Purchasing advice - Cooper S - £4K ish Budget

[cravir]

Hi all.

My niece is looking for a Cooper S, and has about £4k to spend.

Looking around the classifieds, we seem to be in the 75,000 - 80,000 mile, 53 - 54 plate range.

Are there any common faults to look out for, or big-bill services that should have been done/due around these mileages? There are a couple of Minis at work that appear to have noisy PAS pumps, that I notice as they're parking up - is this common? Are there any water traps/rust spots?

All advice gratefully received.

Craig.

[ollywhite]

cravir said:

Hi all.

My niece is looking for a Cooper S, and has about £4k to spend.

Looking around the classifieds, we seem to be in the 75,000 - 80,000 mile, 53 - 54 plate range.

Are there any common faults to look out for, or big-bill services that should have been done/due around these mileages? There are a couple of Minis at work that appear to have noisy PAS pumps, that I notice as they're parking up - is this common? Are there any water traps/rust spots?

All advice gratefully received.

Craig.

The most important thing is to get a facelift car. The facelift was from 54 plate til the end of R53s (56 plate). There isn't really a jump in price. The facelift ironed out many issues so it's a really good idea to get a FL. They also upped the pwoer from 163 to 170bhp. There were slight visual changes, updated light clusters, dash changed from 5 piece to 3 piece, 3 spoke steering wheel standard (as opposed to pre FL boat wheel), most FL cars come with xenons too.

Looking at auctions on eBay, you can be lucky and get a facelift car with 40k miles for around £4k. I've seen a few in the last few months. Make sure it has a full service history.

As for the power steering noise/whine, it's a MINI characteristic, they're like that from new.

I would recommend a read of these for full info:

http://www.minitorque.com/forum/f29/r53-cooper-s-p...

Also:

http://www.minitorque.com/forum/f29/worth-extra-mo...

There are common faults, but a lot of these are not such an issue with FL cars.

[cravir]

ollywhite said:

The most important thing is to get a facelift car. The facelift was from 54 plate til the end of R53s (56 plate). There isn't really a jump in price. The facelift ironed out many issues so it's a really good idea to get a FL. They also upped the pwoer from 163 to 170bhp. There were slight visual changes, updated light clusters, dash changed from 5 piece to 3 piece, 3 spoke steering wheel standard (as opposed to pre FL boat wheel), most FL cars come with xenons too.

Looking at auctions on eBay, you can be lucky and get a facelift car with 40k miles for around £4k. I've seen a few in the last few months. Make sure it has a full service history.

As for the power steering noise/whine, it's a MINI characteristic, they're like that from new.

I would recommend a read of these for full info:

http://www.minitorque.com/forum/f29/r53-cooper-s-p...

Also:

http://www.minitorque.com/forum/f29/worth-extra-mo...

There are common faults, but a lot of these are not such an issue with FL cars.

Thanks for the reply Olly. Just the sort of thing I'm looking for. Guess I'm going to be spending the next few hours on mini torque

We've been to look at a couple today. One was ruled out because my niece didn't like the chequered roof (white on black) and the other had water in the boot, under the tool kit sponge, and a yawning chasm in the service history! Back to trawling t'internet.

Thanks again,

Craig.

[Wigeon Incognito]

What Olly said is good advice.

In addition check the exhaust particularly the back boxes. They're triple skinned but once the rust on the seams and blow they're expensive to replace.

Also make sure the front suspension feels tight. The lower wishbone bushes wear quickly and although the parts are cheap they're normally replaced by dropping the front subframe so it's labour intensive.

Finally check for oil leaks. Most aren't too bad to fix apart from the rear main oil seal which again is a front subframe dropped job and clutch out too.

They're the issues I always think of as throwing up the surprise bills.

Matt.

[kris1293]

Like Olly said the main thing is on the early ones is the gearbox is a little prone to going wrong, with regards the power steering you can buy a re-manufactured pump on ebay with a lifetime guarantee for £190 and someone might fit it for £50 as it's a fairly staight forward job.

My only real advise from working for MINI for a number of years by a standard car which hasn't been messed around with and makesure its got service history, as neglected ones can cost alot to put right.

Hope this helps

[cravir]

Thanks Matt. Thanks Kris(?).

Do the items mentioned in Olly's Minitorque links apply to the Cooper, as they seem to be specifically talking about the Cooper S?

Struggling to find a FL, in budget, close to where we live (Leicester). Are the pre FL gearboxes especially prone to problems? Are there any tell-tales of impending doom to look/listen for?

Cheers,

Craig.

[hyperblue]

cravir said:

Struggling to find a FL, in budget, close to where we live (Leicester). Are the pre FL gearboxes especially prone to problems? Are there any tell-tales of impending doom to look/listen for?

I've not heard of many problems with pre-FL gearbox, I thought it was the same Getrag box with different ratios? The 1st gen One/Cooper Midlands box, however, is made of chocolate.

If you're looking for a FL car, try finding one with an LSD (it was a no-cost option, but many didn't bother choosing it).

Edited by hyperblue on Monday 14th October 23:09

[cravir]

Sorry guys - just realised I've been a bit of a twonk (and I thought it was Olly!).

Thread title should be "Cooper" not "Cooper S". Anyone know how I ask the mod's to change the title?

This makes hyperblue's comment about chocolate midlands gearboxes all the more pertinent! Do they get noisy/clunky changes prior to failure?

Again, sorry for messing you about!

Cheers,

Craig.

[hyperblue]

cravir said:

This makes hyperblue's comment about chocolate midlands gearboxes all the more pertinent! Do they get noisy/clunky changes prior to failure?

Yeah you get some warning, difficult to engage gears, then impossible as it gets worse!

[Wigeon Incognito]

Ahh okay, well my comments still stand except a new exhaust is a much cheaper proposition on a Cooper so far less of a worry.

You do sometimes see pre-facelift Coopers with the later gearbox retrofitted so that could be a compromise.

Matt.