thinking about buying a 2002 mini

[andydiesel]

Hi there-

I'm looking into buying a 2002 Mini (regular model) and am reading very mixed reviews on the internet.

The car I'm looking at (i won't see it until saturday) has 105,000 miles with a manual transmission, and has had two owners. The current owner has all the maintenance paperwork from about 50,000 miles on that i'll look at when i see the car.

Is there anything I should be aware of with a Mini that has 100k+ miles on it? Am i looking a big giant money pit? I've driven a friends Mini and loved it, but don;t really want a car that will be in the shop all the time. So far I don't think too much has gone wrong with the car other than the electric motor for the power steering pump being replaced.

thanks.

[#1 Kawboy]

DON'T GET AN AUTO !! They all fail and cost $5-$9 THOUSAND dollars to replace. LOOK IT UP here on this site !

[orca17]

I have an '03 with about 143K miles. These cars do not age well. Mine needs about $1,400 worth of front suspension work (the factory stabilizer arm bushings are garbage and routinely fail at around 60-80K miles). Other things I've had go wrong: Failed fuel tank sender units (both), broken moon roof cartridge (part alone is $1,500), broken seat belt retractor, failed hood release cable, broken door lock cable on driver door (I have to roll down the window, unlock the door and reach out the window to get out of the car), failed power window switch, failed fuel system purge valve, failed power steering cooling fan, A/C repeatedly blowing fuses for reasons no one can seem to determine (a real pain in the desert southwest), transmission replaced at 30K miles due to repeated inability to get into reverse (5 speed).

Once this Mini is gone, I will never own another. The dealers cannot fix them (Desert Mini of Las Vegas charged me a grand and I left with more problems than I went in with) and Mini of North America couldn't care less.

[weemelly]

Only if you want a lot of heartache. I had an '02 with a manual transmission and it spent a lot of time on the back of a tow truck for various fixes. I had three clutches replaced in under 110,000 miles. The first one they covered. The 2nd they didn't and they damaged my tranny when they replaced it at 50,000 miles because they have to take it out to install the clutch. They paid for it, but clutches are $2500 a pop. Even one clutch at that price is outrageous. So I vowed never to get another manual mini and now have an '06 with the CVT tranny. Love, love, love my car, but would urge you not to buy any Mini prior to the 2007 changes. I always felt like my '02 was a bit of a BMW experiment.