2007 Cooper

[Farky]

My Fiancée is on the hunt for her new Daily, always liked Mini’s so im trawling the classifieds looking at R53 Coopers as ive had a couple of Cooper S’s in the past.
We’ve stumbled across a couple of really nice examples of the 2007 Coopers & are looking for feedback on their reliability? Are these the Engines renowned for the Horror stories of terrible reliability? Am i correct in saying its the N18 engine?
Any help greatly appreciated on helping her getting her New (to her!) Mini

[Challo]

Farky said:

My Fiancée is on the hunt for her new Daily, always liked Mini’s so im trawling the classifieds looking at R53 Coopers as ive had a couple of Cooper S’s in the past.
We’ve stumbled across a couple of really nice examples of the 2007 Coopers & are looking for feedback on their reliability? Are these the Engines renowned for the Horror stories of terrible reliability? Am i correct in saying its the N18 engine?
Any help greatly appreciated on helping her getting her New (to her!) Mini

Im not an expert but I think the early R56 came with the N12 Cooper N/A and N14 Cooper S engines. The N14 is one to avoid if you are looking at a Cooper S, but they changed to a N18 in 2010 and this fixed alot of the issues.

Not loads of information online, but I think the normal N12 is ok.

[SlimJim16v]

Challo said:

Not loads of information online, but I think the normal N12 is ok.

Nope, just not as bad because of slightly less stress on the chain.

[Farky]

So the early Cooper (2007 Cooper) is one to avoid then?

[Challo]

Farky said:

So the early Cooper (2007 Cooper) is one to avoid then?

The N14 is one to avoid as it’s the early R56 Cooper S between 2006-2009. I haven’t read any serious issues around the standard Cooper.

[MrC986]

I owned a 2007 R56 Cooper S for 3 years as have several of my friends & other than replacing a fuel pump & a minor leak on rocker cover, it was normal maintenance (I did though change the oil at half service intervals/check it regularly). Whilst they have their reported reliability issues, you shouldn’t be put off buying a well maintained car as they offer excellent value for money & ideally buy off an enthusiast or a Mini specialist if you do get one as they’ll hopefully have invoices to back up what’s been done service/repair wise in the past. I’d imagine a standard Cooper would be quite sedate in comparison.

PH did a brief buyers guide on the R56 Cooper S...
https://www.pistonheads.com/news/ph-buying-guides/...