R52 S - prices/advice?

[NiceCupOfTea]

Hi folks,

I am in the market for a decent R52 MCS at the moment.

Basic requirements are:
Reasonable miles, as late as possible
Good condition and good spec (want heated seats, cruise and preferably auto climate).
Flexible on other things.

I am really confused on prices - AT shows them between about £3500 and £5000, but I have seen a lot of people talking about picking up good low miles late cars for £2500! I don’t mind paying £4K if it’s a really good one, but of course there is no guarantee of that in a 15 year old car

I have seen an 06 with 60k miles in a good spec and pretty good condition which I’m going to have a look at at a MINI specialist for £4500, but now I’m not sure if that is way over the odds It’s got the Chilli pack so LSD and a few other goodies too. It’s got FSH and a stack of history too apparently. I’m used to buying privately and dealers make me nervous

One weird thing - although it is clearly a 6 speed in the ad and in the pics, the BMW VIN decoder lists it as being an auto. Is there a possibility of the build sheet being wrong or is more likely that it’s maybe had a gearbox swap. Is that even a thing?

Thanks in advance

Thoughts? I was hoping that sort of money would get me into a mint car

[NiceCupOfTea]

Thanks for that!

Clearly it’s a thing(!), just seems odd on a car like a mini where there is no shortage of manuals. Can’t see why anybody would bother.

As for the rest I’m no stranger to buying cars so I’m well aware of budgets etc. I was just trying to establish whether it was outside the normal envelope of what these cars go for or if it was typical. Thanks for your input though.