My sister in law wants to buy a 2005 Mini Cooper and asked me what I thought of them. I don't know anything about these cars other than the automatic transmissions can have problems (quick google search). Are they expensive to maintain? Are they reliable?

Here is the one shes looking at.

2005 Red MINI Cooper Automatic Low Mileage

She wants to buy it because its cute but I have my doubts about reliability and potential maintenance costs... any opinions? Thanks!

 

One of my best friends drives a 2004 Mini and he never stated anything wrong with the car.. I have driven it a couple of times and it drives like how you would imagine a gokart feels on the road... His is as well automatic and he hasnt had any problems since he bought the car. As with any car.. keep it well maintained and youll be good to go.

 

It's a BMW. Maintenance is a *****.

 

+1

But otherwise shouldn't be a problem. A friend's dad owns a JCW as a daily and has zero issues other than maintenance. It is a 6 speed though. Not sure about Autos.

 

Think of it as a front wheel drive BMW As with all bimmers, it will be as reliable as its service history...it gets real expensive real fast if you start deferring and neglecting items.

 

I would own a Mini if it weren't for the interiors. I just can't get past them.

 

Maintenance starts with the owner. Dont blame the car.

 

2007 was the first BMW year. Although, maintenance will now be more expensive because of that fact.

Pre-07 seems to be fairly reliable. Fiancé had an '07 that was nothing but a pile of **** however.

 

Thanks all!

 

False. All of the "new" MINIs have been built by BMW.

 

So what classifies "new"?

I thought 2008 was the first year they went to BMW. That's also when they started turbocharging instead of supercharging.

 

2007 was the first turbo year.

 

BMW bought Rover in the 90s and inherited the MINI brand. They released their version of the MINI in 2001.

Interestingly enough, BMW also holds the Triumph marquee from that deal.

 

Thank you.

 

Unsure of if its an issue with that year, but beware of the 'death rattle.'

2007 was very susceptible to it, but not enough cars had the issue for BMW to openly acknowledge it. Starts out with a rattle while driving when the car is cold, leads to timing chain tensioner failure, oil leaks and to having the timing chain replaced. All of this happened with my fiancé's mini, starting when the car only had 15k on it.

She doesn't own it anymore lol.