start falling apart.

how much of this you can read over to a 2003 Cooper model I don't know -- but they're both first-generation. One other point with the older car is that at my mini dealer (Sytner) maintenance charges for minis more than four years old are a lot cheaper e.g. my clutch change was half the recommended normal BMW price. Sytners were also very good on tyre prices and matched the best quote I'd already got. No, I don't work a Sytners but have found their Leicester branch to be very good.

I would add that the car has never been thrashed, has been driven sympathetically and garaged all its life -- which I think must help because it reduces exposure to dampness. I like it so much that I shall get another -- but not just yet because it's still okay.

 

Chances are good that it will meet the needs you mention above.

One thing to consider with a 2003 MINI Cooper (I assume you're not talking about a MINI Cooper S)
is the fact that the Midlands manual transmission used in the early Coopers is somewhat prone to failure,
and same is true of the CVT automatic transmissions, which are probably even more prone, and
even more expensive to replace if they fail.

If you get a manual 2003 and the transmission goes, you can swap in a Cooper S Getrag 6 speed,
but involves replacing a lot of other parts (axles, clutch, flywheel, starter, mounts, etc.) as well,
and changing from a CVT to Getrag 6-speed manual involves that plus having someone custom reprogram
the ECU from auto to manual function.

Of course if you're only planning on keeping it a couple or few years, you probably wouldn't want to do all of that
if ithe transmission fails, and it probably won't fail anyway.

 

I just bought my 05 Cooper S and it had 93000 on the clock. As long as the previous owner took care of it and did the regular maintainance, you should be fine. Just make sure you ask for the CarFax history. I forgot to and wish I did, it would be nice to know what has been done to the car...

 

The problem I have with carfax (and any car history service) is that it doesn't tell the whole story. For instance my car was rear ended, but the damage was purely to the bumper cover. The history report just shows accident and doesn't differentiate from a more serious accident.


My 2 cents about the engine. I am at 120k in 5 years with lots of weekend track time but with regular belt changes and oil changes. My engine is still very strong according to my mechanic. Only real issue is with the aircon so far. I wouldn't hesitate to buy a high mileage MINI. I might not buy a 200k mini, but around 100k is not a problem.

Michael

 

High mileage Minis are fine and will last, but before you buy look around to see what a little money will get you. This is my second mini cooper, so this time around i knew what to look for.

I set myself a budget but quickly realized if i wanted that spec the best mileage i could find was 60k - so i increased by budget by £500 which meant i could get the same spec but much lower milage. I ended up getting my mini with just over 21k on the clock! So for that extra £500 i got almost 40K less on the clock.

Unfortunately thats now £500 less for me to spend on upgrades, but what more important - upgrades or lower mileage?

Good luck.

Marc

 

If I was to choose, I would go for lower mileage over upgrades,
BUT
Condition of car is far more important.

 

If the service history is good then it'll be fine!

Search for HWS's thread on his 444,000 mile mini! One thing though is the midlands gearboxes can be weak...

 

I agree with the idea of getting a history report on the car but don't use carfax, there have been alot of issues recently with them providing inaccurate information about vehicles.

All the dealers here have scrapped carfax and now provide you with the carproof, much more reliable.

 

What is carfax/carproof? Never heard of it?

 

Carfax is a company that does detailed history reporting on cars. If the car has been in an accident, or the odometer was dialed back, or it had water damage, it will all be listed on the Carfax. The mileage of the car when it was listed for sale is also listed, as well as other interesting details about a used car.

For a used car, I would recommend getting the Carfax or equivalent history report, as well as taking it to an independent mechanic who can take a look at the car to make sure you're not getting a lemon. This way you know more than the seller will ever tell you, and you have two independent sources of info about the car's history.

If you're getting a car from a new car dealership and it's "certified used" then you may not have to send it to a mechanic, depending on how much you trust the dealership, but you should ask for a Carfax from them anyway. Since the Carfax does cost some money, sometimes you can convince the seller to get one and give you a copy, but that's only if they're not trying to hide something about the car.

 

I currently drive a 2004 mini one 1.6 petrol. It’s got 168,000 miles on the clock and runs fine. Slight smell when flooring the throttle (most likely due to an oil leak) but had no other major mechanical or structural issues