Mini Cooper S

Bald-Eagle22

Bald-Eagle22

Bald-Eagle22

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Guys I ma off to look at a Cooper S this weekend .

04 Plate fully Loaded with only 22,000 miles on it full BMWSH and TLC left for a year .

Anything i should watch out for on theese ?
 
Crap gearbox, which rattles. And the interior rattles too. Aux belt goes on em quite often too. And RFT are poo as well. Kept mine 6 months

Anything good.

Yeah they look okay.
 
Nothing rattles atall... Mines an 04 - its fine ¬_¬ apart from the time when the power steering pump and steering rack had to be replaced.
 
As above have said,

Gearbox, its done 22k, it shouldn't of needed a change but some have the habit of going... earliest i've known them go is about the 30k mark, but some I have known have lasted forever.

Power steering also, don't be fooled by the whine, thats very normal for Mini's its only if its REALLY and I mean REALLY loud and clunks really loudley as you head to full lock is when they need replacing.

Also the thermo housing cracking is another common fault, as well as the aux belts :)
 
Also, if it has the Driving lamps on the grill, they tend to rott, so check them too :)
 
thepharcyde said:
Crap gearbox, which rattles. And the interior rattles too. Aux belt goes on em quite often too.
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jongeeone said:
its fine ¬_¬ apart from the time when the power steering pump and steering rack had to be replaced.
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West said:
Gearbox, its done 22k, it shouldn't of needed a change but some have the habit of going... earliest i've known them go is about the 30k mark

Also the thermo housing cracking is another common fault, as well as the aux belts :)
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West said:
Also, if it has the Driving lamps on the grill, they tend to rott, so check them too :)
Click to expand...

So, well made cars then? Apart from all the bits that break off, or fail, or rot obviously.

Christ, think I'll stick with small Fiats. They might have their issues, but my Seicento has at least made it past 7 years without losing a gearbox, or a steering rack, or anything rotting (except the exhaust backbox, which blew last year). Having driven a BINI, I don't think the handling (decent though it is) would make up for having something that brittle.
 
The facelift (05 Onwards) ones tend to have more reliable gearboxes... as they used a different one in the original R53 shape (The one with the layered lights rather than the Circular)
 
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Gearbox on mine is fine.

The steering rack only went on mine becase some seals on the power steering pump went, and it flooded somthing another.

Its a good car.
 
my mate has had 2 old ones and 1 new one, and he had no problems
apart from driving through flooded water and destroying the engine
 
Gilly said:
They do? :/

I thought the only positive was the awful whine from the supercharger if you like that sort of thing (and I don't) and the handling?
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I had RFT so the handling felt was average. It did not feel very safe bombing it down B roads. Its hard to explain but felt it hopped over bumps and tramlined something chronic.

Oh op the engine is a Chrysler outfit too made in Brazil :D
 
Decaying image IMO.

Estate Agents and Hairdressers car now I am afraid. :D

On a serious note why do they call them Coopers? Did John Cooper do any development on them?
 
Third Opinion said:
Decaying image IMO.

Estate Agents and Hairdressers car now I am afraid. :D

On a serious note why do they call them Coopers? Did John Cooper do any development on them?
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[Alison Moyet] We all neeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeed a thread resurrection [\Alison Moyet]

Depends, the Works editions were breathed on by JCWG and JCWG were brought into work with BMW at some stages of the design of the first version, BMW have now bought the name and closed down JCWG but continue to use the name.

My car is awesome and I don't sell houses or cut hair, I took it out for a run this evening and its as much fun and brings as much as a smile as the day I took delivery.

The engines used in the Cooper S will take a lot of punishment and there are a few out there pushing out nigh on 300bhp with some head work, even in standard form they are amazingly fun to drive and handle very well, Lopez was quite impressed with mine if remember rightly.

MB
 
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