Mini Countryman with 150k on clock, any warning signs ?

[Adam-envsx]

Hi there, currently looking at at 2013 Mini Countryman SD All4 that was ex lease, 150k on the clock, full mini service history, at £6750. Ive taken a look at it and it seems very good condition (seats not worn, body looks good usual stone chips, wheels good), and taken for a test drive where the engine seemed good, no rattles, tight steering, reactive brakes. Sounds too good though... is there anything I should be looking for on a mini of that mileage ? Guy selling is a person Ive dealt with before and has offered 6 months warranty, but Im nervous with that mileage having never taken a car beyond 120k before. Are there any things other than consumables, that are a weakness with this model ? Appreciate any help anyone can give, Im no mechanic Im afraid.

cheers

[wlondoner]

Hi

I've owned a few high milers
Things I've learnt is - I'm definitely not put off by them but expect there to be one thing that will need replacing in the near future. So have £500 put away just in case.
For example on my Audi I had the blower go in the first 6 months.
6 months warranty is good. That gives you enough time to know the car is good or not.
Make sure though you check the warranty get paperwork! And clear description of what's included.
Make sure the car has new tyres on it or at least very good tyres as you don't want to spend money on them in the near future.
What's the windscreen like? Check for chips unless it's a recent replacement one.
Is it full MINI service history? Is there lots of paperwork?
Make sure it's had a recent service ideally at MINI.
Have you thoroughly checked the car? Make sure everything works? I had a high miler R56 2007 Cooper and the gear stick knob bit fell off lol.
Is the clutch ok? On 150k if it is on the original then It may not have much live left in it as I know the R models are not quite as strong as the newer F models.
If it's done that much mileage it's likely to have lived on the motorway which is a good sign in most cases.

I would go for it but offer him less than he is asking for it so more money ££ for you just in case

Edited by wlondoner on Monday 29th January 12:46

Edited by wlondoner on Monday 29th January 12:47

[steve-5snwi]

Only expensive part at that mileage is the DPF, unless you can find someone to get the ash content down as its that what usually kills them

[Rockster]

Adam-envsx said:

Hi there, currently looking at at 2013 Mini Countryman SD All4 that was ex lease, 150k on the clock, full mini service history, at £6750. Ive taken a look at it and it seems very good condition (seats not worn, body looks good usual stone chips, wheels good), and taken for a test drive where the engine seemed good, no rattles, tight steering, reactive brakes. Sounds too good though... is there anything I should be looking for on a mini of that mileage ? Guy selling is a person Ive dealt with before and has offered 6 months warranty, but Im nervous with that mileage having never taken a car beyond 120k before. Are there any things other than consumables, that are a weakness with this model ? Appreciate any help anyone can give, Im no mechanic Im afraid.

cheers

No experience with a Mini at that miles but I covered 317K miles in my Boxster and 161K miles in my 996 Turbo.

A thorough road test, first a test ride followed by a test drive over a 15 mile route that gives you a chance to experience the car on the road as you intend to use it is paramount.

You want to the engine/drive train to get up to temperature and remain at operating temperature a longish while. Obviously the CEL should remain dark and all other warning lights should remain dark too. I would take an OBD2 code reader with me and use it to check that all readiniess monitors were set to complete at some point in the test ride/drive, probably at the end before you shut off the engine.

The engine/drive train should not manifest any untoward behavior.

After a road test then a used car check out checking every system works is called for.

After all of the above if you still like the car and believe you can buy it for a reasonable sum getting the car in the air for a close inspection from underneath the car for signs of trouble -- mainly leaks -- is a very good idea.

I can tell you at 150K (and higher) miles you might be surprised at what becomes wear items. There is of course the water pump, fuel pump. But a number of switches in the cabin had to replaced. I'm talking about the brake light switch, the clutch interlock switch, and the cruise control deactivate switches. In my Boxster these were almost all the same switch and not expensive per se but a flaky clutch interlock switch had the engine failing to crank at random times.

Door/window hardware wore out. A door lock controller. The symptom was the window would fail to drop when the door was opened or worse drop then go up after again. If I didn't spot this when I closed the door the glass would hit the top rail. I never broke the window but the few times the glass hit the rail I expected a shower of glass.

Some other hardware in the doors went bad and then both window regulators had to be replaced. Membranes that seal the wet side of the door from the dry side failed and both had to be replaced.

An ignition switch wore out. A coolant tank cap leaked and had to be replaced. An oil filler tube cap developed a leak and had to be replaced. (Actually in 317K miles I wore out two of these!) The coolant tank developed a split along the bottom seam and the coolant tank had to be replaced. The gas cap tether broke and I replaced the gas cap.

