Bought another weekend car - unusual choice!

[Daveymaclad]

It's been about two months now since I sold my ur and I thought I'd done pretty well to hold onto the cash for as long as I have, however some strange urge set about at the beginning of this week and by Wednesday I had bought a 2002 Mini cooper S.

I've never been a small car fan but pretty much everywhere I read about them I hear that these cars are just a blast to drive, so I took the plunge and won an auction for a grey one with full chili pack. leather, nav, panoramic roof, parking sensors (lord knows why it needs them), xenons, the works with change from £2,150.

I go to see it tomorrow but wanted to see if anyone else on here has had experience with them. I still have the option to walk away cost free if I don't love it tomorrow and that's the important thing, I've got my 530d in good shape so would keep that and my wifes Alfa has been pretty faultless (save dodgy wiring on OSF side light) in the two years we've had it so my wife and I have decided only to buy if it puts a massive smile on my face. It would then be the weekend toy (although I suspect my wife will use it for work a fair bit!)

Thoughts welcome.

[john johnson]

Our FedEx driver has a cooper with a charger on it and loves em

[Emjay]

not sure I'd call a modern mini small, well not by original mini standards and the latest models seem to be getting even bigger and bloatier.

At the price I'd say go for it, if you dont like it sell it on for no loss. You dont know til you try.

[Daveymaclad]

Originally Posted by Emjay

not sure I'd call a modern mini small, well not by original mini standards and the latest models seem to be getting even bigger and bloatier.

At the price I'd say go for it, if you dont like it sell it on for no loss. You dont know til you try.

Very true!

As for size, it's pretty small considering my usual cars, 5-series, A6, X-type etc etc!

Measured out what space it would take up in the garage and had to measure it twice to be sure as I had over a 1.5m spare at the end!

I'll give it a blast tomorrow and if said smile comes I'll be driving it home that day. Just a shame I saw a lohen modified mini just sell on ebay for £500 more but with £1,200 worth of tuning parts on it meaning 40 more horses and 20k less on the clock. D'oh!

[rich.r]

I would say have a quick look on the mini forum for any big issues.

I was told by the bloke who used to MOT our Mini Diesel that there was an issue with something to do with the rear suspension but cant remember what.

We had our 53 plate for around 2 years with just normal service and no issues

Only thing we did is get rid of the stupid run flat tyres and put low profile Hankooks on.The ride was much better and i think handled better.

Hope its all you think it is good luck

[darreno'd']

My wife had a new one on a 54 plate, it was great fun, only thing was the esp was too intrusive, but, you can turn it off

[Daveymaclad]

Thanks for the feedback guys, keep it coming!

Only real bad thing I've heard is about the PS pump that they ALL fail on pre 06 cars so if I don't see evidence of this being changed I'm told to walk away (apparently it's an arse to fit = lots of labour charge!)

[Daveymaclad]

So, back from Reading sans Mini.

Arrived at 2pm almost to the minute when I said I would. Car not there. "only at our storage yard 2 mins away, we're sending someone to get it". 35 minutes later what sounded like a tappety as hell diesel mini chatters to a stop near me. Car prep guy lifts the bonnet and we check the oil level. Three times we checked it as we were sure there couldn't be NO oil at all. But if more proof was needed when the guy added a little oil to the engine it all immediately atomised making a blue cloud.

Unbelieveably the sales guy said they could "add some oil for me" but unusually for me I kept calm and said thanks but no thanks, which he had no problem with!

As luck would have it my dad's just offered us his Alfa 147 ducati corse, the 170bhp one with the Q2 diff so we're going to buy that and sell on my wifes 147 (which was his inspiration for buying his!)

[John.]

Glad it all worked out.

[Flying Frank]

Originally Posted by Daveymaclad

So, back from Reading sans Mini.

Arrived at 2pm almost to the minute when I said I would. Car not there. "only at our storage yard 2 mins away, we're sending someone to get it". 35 minutes later what sounded like a tappety as hell diesel mini chatters to a stop near me. Car prep guy lifts the bonnet and we check the oil level. Three times we checked it as we were sure there couldn't be NO oil at all. But if more proof was needed when the guy added a little oil to the engine it all immediately atomised making a blue cloud.

Unbelieveably the sales guy said they could "add some oil for me" but unusually for me I kept calm and said thanks but no thanks, which he had no problem with!

As luck would have it my dad's just offered us his Alfa 147 ducati corse, the 170bhp one with the Q2 diff so we're going to buy that and sell on my wifes 147 (which was his inspiration for buying his!)

Are those the guys who sell on eBay around the West Reading area, Tilehurst? I looked at an Audi Avant from them and ended up walking away too ....no service history altho' the ad had said it had FULL S/H ....bolts missing from the wheels, signs of repairs to rear end....'twas an expensive train ride from Cornwall to Reading and then back again...