Mini Dilemma
Hi everyone,
Am new here and am in search of my first mini. I find that Coopers are very expensive in terms on financing and that there is much less wiggle room with mini as compared to most other, or should I say more affordable, names. I guess that is because they are technically a higher end vehicle and target a different market.
What I like is that the older 03-05 models do not have a stark contrast in looks to newer models, as compared to say Nissan or Honda, where even the 09's look a world better than the 08's... not to mention the 03's! I want an 03-05 Cooper S because I will be able to find one for 15-20k CAD as opposed to 40k CAD for an 09 S.
The real difficulty is, I guess, in finding a car that was well maintained. I would try to go through a private sale and aim for an older driver with relatively low kms per year owned. I would judge the situation as it happened. So, thinking that you can get a well maintained (and well driven) mini with upwards of 100k kilometers for under 15k CAD and low financing, I would prefer that over paying double for a newer model.
The question I have is what the average life of a mini is, which parts are problematic in 03-05 models, and how much certain parts cost to replace. For example, those Xeon headlights... how much are those (sounds expensive)?
I want a nice car like a mini. To me, instead of paying 20k for a new budget type of car I rather buy a 5k$ used car just to get me from point a to b. I want to enjoy my car, and a Mini is a quality car I really enjoyed test driving.
Your comments and advice would be much appreciated!
Thanks
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