OT: used Mini Countryman, Cooper

[Nomadmax]

Bring
More $
Withya

[bil]

Originally Posted by Nomadmax

Bring
More $
Withya

OP question:

If you have knowledge or experience with these cars, please share.

key questions, specific to these two models (not a used car in general):
which year(s) to avoid
what are the most common issues
what to pay attention to when buying used

intention is to drive it under $5000km a year

Member's answer:

Bring
More $
Withya

[Mr. Pink]

Originally Posted by p nut

To be fair, I don’t know anyone who’s hit a deer say that they even attempted to jump. They just sit and stare or get hit while trotting across the road.
I’d much prefer to be in a truck than a Mini when hitting wildlife.

Yeah. Jump? No. Sometimes they T bone you. Dumb creatures.

[Mr. Pink]

Originally Posted by fourflys

sorry, a bit late to this discussion.. prior 2006 Cooper S owner here (the one with the supercharged engine)..

Pros- such a fun car to drive, so quick and nimble! Super cool nods to nostalgia while being modern (like the switches, gauges, etc). One of the best owner communities around (at least, it was when I had mine).

Cons- maintenance when out of warranty.. as others have said, it's a BMW and that means $$$ when something goes wrong (and it will).. IF you can find a good, local mechanic that knows their stuff and you're willing to fix stuff when needed, then it may not be bad (but will never like a Toyota in reliability).. I love some of the BMWs and I love the Minis, but I can't see owning one out of warranty unless it was just a screaming deal.. (or you are able to most of your own maintenance/repairs)..

of course, my experience is a different car than what you are looking at, but it sounds like it's not that much different of an experience..

I had those wheels.

[carpediemracing]

A bit late but my take on it. I worked in auto service for about 5 years and am still friends with my former coworkers in 2 different shops, both techs (including the best techs I worked with) as well as the front people.

The overwhelming thought on Minis is "get one that you can get rid of before it hits 60k miles", preferably with a warranty. And it should be an extra car, not primary. And expect to need work on it, and expect that work to be more costly than similar service on a different car.

There are a number of proprietary tools necessary to work on the car. Some things take forever - generally speaking we turned away minis unless one of our best techs accepted the car (and he generally had an idea of what was wrong, and calculated potential pitfalls before accepting the car). I don't remember the Countryman specifically, although a very good friend of mine had one and is much, much happier with the replacement vehicle (sister car, a BMW, same chassis apparently). Friend is into esoteric cars but the mini wasn't worth it.

I also have a friend (he's the one that painted my bike frame after the builder shortened the stays) that absolutely loves the original Minis - he's to cars what some Paceliners are to bikes. He lowered and chopped a pick up truck, which he still has, and that was 30 or something years ago.

When he painted my frame, he had 7 of the older little minis, and he had restored 5 of the 7. When I say restore, I mean he stripped the cars down to the tub, literally hand polished every nut and bolt, and put it back together. When I went to ask him about painting my frame, he was at a polishing wheel and mentioned that a nut had just gone flying so I should not get too close in case he fumbled another one (I asked him about tumblers for cleaning small parts but he wasn't keen on it for whatever reason). Well, he got 2 new minis at about the time he painted the frame, which was a number of years ago. Now? He has zero new minis ("too much of a pain to work on" - for a guy that hand polishes suspension nuts that you'd never see?). He has 13 of the older minis now.

A great way to estimate ownership costs is to shop extended warranties. I think the easiest way to do it is to go to a CarMax, pick out whatever cars you're actually interested in, add a few extra cars for controls (in OP's case add a BMW, maybe Mercedes, VW, and throw in maybe a Honda, Hyundai, etc). A salesperson at CarMax can look up each of these pretty quickly (30 seconds each?) and there's an extended warranty price for each car in the system. Look at the cost of the 5 year, 150k odometer reading (5 years or until odometer hits 150k). I was shocked by the price differences - when I shopped it ranged from $1400 to $9900 for the same warranty, except the expensive ones were limited to odometer readings of 125k (so the warranty company wouldn't even warranty to 150k miles). Although OP might be using the car 5k a year, the extended warranty cost should reflect the cost of unexpected repairs during a 5 year period. This does not include any maintenance (minis generally take expensive oil, for example).

