Hi, I am not yet a Mini owner. I have friends here that I work with that own them and I have been traveling frequently to Dallas in one. Love it.

I am in the processing of selling or trading my Nissan Xterra (2002) for a Mini. I have an ad posted in the For Sale section of you are looking to trade yours for an Xterra.

I do much of my own mechanic work, but never on a Mini. I will likely be getting into a Mini valued at around $8,000 so likely 2002-2004. I need to know what to look out for to make sure I am not getting a problem car.

Any tips or advice are welcome!

Thanks
Jamie

 

There are NUMEROUS threads on this as with the rising gas prices we have had a ton of folks looking into trading off the SUV's for minis ...

02's/03's AVOID automatics when they die they are $6k to replace

 

Many thanks for the reply! I would prefer manual transmission.

Honestly, I am now leaning towards a Yaris or something similar. I work full-time, but also am paying for university classes as well. I have very little money left over each month, so I cannot afford car repairs. I was hoping I could get an 02-03 Mini with decent miles and drive it without worry.

I read so many posts that a Mini is "Not a Toyota or Honda" in the fact that you don't drive it and forget about repairs. I am told Mini's are for the driving experience, things break, it's like a BMW cost-wise to fix, but people accept that because of the fun.

That's not for me right now. I would love a Mini, but only if I knew it would not be in need of frequent $$$$$

Thanks!

 

My 05's been daily driven most of the time HARD and all I have had is a power steering issue and a set of brakes in $70K miles for repairs