3 air/oil separators failed over the 317K miles.

Spark plug tube o-rings wore out and had to be replaced.

A CV boot failed and both axles had to be removed, cleaned, inspected and when found in good shape the bearings repacked and new CV boots fitted and the shafts reinstalled.

The passenger side VarioCam (variable intake valve timing feature) solenoid/actuator had to be replaced. This was a $3K+ job.

A radiator ballast resister had to be replaced.

A rock chip in the windshield over months developed a nice horizontal crack just at eye height and I had to have the windshield replaced.

O2 sensors wore out -- started generating CEL with error codes -- and were replaced several times, the last time at around 305K miles.

A converter brick became loose and I got tired of the noise and replaced both original converters with used ones.

What didn't need replacing? Quite a bit actually. The engine and except for the VarioCam solenoid and actuator nothing else inside the engine: no cam chains or sprockets, chain tensioners, chain guide rails, no gaskets, nothing in the engine. Didn't have to replace the fuel injectors, coils, secondary air injection pump, clutch (although during my last drive of the car I realized the clutch needed to be replaced, but I had already decided to get rid of the car), transmission, shift linkage, radiators. Didn't have to touch the heater/AC system (never had to have this recharged even). Didn't have to replace the alternator, starter, the steering rack, power steering pump, brake master cylinder, clutch slave cylinder, brake calipers, wheel bearings, shocks or any suspension/steering hardware. The only seal leak was the rear main seal and this was fixed at 25K miles while the car was still under warranty.

Had to replace the soft top.

General rule of used car buying is to have 10% of the car's purchase price set aside for just in case. In the case of a high mileage car I'd bump this to 15% maybe even 20%. While the car may not have any issues at the time you check it out almost certainly it will develop an issue after you buy it. With 10% (or more) of the purchase price set aside you can get the car fixed without having to wait.

To put it another way, the owner of an older/high mileage car still gets charged the same labor rate as the owner of a new car. Parts for older cars are not -- at least in my experience -- discounted. Thus any repair of an older car represents a larger percentage of the car's value.

Have to point out though there is a risk. The largest expense of owning a car is depreciation. With a higher mileage car one doesn't pay that much for the car, and there is less to lose to depreciation because of this, but the risk is what one saves on the purchase he will spend addressing issues that arise from the high miles.

With my Boxster while the car was basically still good the engine still good, the transmission/diff still good (though the clutch needed doing) what "killed" the car was a CEL with an error code the cause of which 2 shops in 3 attempts were not able to diagnose/repair. Because of the CEL the car would not pass a smog test and because of this then I could not register the car and thus would not be able to drive the car. It was at this time -- and knowing I was facing at least a $3 to $3.5K bill to replace the clutch on top of what it might cost to find and fix the cause of the CEL (could be thousand of dollars more) -- I decided to dispose of the car.

Kind of sad to lose the car in this way.

But the bright side is I replaced it with a new JCW!

[wlondoner]

But was your car as new as this?
150k miles on a 15 year old car is different than 150k on a 5 year old car.

[Adam-envsx]

Thank you all so much for answering and providing good feedback and suggestions. I couldnt reply until today as seemed new members were barred from posting for a while :S

I went through and checked as much as possible and only found a few things wrong...2nd button on radio doesnt work, wear on the cruise control button, worn mats on drivers side, stone chips to front and windscreen. Everything else is in very good order, gearbox is very tight and smooth, handles well, no smoke or rattles warm or cold. Only other thing I noticed is the brakes require a firmer push than my old company car (VW Golf 65 plate), and the car steams up and takes a while to clear (though it has the panoramic roof so that might be the cause). Apart from that all good so have gone for it. Paid the asking price but got further warranty and good p/x price on my old car.

Very happy so far !

[wlondoner]

Congrats! Post some pics please!

Cruise control button I'm sure they do replacement buttons on eBay or even the dealer can find the code.

Also windscreen can always be replaced if you feel it needs be as can the floor mats!

Sounds like you did well and if you look after it I'm sure it's going to be a great car!!

[Deebo007]

If it is steaming up check the cabin microfilters (pollen), chances are they are due for a change.

[Adam-envsx]

Thanks again, hadnt thought of the filters will check them out.

Also, found a few steering wheels as replacements on Ebay so could always go for one of those for the worn buttons, some pretty cheap !

cheers

[wlondoner]

eBay is great for that kinda thing!