To buy or not to buy: Mini Cooper Convertible 05 plate

Could get a Z4 convertible of around that age with a 3 litre v6 for that kind of money. Albeit with a lot more mileage. However 22K for an 11 year old car can also be a bad thing. It may have been left sitting for extremely long periods of time. Also probably not been serviced properly because of low mileage.
 
Diddums said:
Make absolutely no mistake: They are seriously expensive cars to own. We've had an 06 One for three years now and we've spent more fixing it than we spent buying it.
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You obviously haven't owned a car which is "seriously expensive" to own if you think a Mini One is!

Diddums said:
Since ownership it's had:
New clutch. New wishbone bushes. New top mounts front. New discs and pads all round. New tyres. Full geometry done twice (some of these are normal service costs, but it's still asspensiff!)
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A 10 year old car needing some brakes, tyres and bushes replaced?! What a lemon!

Diddums said:
Granted the loud pedal is basically an on / off switch and we live in an area with a hundred gazillion speed bumps
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Which makes it even less shocking that your car needed some new bushes and a clutch...

Diddums said:
almost any work is a sub-frame off job.
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Only if you're messing around replacing the clutch (like with most FWD cars) or the wishbone bushes. Even then - it's only held on with 7 or 8 bolts and after you've disconnected the struts and ARB - it drops right off.

Diddums said:
Well, put it this way:

I had a Corsa for about 5 years which cost me at most £500 to keep on the road. Literally, no exaggeration.

I had a Fiesta which cost me about a grand total in 6 years of ownership, including services and consumables.
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Ah, i can see that your definition of "seriously expensive" is probably a far cry away from everyone elses. Most people spend £150-200 on a pair of new decent tyres on an average car. And £200 for new discs and pads at the front is about average also.

The Mini isn't expensive to run at all. Front discs/pads cost about £80 from ECP, rears cost about £65. A clutch replacement is about £250-300 inc labour. Tyres on a 16" wheel are about £60 a corner. Fuel isn't great, but you can still expect mid 30's combined. Insurance and tax is about average. Servicing is cheap and easy to do.

Diddums said:
Granted the Mini we bought wasn't properly researched, it was an anniversary gift which meant that it was a case of "I like that one" and any reasoning was thrown in the bin.
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So you're telling the OP not to buy a Mini because you bought one on impulse, you live in London and have a gazillion speed bumps around and treated the throttle pedal like it was on/off?

Don't get me wrong, the R50 Mini does have it's faults, but you haven't listed one of them yet!
 
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"Seriously expensive to run" sounds awfully hyperbolic and I have no idea why consumable costs are being cited as part of this, since any car needs brakes, tyres, geometry checking, etc., but they do sound like they have the potential for many an annoying niggle.

My girlfriend likes them but (fortunately, for me) they're too small for her needs.
 
TrixiBuG said:
Seen a 2005 Mini Cooper Convertable, 1.6 petrol, <22k miles for sale with Evens Halshaw for <£4,200

I would like to know:
  1. What to look and listen for when I go for a test drive?
  2. Common problems with this model of Mini
  3. Does the price seem reasonable?
  4. Any other hints, tips or thoughts about this car
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1) All the standard things when you buy a car (fluid levels, mayo under oil filler cap, signs of poor accident repairs such as panels that don't completely line up or that are dull/shinier than others etc etc).

2) Electric PAS pump can be troublesome. The steering will be pretty weighty as standard, but should feel smooth when going from lock to lock. A bad pump can make strange noises and suddenly get very heavy then light as you are turning it. BMW/Mini are actually very good at replacing these with good will. Just last week, I saw someone took in a 2002 MCS with 115k miles on the clock and BMW offered quite a lot of good will which meant the woman only had to pay £300. Many others with newer/lower mileage examples have had them replaced under goodwill with nothing to pay.

Oil leaks - These cars loooove to leak oil. For the most part, these are just minor dribbles that look worse than they are when they get burnt on/blown around by the air. The main offenders are the cam cover gasket (very easy to replace), the cam sensor o-ring (bit more difficult as it's behind the radiator) and sump gasket (easy to replace come oil change time). Again, if you look under the car and see the sump covered in oil, it'll likely be one of these offenders.

