Mini Cooper S - potential purchase

[50volt]

Considering going to look at a 2011 Cooper S later this week (41k miles). Spoke to the seller today. He mentioned at the recent MOT, amongst some other things, they advised on a small oil leak somewhere underneath. Seems this has put some potential buyers off. He is putting the car in to Mini Dealer tomorrow to have this done and some new brake pads. Question is, what could this be?, is it common problem? Should it put me off also? I know most cars have some problems, but I just want a car to be reliable. Seems from a lot of the posts on here, the BMW Mini falls short of the sort of quality I would expect.

[50volt]

Thanks all. I'm afraid it doesn't take much to put me off a car. How do I tell for sure it has the N18 engine? Does it form part of the engine number? Just can't believe how the "premium" car manufacturers get away with letting these mistakes out on the road. They're always bullstting about how the cars have been tested to destruction for hundreds of thousands of miles, across Siberia and God knows what Deserts.

[50volt]

FivePotTurbo said:

What about the JCW, does that suffer the same engine issues pre-2010 ?

Yeah, good question. Also got my eye on a cracking looking JCW, '59 plate (which I'd rather have than just a "plain" Cooper S). Guess there's no point in even looking?