Looking to buy a MINI up to £9k 01 onwards

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Sun 10 Mar 2024 20:24
Looking to buy a MINI up to £9k 01 onwards - Eddie123

Hi, still looking to buy a car. What's your view on Mini's? Reliability? parts?

Edited by Xileno on 10/03/2024 at 21:03

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Sun 10 Mar 2024 20:42
Mini - elekie&a/c doctor
Mini came out in 1959 . What year you looking at ?
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Sun 10 Mar 2024 20:54
Mini - Eddie123

Looking to pay up to £9k

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Sun 10 Mar 2024 21:04
Mini - Xileno

Amended the subject. I've assumed it's the BMW MINI rather than the old model.

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Sun 10 Mar 2024 21:16
Mini - elekie&a/c doctor
With that sort of budget, you can get into the facelift model . I’d go for the 4 cylinder petrol engine in either 3 or 5 door . Generally well made and drive well . Just check service regime has been kept up . Long oil service intervals can cause timing chain problems. Parts are expensive, just like any modern day car now .

Edited by elekie&a/c doctor on 10/03/2024 at 21:16

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Sun 10 Mar 2024 22:07
Mini - daveyjp

Sister has one, not sure of exact age 5-6 years maybe.

Just had a power steering problem which cost £500 to fix.

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Sun 10 Mar 2024 23:03
Mini - Adampr

Sister has one, not sure of exact age 5-6 years maybe.

Just had a power steering problem which cost £500 to fix.

No problem getting parts, but they do have BMW prices attached to them. 1.5 petrols should be reliable. Don't buy a 1.6 or 1.4 petrol unless it's very old (pre-2006).

Make sure.to test drive well. They are great fun, but the ride is very hard and there is very little room in the back or boot.

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Sun 10 Mar 2024 23:17
Mini - Andrew-T

Sister has one, not sure of exact age 5-6 years maybe..

Daughter had one for some years, SWMBO borrowed it while her car was repaired, couldn't stand the gearshift compared with the 207SW she was used to.

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Mon 11 Mar 2024 07:48
Mini - badbusdriver

OP needs to be aware that because the Mini is a such desirable car for certain types, a £9k example is going to be older/higher miles/poorer condition than a less fashionable car.

Frankly, with £9k to spend, (even with current prices) I'm a bit surprised that the OP hasn't been able to find a decent small car yet?.

If we get a location and a distance willing to travel, I and other forum members could have a look?

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Mon 11 Mar 2024 09:10
Mini - skidpan

I’d go for the 4 cylinder petrol engine in either 3 or 5 door

From memory the 4 cylinder engines are either the Chrysler one in the early ones or the Peugeot in the later ones. After that its the 3 cylinder.

We had a Chrysler engined one, disappointing. It was plagued with oil leaks and drove nowhere near as nicely as the Puma we had before it, did not keep it long. Test drove the Peugeot engined one and that drove better but then read about the dreadful reliability issues, binned the idea.

So if you must have a Mini I would go for a 3 cylinder one since that generally gets good press.

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Mon 11 Mar 2024 09:22
Mini - elekie&a/c doctor
3 cylinder 1.5 up to Cooper spec . 2.0 is Cooper S model (4 cylinder) . Original Chrysler tritec (up to 2006) and Peugeot prince engines no longer used from around 2015

Edited by elekie&a/c doctor on 11/03/2024 at 09:23

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Tue 12 Mar 2024 08:23
Mini - Eddie123

Thank you very much. Problem is procrastinating too much as don't need a car for my job. Bus stop is outside. Will keep your suggestion in mind. Very kind of you!

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