Mid-2000s Mini Auto Box?

[DaveyBoyWonder]

I'm looking at all kinds of options for the wife at the minute and she needs a cheapish auto to run around in and make the odd longer journey. There are a few auto Minis for our budget but no idea of what to look out for in these or how reliable the auto box is in them? I understand they changed the box design around 2005 - was this to correct some massive failure in the earlier ones?

Any advice appreciated!
Cheers
Dave

[0llie]

The 1st generation One and Cooper automatic gearbox has a very poor reputation. The first generation cars were built from 2001 until ~October 2006. They're a CVT unit and seem to be a bit hit and miss reliability wise, but sadly most do seem to fail costing an eye watering sum to fix. I've never experienced one, but I would avoid.

The 1st gen Cooper S offered a normal 6 speed torque converter auto from 2004 facelift onwards, these seem ok.

The 2nd generation One and Cooper had the same Aisin 6 speed auto as the 1st gen Cooper S which is much better than the old CVT, I haven't heard of any failures or nasties with those.