Buying a Rover Mini - 4k ish - crazy idea??

han_solo

han_solo

han_solo

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hi there,

i've always fancied a rover mini.. esp the cooper sport. A quick look at prices tells me i won't be able to get a good one for this price (shocking!).

It's only going to be used on random trips and weekends away. i don't have a garage so it's going to be parked on the street... would this worsen any hidden rust problems? (most likely right?).

What are your thoughts guys? Any owners here willing to give a mini virgin some advice?

Also, i'm not sure what's a reasonably priced mini as the prices seem to fluctuate a heck of a lot! Some commanding more money than an Audi TT :P

thanks v. much!! :)
 
They are definately a car of passion, and road way parking isn't going to do you many favours (especially as you'll be forever fixing it :p).

£4k should get you something to work with though.
 
thought as much... just wished i had one of those double electric garages :P

need to find myself a well loved mini for hopefully a good price!
 
Have you driven a mini before? If the answer is no then i do suggest trying one first as you may not be keen on it. Like already said they are a a love or hate sort of car with very little middle ground. When you just look at it on face value they are not value for money but if you are considering buying one then you are not looking for that.

If a sport is a stretch on budget then maybe look at just a sportspack version which should be a good bit cheaper to buy
 
I've got a late Cooper, living outside has been tough on it :( Mechanicals are cheap and easy to fix, so place emphasis on sound bodywork as a priority. Mine had a JCG engine and it was fun to drive! A few issues means it's currently running a standard MPi set up. 4k is maybe a little low for a solid Cooper Sport, they seem to start at around that at the moment. An earlier MPi with sportspack may be more achievable. It's basically the same car.
 
i test drove a cooper s about 8 years ago :P thought it was ok but i didn't buy it because i got talked out of it. not sure where i can test drive one again.. maybe pop into a dealer of some sort and pretend to be interested in his over-priced min just so i can test drive it?

sportspack? i take it this is the version that has the looks but not the power of a cooper sport?
 
Its exactly that. I owned a P reg sportspack which was just so much fun to drive!

Im guessing you enjoyed the drive 8 years ago? if thats the case then you will still enjoy it today.
 
The Cooper Sport has a standard engine, nothing extra to it. It's basically a sportspack option car by a different name. If anything, they are slower and handle worse than their 12" Cooper Classic counterpart due to the heavy, big wheels and arches.
 
If your going to buy a mini, buy a proper one from the sixities :p (although with that budget you'd only get an 848cc model) not a cooper.

Even more Kudos for a mark 1 (much nicer visually too)... ;)

You won't get a mint 60's car for less than 10k though but for 3-5k you can get cars that'll need bits doing to them from time to time to keep them good but still excellent runners and stand out from your run of the mill rover minis imo.

But I'm not a fan of new cars so I'm a little biased :D That and I don't mind spending a few hours in the garage from time to time doing bit's and bobs.
 
If it's as good as it says in person, then yes that looks good. It's essentially the same as a late sport aside the silver roof is white on earlier cars.

Just saw it's in my town, I haven't seen it about.
 
bcjames said:
If it's as good as it says in person, then yes that looks good. It's essentially the same as a late sport aside the silver roof is white on earlier cars.

Just saw it's in my town, I haven't seen it about.
Click to expand...

Agreed, it seems like a very good price though I can't see what the mileage on it is.

Also think you should definitely test drive one to see if its something you would like.

:)
 
just found out it's around 100,000 miles... with around 5 previous owners!

erm... what do you guys think? look elsewhere or haggle down the price?
 
Well, its a 16 year old car, so owners and miles aren't that high, but the you'd normally expect a Mini to be kept a while as they aren't your average daily.

I'd definitely check the engine runs and drives perfectly. MPis have a torquey engine with a 2.7 diff so love to chew their way through dif pins and idler bearings. Making it to 100k without a crunch in to second is pretty good going! The service intervals Rover recommended probably didn't help matters at the start, but this may have just been well looked after. Mine is on 90k and I've just had the gearbox rebuilt with a x-pin diff, preempting and issue that might come up before it does. My engine is just starting to show signs of wear in a leak down test, so will probably be rebuilt around 100k. Of course you could run and drive the car for a lot longer without really knowing about that wear, but now I do I want to sort it! The advert sounds like they know the normal service parts and know what car it is, so an enthusiast owner.

Thinking about it, I think I have seen this car before, possibly when it was up for sale before.

edit: You could maybe take the price down a little due to the mileage, especially if it hasn't had any counter-work done, but it's pretty good if it's a genuinely rust free sportspack.
 
If you want to spend your entire ownership of your next car welding and and changing panels then a Rover mini is the car for you.

I have a friend who is absolutely stuck on them, he has 3, the youngest one being a L reg cooper (i think its a cooper, I zone out when he starts talking about them) I do however know that he is forever fixing leaks, replacing bits, wiring things back up etc etc.

The panel around the bottom of the windscreen is the worst culprit if I remember rightly, and the car just ends up swimming with water.

In short, no I wouldnt buy one.

He has an A reg one thats all done up in union jack colours, its hilarously poor to drive.
 
Try and find one which has had some sort of aftermarket wax injection early on as they rust like no tomorrow from the inside out.

That one is naughty also as not a genuine Cooper.
 
Yep, no factory Cooper's in most of the 70's and all of the 80's until Rover reintroduced it in the early 90's.

They only Minis that are unreliable and the ones who's owners don't look after them. That may mean the previous owner didn't, and you have to pick up the pieces. Mini's have good suspension (bearing in mind its a 50's design), good brakes, and brilliant steering. Worn out, old components will let all of these down. Sadly, everyone seems to think they are an expert on Minis, but really these days they take some specialist knowledge, especially the injection systems.

My MPi does 20k a year as a daily drive and had minimal issues. In fact, most of the work I've done is through choice rather than necessity. Mine is waxoyled, and the subframes were zinc's. It's just starting to show rust in places, but not many mid nineties cars aren't by now. Mine doesn't leak, the electrics have never failed. My only issue was a failing lambda sensor, but the MEMS happily kept it going despite the odd readings.
 
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