Hello, I am heavily considering the purchase of a 2002 or 2003 mini cooper. I would like to question everyone who cares on how reliable their cars have been. Mostly the supercharger, although none are probably old enough at this point...

Other things such as rattles, annoyances, things that stop working... Am I purchasing a money pit? Would this be more reliable than say a Chevy cobalt or VW rabbit?

Anything I should really pay attention to when I go to look at the car?

Another question.... I have heard that the 02 and 03 models are the worst of the bunch, but do you think that they are old enough so that the problems with them have most likely been fixed... and if so, what are the popular problems that earn these years such a bad reputation?

EDIT: I have found this thread https://minicooperforums.com/m_2970/tm.htm to answer some reliability questions out specifics, but a question still stands... do you think that they are old enough so that the problems with them have most likely been fixed?

 

It's British, it'll rattle and squeak and drive you crazy but you'll love it.

Other than that, the MCS is a pretty solid car, the only problems with any MINI seems to be the early Cooper transmissions.

 

The only problem I have ever had have been self induced. My '06 has beenvery perfect to date.

 

anything is more realiable than a VW

 

there is no such thing as a reliable MINI. From heads warping to trans failing i have seen it all (almost). be very carefull when buying a MINI. they can become a money in seconds.

 

Have you worked at other dealers as a comparison? Seemingly, if one worked at a Honda dealership and only saw one Honda after the other coming in for repair, one might wrongfully assume Hondasare unrelaible too. (Not to compare honda to Mini's, Mini's would have a way to go to get on the same field, but you get the idea)

 

"Not to compare honda to Mini's, Mini's would have a way to go to get on the same field"

Or even VW's for that matter.

 

I really like my car, it squeaks, it whines, it hits bumps hard, it drives fast and people look at me as I go by. What more could I ask for?

So far the only issues I've run into was one of my run flats going flat. The tire pressure light coming on constantly when I hit bumps wrong (I've taken it in to the dealer and they said just to drive more carefully the tire pressure gauge is sensitive), and my battery has died. Other than that, it's been swell!

 

02 MCS, 59k miles stock. Only issues, 1) sometimes fan will not quit after I turn off car. I simply disconnect it. 2) Recently a/c quits on me for a couple of seconds and then comes back on. I haven't figure this one out just yet. Other than that, awesome car to own.

 

Air conditioner stopped working a few months after I bought my 03 mini. And now the problem is my clutch gave out. There seems to be a lot of this going on with mini's, even the 07 models. Its rideculous to think that a clutch would give out after only 53,000 miles, but I've been reading up on it and there are mini's out there whose clutch needed to be replaced not once, but twice in under 75,000 miles. As soon as I fix it I'm going to sadly trade it in. I love driving it, but its not worth the thousands of dollars to keep it up.