School me on Mini Coopers

I'm in the market for a cheap little used soulless commuter car, and was thinking Prius or Honda fit. Been looking for weeks for a good used specimen of either or, but it's slim pickins for anything that isn't rusted out junk.

I just came across a nice little 2010 mini cooper for around $5k cdn (free for you guys). which is in the $$ ballpark of what I wanted to pay, and it got me looking into them a bit more. MPG isn't THAT far off of what I was hoping for, and it has a bit more soul than a prius or fit to justify it.

I'd probably only keep it for a year or 2 at most, and maybe only about put on about 20k kms/year. My truck is getting old and high miles, and I want to retire it from daily duty and save some gas while I'm at it. Wife just bought a new van so another new vehicle (and payment) is out of the question. I don't have Broome money .

Should I look into them more, or should I run fast away from that idea altogether.

 

from my limited research a few years ago- it's a BMW... fun cars, but repairs=$$$
hardly a candidate for "cheap commuter car"

 

Remember, it’s a BMW with BMW repair cost. A riot to drive but small inside and once again, bmw maint and repair cost.

 

How many miles?

Id get a Honda or Toyota or something.

 

Having never owned a German car, just how bad are we talking. I've previously done all hard part maintenance on my own vehicles, and rarely have they ever seen the dealer. Only computer stuff, or other stuff that is outside of my wheelhouse.

This one has 150k km. But doing some more searching there are quite a few in that price range, and mileage range around.

The prospect of auto crossing it has crossed my mind too....

 

High mileage MINI = Break My Wallet (aka: BMW)

 

Okay, short list:

1). Oil changes- you can do it yourself on older “new” minis but do not cheap out on the oil you use. If you can find liquimoly, great stuff. Jiffy lube is out unless you like to roll the dice.

2) other fluids - change ‘em when due and some you can do yourself but some, dealer or a shop that knows minis/ bmws.

3) major and even some mini repairs are not straight forward. Exaggeration here but do you have to drop the gas tank and take off the doors in order to service the turbo? Germans like to make shit overly complex.

 

bmw with crappy parts availability, quirks, and price tags... run, run away. dont do it, you've been warned! Ski

 

Rode to work with buddy in a S model and yes they are so fun to drive!


No accidents? Not crazy high mileage? Service records available?

And to get an idea of working on them google wheeler dealer mini and watch the video to get a grasp on how difficult it is to work on them.
But I want to buy it for a blasting around go cart!!!

 

This is the one that made me look into them more. I'm not crazy about THIS specific car, but there are other like it in this price range that don't look too bad....
https://www.facebook.com/marketplac...2?ref=product_details&referral_code=undefined

 

This is the devil on my shoulder right now.....

 

They are a freakin’ riot.

just know what you’re getting into and if you can afford to toss the entire $5k investment in the trash and not look back and not put your lifestyle in jeopardy, buy it.

 

I've worked with some German toolmakers and Engineers, and am very familiar with the way their brains work lol. Brilliant, but argh....

 

You remember that crazy red head from Boulder, the one with the coke habit......

 

It is German with English name, how bad can it be

 

You trying to talk me out of it, or in to it .

I'm home now, and am watching a few you tube review videos. I think I'm in.....I think.....Off work tomorrow but I have to fix my truck (blew a tranny cooler line). I'll watch some more videos tonight and sleep on it. If I'm still into it tomorrow I'll give that guy a call and try and go have a look at that one as it's close.

 

Do not get an automatic in the older ones. I think they got the auto from from Chevy out of the chevette parts dumpster.

 

Honda Fit! We had the first two gens, manual. It was a fantastic vehicle. lots of space, way more than you even think. The 1st gen handled a bit better than the 2nd gen, but the second gen was a bit more refined.

It's steering fell and handling is superb and the shifter is one of the best on the market, especially for the price. Man so much fun in that car, and the old adage, it's more fun to drive a slow car fast than a fast car slow. Man I used to come out of that thing all smiles after hitting the Jackie Robinson Parkway.

TL;DR The Fit is like a Mazda Miata Hatchback.

 

Had a JCW mini. Loved it till it broke. Don't do it.

 

WTF it's 5g of that weird up there plastic money. That ain't shit, buy the damn thing unless it has 150k miles on it!