Cooper Park Lane edition

[Adam B]

Completely new to Minis and about to close the deal on a 56 plate 100k miles one for the missus' first car.

Can someone confirm what this edition came with as standard, I think I know it was finished with:
Royal grey paint
Grey roof
Chrome wing mirrors
Black piped full leather
Air con

Anything else included as standard with this edition model?
Also has Harmon Kardon speakers which I assume was on top?
Did this year come with Bluetooth or an AUX you can plug a phone in to for music?

Thanks

[craigjm]

Get the vin then go to myminivin.com and it will list what the car has as options

[GiveItSomeWellie]

Adam B said:

Anything else included as standard with this edition model?

Off the top of my head, and other than you've mentioned;

Climate control
Two tone leather steering wheel
Bridge Spoke alloys (which were exclusive to the PL at the time, they eventually came out on the R56)
Chrome line interior
Different dash pattern (can't remember what this was called)
ASC+T

Adam B said:

Also has Harmon Kardon speakers which I assume was on top?

Correct, CD BOOST was standard which was already an upgrade on the WAVE Cassette. h/k is the one to have.

Adam B said:

Did this year come with Bluetooth or an AUX you can plug a phone in to for music?

Bluetooth was a really expensive option at the time (something like £8-900). Does it have the armrest and multi-function steering wheel? It won't have an AUX input from the factory, but you can fit this to the factory head unit, as I have done, with one of these; http://newministuff.com/aux-in-for-boost-2003-on-g...

[Adam B]

thanks Wellie - very useful

sorry I am sure some of these questions have been done before but its all new to me

we were looking with a limited budget of £2500 so condition has been variable but think we have found a really nice one - never convinced by LE models, but the metallic grey / silver roof scheme on PL looks really nice IMO

what has surprised me is how there is little or no price difference between One and Cooper, and only a slight premium for Cooper S (insurance got too pricey for her unfortunately)

Different dash pattern - is this the carbon fibre panel in the middle of the dash - probably not real CF?

£8-900 for BT, wow its less than that on a Porsche! no MFSW so it doesn't have BT unfortunately

Will check out that AUX solution, thanks

Edited by Adam B on Tuesday 1st August 11:36

[GiveItSomeWellie]

The PL Cooper makes a great buy, they're no more expensive than a regular Cooper but have a much higher level of standard equipment. Beauty is that they came towards the end of 1st Gen production, they'd finally got the hang of building them by then.

Correct about the dash, I think it's ordinary MINI anthracite apart from the fake carbon pattern in the centre. Real CF was available as a JCW option, about £400 second hand..

The Bluetooth thing was very strange, it was an absurdly expensive option until about 2010, when they decided to include a slightly more basic version of it included in the base price of the car You didn't get the armrest or the phone cradle, but that was worth the massive saving.

[Adam B]

GiveItSomeWellie said:

The PL Cooper makes a great buy, they're no more expensive than a regular Cooper but have a much higher level of standard equipment. Beauty is that they came towards the end of 1st Gen production, they'd finally got the hang of building them by then.

anything mechanical to look out for, I went through a decent folder of receipts - it has been serviced regularly, and anything MOT wise was sorted

had a oil leak which was sump related and TPMS warning light issue - nothing else I recall being unusual

gearboxes seem to be a weak point with rebuilds common, but think that was earlier models

[GiveItSomeWellie]

Most common mechanical faults are PAS pump, oil leaks, coil packs, low speed fan resistor failing (means fan will run flat out), timing chain tensioner.

Most common electric faults are window regulators, door actuators, pixelated dash readings, and errant TPMS lights.

They're strong cars generally, I've done a combined 70k odd miles in 1st Gen MINIs and have had few real problems, nothing unexpected for their respective age/mileages.

The later 5 speed gearbox can fail, it's true that they're stronger but they're not completely immune from failure, though the failure rate is much, much lower than the older Midland gearbox. Driven with a modicum of care and common sense, it should easily last the life of the car.

[Adam B]

Dealer dropped it off after putting ti through MOT and adding two newer (but not new) front tyres.

Took it for a spin and there is a strange speed dependent whirring drone noise that wasn't present when I test drove it, seems to be from 2000-3000 rpm and then goes or is drowned out by engine

typical ! - will get it checked out by local specialist rather than dealer to get proper advice

[GiveItSomeWellie]

Is the AC running, and does it work?

[Adam B]

GiveItSomeWellie said:

Is the AC running, and does it work?

yes to both

[Adam B]

have a 30 day cover from car dealer (as with any car) so will get him to check it out

he reckons its the "drive belts" and nothing to worry about (of course) - I am not use to Minis or any small cars really, but the noise is too intrusive to be normal

[GiveItSomeWellie]

The AC can make quite an overwhelming groaning noise when switched on, in a One or Cooper the noise can be quite loud as you accelerate.

[Adam B]

GiveItSomeWellie said:

The AC can make quite an overwhelming groaning noise when switched on, in a One or Cooper the noise can be quite loud as you accelerate.

will try with that off, thanks

bloody hell its a horrible drone

[Adam B]

Mini specialist says it was down to low PAS fluid. nice cheap fix thank goodness

Edited by Adam B on Thursday 10th August 16:07

[Adam B]

Only the whirring drone is still there. It's definitely speed dependent but not engine speed dependent and switching air con on and off makes no difference.

Now thinking it might be the tyres - they are Goodyears Excellence 195/55 R16s, are run flats really noisy? [/footnote]

Edited by Adam B on Monday 14th August 16:52

[awg454]

Gearbox bearings are fairly common thing to go,could it be that ?

[Adam B]

Hope you are not asking me as my Mini knowledge is near zero as is probably clear.

But I would have thought the fact it's not engine speed dependent means it wouldn't be gearbox, but could be

I might try to record it and post a sound file here