When I did this with a carmax salesperson, I tried to tip the car salesperson for their help, but the person declined the tip. I even offered it out of the store as well, when the same person came to the service facility where I worked, so I gave them whatever discounts I could. I offered $100, which I believe was what they got paid for selling a car at time - I don't know about now but Carmax people get paid per car, not on sales price, so whether they sell you a $20k car or $120k car, they get paid the same, so they have no motive to sell you a more expensive car.

[djdj]

I had one of the first US BMW Cooper S's, a 2002 manual, from new. Chili Red with a white top. There were a few issues early on that one might expect with a new model -- e.g., coolant expansion tank defect -- but these were covered by the warranty. I kept it for 10 years, and maybe 50K miles, with no other significant issues. It was very reliable, a fun car to drive and, IIRC, it had favorable crash test results. I still see many from that era on the road locally. Oh, and it fit a road bike with the back seats down.

[buddybikes]

Get her a Miata with promise she gives you the keys on Sundays after your ride

[windsurfer]

Originally Posted by carpediemracing

There are a number of proprietary tools necessary to work on the car.

???
I've been maintaining and fixing my JCW for 14 years and have yet to encounter the need for a proprietary tool.

[p nut]

I dont care much for the modern Mini's but back in the day, i really wanted one of these:

[Hank Scorpio]

I should have mentioned that even the NA version was pretty fun to drive and the clubman had a decent amount of cargo space. The mini suicide door was a nice feature that made getting in and out of the back a bit more manageable for adult sized people. Her is mine loaded up for a LBI weekend.

[buddybikes]

Originally Posted by Hank Scorpio

I should have mentioned that even the NA version was pretty fun to drive and the clubman had a decent amount of cargo space. The mini suicide door was a nice feature that made getting in and out of the back a bit more manageable for adult sized people. Her is mine loaded up for a LBI weekend.

Your wife deserves a nicer bike.

[Hank Scorpio]

Originally Posted by buddybikes

Your wife deserves a nicer bike.

She crashed that one the first weekend she rode it in Provincetown! I do wish that I could have that Vanilla back though.

[Mr. Pink]

Originally Posted by p nut

I dont care much for the modern Mini's but back in the day, i really wanted one of these:

My '03 Mini had two driving or fog or whatever you call those supplement lights in front of the grill. I thought they looked cool when I bought the car, but kind of laughed them off as a retro fashion statement from the factory. But, they really worked. I called them my deer lights. Weren't required to switch off when brights were on. Angled each a bit out to each side, and loved them in the woods, which most of Westchester is.

[verbs4us]

We bought a 2015 Countryman new and, overall, it has been a great car. Tight, no rattles, solid handling, good mileage, no major or annoying failures. A few notes:
The au

• audio sucks. If you have the option, go for audio upgrade. I am an audio snob, however...
• The OEM headlights sucked. I went with aftermarket LEDs and they sucked more. I went round and round with Morimotos and after several tries, finally got a set that works, does not trip all the idiot lights, and is reliable. Now we can see at night.
• Get au

x driving lights anyway.

I think in 2016 or 17 they with a CVT and the mileage is better.

[carpediemracing]

Originally Posted by windsurfer

???
I've been maintaining and fixing my JCW for 14 years and have yet to encounter the need for a proprietary tool.

I thought it was a tool to remove an alternator. I Googled, it's not - it's just that you're supposed to remove the bumper and move the radiator to get to the alternator. 4 or 5 hours it says, vs a typical 10-30 min for a regular alternator replacement (minis aren't the only one - there's a Lexus that takes multiple hours as well, I think something weird like the intake manifold or the radiator has to come out to access the alternator). That was the job that drove my mini friend over the edge.

However, it seems to tension the serpentine belt requires some special tools. Maybe it was my tech presenting arguments on why we shouldn't accept the job.

The other standard job that no one wanted to do was replacing the cabin air filter. I think it's because it was a time thing, based on my Googling, not a tool thing - apparently it's more than few minute job as well.

We weren't necessarily a BMW shop either, and since we didn't have a lot of minis coming in, no tech would want to invest in any special tools (they have to buy all their tools, for those that don't know). The shop certainly wasn't going to buy the tools. Proprietary tools help speed up jobs. And for the techs, it was all about beating the flat rate time. Flat rate for the win lol.