Hi all. I'm throwing this question out there and your advice would be appreciated. My wife and I used to own a 2005 Mini Cooper S back in 05, but we got rid of it due to an expanding family. We are planning on purchasing a used mini in the next coming year or so, as a "fun" car to drive on the weekends mostly.

However, I'm still hesitant because I'm terrified of the maintenance cost. I remember back when we owned the 05' Mini S, several things broke down and we had to take it back to BMW. Although everything was under warranty, I always see the bill and almost pass out. It was so freakin' expensive for any little switch or sensor that needed to be changed. I said to myself "I would never own this car without warranty".

So, I'm wondering what experiences people have had with used minis. We would like to purchase a manual convertible (don't really care if it's an S or not), but we would like to have a reputable mechanic shop that doesn't overcharge like BMW. No disrespect to BMW employees, really...but the hourly labor is ridiculous. We are located in south Ft. Lauderdale, FL.

Thoughts? Thanks all for taking the time to respond!

 

Hello - I'm an experienced home mechanic. (Grew up helping my dad and brothers change engines and I work on my Mini and two motos). September 2011 I bought a used S version with 145k on the clock! The interior and exterior were in good shape and the tires were at 50%. Upon test driving it, I drove the car a little "hard" to "hear" the state of the engine. It was very smooth. Checked to see if there was any smoke coming from exhaust and engine and there was none! I settled on a price and drove away, satisfied. A buddy of mine that is a master mechanic looked over the engine. We had 5 leaks! We took that engine out and replaced all the gaskets and pwr steering hoses. It took 22 hours and cost about $250 in parts! Saved over 2K in repair if taken to Mini Dealer. The cooper is not an expensive car to upkeep, the parts are not that expensive. If you have some mechanical skill and the right tools; you can save a lot of money, by DIY. I would buy book and befriend an mechanic. If you make time, you can save yourself a lot of money and "really" know that car! Good Luck!
Brian Tucker
Home Mechanic & Website Optimizer for Karplus Warehouse
Los Angeles Used Cars - San Fernando CA Used Car Dealer | Karplus Warehouse | Over 500 Used Cars in Los Angeles

 

Good info there , BUT and like most , people don't have the right tools/know how to do most repairs on cars of todays caliber. Even if you have the parts and service manuals the books don't say (I know books don't talk lol) in detail how exactly to do the whole repair , most are written with the reader/tech having tech knowledge to begin with...

 

Well I had some wonderful experience with Fiat 500, which I am using from past 5 years and never faced any major difficulties so far, also its parts are pretty reasonable so you don’t have to worry about anything. 5 years ago, I bought it pre-owned one from an online store called automotix.
So I would also suggest you to go for the same.

 

Hey All, I'm in negotiations to buy a 2009 Mini. I am really excited-I've loved the car from afar for a while, but also rather nervous because of just that-the upkeep. The very nice Nashville Mini salesman I talked to said that the Mini was a German car and Germans expect you to perform the required maintenance at the required time and if you do that you probably won't have problems.

That said, I am going to use this car as my to and from work vehicle. The mileage is great. My thought on that was that if I must by a "to and from" car let it be one I love. I have a 1996 F250 with 181,000+ miles and though it still gets 21mpg on the highway the diesel price is killing me.

I plan to use this forum for all sorts of Mini help! So thank you all for your repair input!

Anything I should look for at the prepurchase drive?

Regards,
Elfina

 

Elfina- pretty exciting! See if they'll let you take it for an extended drive not just 'around the block' kind of test drive. This way, all the temps will come up so you'll get to feel and hear it operating at both cold and hot temps. You can listen for odd noises both windows up and windows down as well as making sure it tracks in a straight line meaning the car does not pull to one side or the other. They should also provide some sort of maintenance history on the car.

It's a great car! Have fun

 

Hi elphina.
I own a 2020 r56 cooper s,
Great car love it best fun to drive.
I have a local mini independent garage look after my car lots cheaper than main dealer,find the same local if you can.
Weak points on the prince engine,have a look on Google,not a BMW engine as people think,timing chain tensioner,thermostat and gasket,fuel pump and turbo oil feed pipe.i have had all the work done as preventative work,cheaper than fixing a damaged engine,regular oil and filter changes every 10000 miles.not as BMW recommended they are way to far apart,good 5w 30 synthetic oil not cheap stuff.check oil regularly they use oil,however an engine not using oil is not a well lubricated engine.
Just keep a little cash aside for regular servicing and things should be great,will cost but look at what you get.compare with other cars with the same performance and running costs on a mini are cheaper than most,have a look at BMW m3,huge costs and not a great deal of difference in real word performance,been there done that.
go for it and have fun