Dear Scotty,
I love your videos.
I need to buy a used car, and fast. There aren't a ton of options out there though, and I'd like to buy from a private seller. I found this car from a private seller it's one of the only decent cars for sale I found. I know you're going to laugh, I'm kind of laughing to......but, if it's a decent well-made car might as well ask right?
Thank you so much.
Sincerely,
Kelli
That 2011 Mini, at 75,000miles, is pretty much at the end of its life. If you buy it now, it’ll very soon turn into a money pit. Bad idea!
With $9000, look for a well maintained Corolla or Civic and you’ll be much, much richer after 3-5yrs from not having to empty out your wallet in new parts & repairs.
As with any used car, get it checked out by an honest mechanic, before you buy it.
MINI Coopers do not tend to hold up well, especially at high mileage. Remember, they are BMW made so parts are pricey and reliability is not there.
Unless you are wanting a rehash of the traditional British Leyland experience brought to you by way of BMW, you will be really sorry if you buy one of those. Almost makes GM products look good. A Nissan is a paragon of reliability and serviceability in comparison.
I don't agree that mini's are bad cars. The key is preventative maintenance and using the right oil. There is one thing you should avoid like the plague and that is the N14 engine (if you lift the hood and you can see the coil packs and they are not under a cover than that's the N14). The N14 (a Peugeot design) engine eats timing chain tensioners, especially when it's had the wrong oil. The best, and relatively trouble free, engine is the N16 - also a Peugeot design - (when you lift the hood there is a cover over the coil packs and you can't see them) which - if correctly maintained with regular (10k miles, not 20k as recommended by BMW) oils changes using Castrol 469579 EDGE 5W-30 which is a C3 oil that meets BMW's Longlife 04 requirement - will last a long time.
BTW, if these engines get a "pollution fault" don't waste money on diagnostics, 9 times out of ten it is the pre cat O2 sensor and the other 1 time, it's the post cat O2 sensor. Don't buy from the BMW, just look on Bosch's web catalogue for the fit and get one without the correct length cable, they're cheap and you just tie up the excess cable.