Front wishbone bushes - Like every car that gets to 10 years old, these can need changing. The bushes are cheap, but the labour is likely to be a £120 or so from a cheap independent garage due to the front subframe needing to be dropped to get to them.

3) I wouldn't pay £4200 for an R50 Mini at all. I don't know if this is what they go for but I'd still say it's expensive. You can buy R56 Mini's for that kind of price. The very low mileage is disproportionately pushing up the price IMO. I'd also have concerns around if the servicing has been done properly on a car that infrequently used.

4) They are cracking cars to drive. Seriously fun things to whizz around in. I wouldn't buy a convertible unless you really wanted one. You can easily get superb condition Mini Cooper S models for £3500 so maybe look at one of these? They've got the perfect balance between power, handling and looks.
 
When I say "seriously expensive" I mean that in the context of it being a small car. Obviously putting it next to a Maserati will change the scales but compared to any other small hatch I've owned it blows them all out the water in maintenance and repair costs. And yes, I'm fully aware of the age of the car and the resulting costs, my point being that I've shelled out a hell of a lot more on this car during ownership than on other cheapo econoboxes.
 
Orionaut said:
As a mechanic, I totally hate the ****ers.

Apart from the spark plugs. there is nothing that you can get at without without spending half a day and suffering skinned hands!

They are very pretty heaps of **** really!
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Seriously? I've had absolutely no trouble working on mine, and have in fact found it quite enjoyable. And this is coming from someone who has to scrabble around on a gravel driveway with trolley jacks. If I had a lift and a workshop - everything would have been childs play.

What have you found to be so challenging?

Orionaut said:
And it isn't just me! My local BMW dealer has a special "Mini Mechanic specialist" because nobody else will go anywhere near them!
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The only thing that makes them more difficult to work on is that they are a small car and things are more tightly packed in. Like a Fiesta, Corsa, Punto, Clio etc etc.

And tbf, nearly all new cars have absolutely no space in the engine bay either.
 
Diddums said:
When I say "seriously expensive" I mean that in the context of it being a small car. Obviously putting it next to a Maserati will change the scales but compared to any other small hatch I've owned it blows them all out the water in maintenance and repair costs. And yes, I'm fully aware of the age of the car and the resulting costs, my point being that I've shelled out a hell of a lot more on this car during ownership than on other cheapo econoboxes.
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You must have been blessed then, because I don't know how you ever spent £100 a year maintaining a Vauxhall Corsa or a Fiesta.

Most places charge about £100 for a service, which I assume you got done every year? Then there will be tyres on top of that. And brakes. And anything that comes up during the MOT.
 
My partner's R56 Mini Cooper S hasn't cost a single penny either, including servicing at the local Mini dealership. When we were looking for Minis a few years ago it was almost impossible to find one without the service pack.

We've had no issues at all with the car in three years of ownership, the only cost has been some new Conti Sport Contacts recently.

(Although none of this is really relevant to the OP)
 
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My other half has had a Mini for the last 3 years as a company car (no choice). It has been flawless and I actually enjoy driving it as it's quite nippy and you can throw it about the place.
 
These service and repair costs seem pretty much in line with other small hatches to me. I hired a Cooper Cabriolet in Mauritius. It was brown, had 150km on the clock and a semi auto gearbox. The thing had clearly had a bit of a hard life but it was a great little drive for what it was and a nice place to be.

If it's what you want I wouldn't consider a few quid more on service items over something like a Cosa as a reason not to buy one.
 
Have a r56 JCW and other than the dreaded death rattle mine has been fine. Its running a meth tune and has done 25k in the year i have owned it and only breakdown was the timing chain when it hit 60k. Other than expected costs [ servicing, alignment] its been a great car.
 
Owned a R56 Cs and whilst it was a fantastic looking car, this is where it ended in my experience and echo the negatives posted in this thread unfortunately
 
They do seem to be pretty unreliable for what is supposed to be a "simple" car. They aren't at all like the Minis of old, in name only.

Also Didn't they have a fault which causes them to catch fire? :P

I think for a convertible at that price...an MX-5 or nothing.
 
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