First Mini & a £5K budget

[mhulks]

I’m keen to buy my first mini which will be used for occasional short, B road journeys and I can’t see it doing more than 5-7K miles per annum.

I’ve been looking at the Mini One as I’m more concerned about running costs that performance or spec.

Is there any guidance on what years / engines to avoid to minimise potential issues? I’m a complete newbie so any advice is appreciated.

Finally, I’ve been looking at Hitchfields in Yorkshire. All their minis come with a 2 year warranty from Handler Protect. Has anyone had any experience buying from Hitchfields or using this warrranty firm?

Thanks!

[Gandoolie]

I bought mine from Hitchfields, I think it’s generally accepted that the Supercharged engines in the R53 are more reliable.

In regards to Hot h fields you have to take the rough with the smooth as they deal in only R53 era cars and as a results they are generally high mileage. I’m going through a claim on warranty at the moment due to an oil leak so cannot comment yet on the experience.

[mhulks]

Thanks! Does the R53 minis have the N14 engine? I’d heard some sceptical opinions about that engine type!

[Pastor Of Muppets]

mhulks said:

Thanks! Does the R53 minis have the N14 engine? I’d heard some sceptical opinions about that engine type!

R53 uses the 1.6 Tritec engine, N14 is from 2007 on and is probably best avoided unless you are hands on, otherwise it can cost you dear.
R50 Cooper sounds like it would perfectly fit your requirements and a budget of 5k would buy a nice low mileage example for sure.

One thing I would advise is to avoid any R50's which are running 17's, they can cause big issues over time, especially with the power steering pump, they are also harsh on the road and have a negative effect on the handling. 15's or the standard 16's are ideal.

[mhulks]

Thank you! Really appreciate the info. I’d read that the engines in minis from 2011 were generally considered more reliable after Mini corrected many of the common issues reported with previous engines. Is this the case?

[757]

Check out my MINI readers ride.

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R56 2009 Mini first (arguably built for new drivers) I got for £800 - 1.4 PSA (144,000 miles) engine the one that needs to be avoided apparently...make sure you get one that has had a good level of oil services and potentially a new timing chain kit, they are good cars, just have a good look over them.

Mainly down to streched chains that cause the issues of bad running, EML alerts etc, leak abit of oil but all MINIs do eventually.

[Majorslow]

Although my Mini is a 2012 diesel and totally not what you want with so few miles a year I would suggest you look for one that may be a special edition like the "Baker Street" or "Mayfair" or "park lane" or even a "London 2012" model

they come with extra bits, decent wheels, and in some cases well looked after and lower miles

Mine is on 188k miles and I have just been hit for an expensive service and bits that required doing for the first time in it's hard life as a "Learner car" it is even still on it's first clutch still. Not many can claim that

get a full "ideally" main dealer service history.

If it goes wrong it can be very very expensive to repair. Despite having to fork out more than the car is worth recently I can't fault my Mini. I plan to only work it hard for about another 10-12 months then see where I am with it. It will be over 210k in miles by then, and provided it still goes well the wife may use it for her run down the motorway to work to ease it into retirement.

Good luck there are plenty out there, don't rush into the first one you see

[Maxus]

Apart from insurance if you are a young driver, I can't see that a Cooper would be much more in running costs than a One but has a bit more pep making those drives just that bit more fun.
An R50 is a really fun car. The R56 a little more grown up. With your budget you could get a nice example of either. If it is your only car I'd go for the later model and personally I'd look for a car with a panoramic roof as it brightens the interior and is nice on sunny days.

[mike9009]

Avoid Mini Ones and Cooper's made before 2004. The gearboxes are rubbish and fall apart. Anything post 2005 in a One or Cooper should be fine as long as it has a good service history.

Avoid the cooper S from about 2007 until 2011 (N14 engine) as they have a few known issues related to the timing chain.

[DaveyBoyWonder]

I'd suggest definitely looking at a gen 2 (R56) car if you're not bothered about performance. Far better built in my experience, nicer interiors etc than the gen 1. The 1.6 non-turbo Cooper sounds ideal and £5k should get you into a good low mileage one. Only thing to be aware of is oil consumption but get a low mileage one and it shouldn't be an issue.

If performance is what you want then I'd rather spend £5k on a really, really nice supercharged R53 and live with the slightly rattly, basic interior vs an N14 engined R56 and live with the potential engine problems. That said, theres still loads of them on the roads so they can't all be ticking time bombs!? Not sure £5k gets you into an N18 engine car??

Anyway, Minis are ace - whatever you get you'll love. I've owned an R50 and currently have an R55 Clubman and R53 and love them all.