What is life like with your car? Let us know and win £500 in John Lewis vouchers | No thanks

Buying a used MINI Cooper or Cooper S

I have around £9000-9500 to spend, as I am upgrading from my current 2004 MINI Cooper. I like the look of the Graphite (or possibly red or laser blue colours), but am deciding between an 07 Cooper S or a more recent model Cooper (ie 58/09). I am looking for a panoramic sunroof as well which narrows down the search.

The Cooper S had a facelift for the 2007 range, and it appears a better drive. What are your thoughts between the two considering my budget. The Cooper S is at a garage which is in the Good Garage Guide! The dealers don't seem to be offering much discount in a slow market but I am guessing they have the cars at keen prices.

Asked on 5 December 2012 by Carrie

Answered by Honest John
The Cooper S is turbocharged with 160bhp, and is a genuinely exciting drive - whereas the standard non-turbo Cooper is slower, but more economical and cheaper to service. Both are great to drive. Post-2007 MINIs are better made and more reliable, so both potentially easier to run in the long-term than your car.

So it's down to personal preference and how much value you place on performance. Also bear in mind that the Cooper S is more expensive to insure.
Similar questions
Do you think the price discounts for a new Golf GTI make it worthwhile to buy now rather than wait for the new model? And which manual model would you choose?
I am tempted to replace my Golf GTI Performance manual with a new S3 S-Tronic. I added quite a lot of options to the Golf such as 19 alloys and DCC etc. So this time around I would really appreciate your...
Great website and I love reading your advice every week. Having spent far too much on a house extension, I can no longer buy the 981 Cayman I desire. I wonder what your thoughts are for fast manual...
Related models
Great performance from Cooper S, much smoother and more sophisticated than first generation, capable of travelling distances in comfort.