Moderators: I mistakenly posted this first in the F60 forum, I can't see how to delete that, I apologize for my mistake.

Hello,
I'm looking to buy my first Mini, met with the people and kicked the tires today. Looking for advice on whether to continue purchase or bail, or purchase and be mindful. Any advice is appreciated

2013 Countryman S ALL4, 1.6L Turbo with paint that looks like JCW package but isn't, 83,000 miles. Auto transmission. Michigan (USA) car, kept in a heated garage. Timing change replaced May 2019 as car diagnosed "out-of-time" (chain stretched) by itself at approx. 81k miles. Car still drove normally and was serviced immediately according to buyers, who seem rather affluent/well-off/can afford to have things fixed.

Car was owned by the wife of a couple who between them have had 7 BMW/Minis overall and seem to know the vehicles well and love this car. I didn't drive it, I had them spin me around and all sounded, felt, and seemed superb.

We have agreed on a price of 9k. As things stand I will bring them a cashiers check next weekend and pickup the car. So I have until then to panic and bail.
They said they changed the oil every 10k per the manual. I balked at this and they said the on board computer tells them when to change the oil, and it depends on conditions. One year they took a couple vacations and didn't drive the car as often and didn't change the oil for almost 15k according to dealer records. Oh yeah, Carfax didn't have ANY service records but they had their dealership print out the vehicles history (which they only had saved back to 2015). Looking in the oil fill cap with a pen light showed no significant carbon buildup, but the 2 lobes of camshaft available to me did have visible dark lines where they contact the lifter. I didn't touch them to see if I could feel wear, thought that would make them uncomfortable. Also, they/I never brought up whether she would add oil between changes as I didn't know about blow-by/oil consumption that my research thus far has indicated as common.

The car sounded great, felt great. The couple seems super honest and nice. They are both software engineers in automotive, seem like they have the money to keep their cars pristine, and seem honest and up front. The husband said BMW did reimburse them for part of the stretched timing chain repair, which he said is why he loves BMW / MINI, that they stand behind their products well.

I'm a Jeep guy. Parents had GM my whole life but I fell in love with Jeeps. I've rebuilt both a 4.0 in-line six in a 96 Grand Cherokee and my current 4.7L V8 in my 08 Grand Cherokee. So, I'm handy, but the sellers husbands explanation of all the whiz-bang self monitoring functions of the car makes me wonder if this cars maintenance is more than I'm capable of handling.

So I suppose, anyone want to say "RUN!" or "No worries" or maybe, "Hey, check these things out/ask these questions when you go to make payment and pick the car up?"

Thanks,

Justin

 

If you like the car go for it. They are a bit high maintenance but there so much info on these message boards to do any repairs yourself you will be fine. Keep fluids full, uses good premium gas, and oil changes every 5000 mile. And you instantly become awesome when you own a mini.

 

Famousamos, from a guys 3rd post, maybe I'm a little worried taking you at your word . I'm supposed to buy/hand over the check day after tomorrow. I'll drive it then, and also check the oil level. I forgot to check the oil and trans dipsticks the first go-round, and apparently these little motors like to burn some oil between changes. I have good reason to think the female owner has never checked the dipstick. However, the dealers service notes never mentioned it as low, and I do assume that the big brain controlling this motor would warn her if the oil was low, in which case I'm confident she WOULD have brought it in.

I understand some of the common failures, such as high pressure fuel pump, and am willing to deal with that. NBD.

What I'm asking for is some advice on anything very specific I should look for before I put the money in the seller's hand. After that, I'm burdened and that's that.

BTW, I had to wait longer elsewhere than I did here for a response, and that forum elsewhere I had to protest the view/response ratio (104:1) before I got a response there. Although it took a couple of days for the moderators here to sign off on my thread, I grasp perhaps there is more notoriety here? I'm a Jeep guy by nature and love jeepforum.com, lots of good people, love, and advice there. I'm really looking for a forum to fall back on and be part of the community if I do sign the title on this Mini. This the right one? Kind of nervous there isn't a right one for Mini's in the States.

Thanks.
-Justin

 

Sorry I’m new to this forum. If it helps any I have owned a 98 grand Cherokee and currently own a 2014 grand Cherokee. I may not be a super car guy. I was just trying to give some encouragement because I was hesitant to buy my 2012cm in august after reading about some of the issues/upkeep cost.

 

Also mine goes through 1-1.5 quarts of oil between changes

 

Worst things are the junky thermostat / water pump tube...its all plastic...so matter of time until you get coolant leaks. I would just check for various leaks here and there. Other than that, look at the CVs to see if they are retaining their grease well. Brakes. Wheel bearings are common-ish, especially if hitting potholes with the runflats. Ditch them asap. Check carefully the intake PCV connections to see if there is oily residue...the PCVs like to clog and it takes a new valve cover to fix that. Oil changes are the best thing for these, so that sucks they listened to the comp, but probably not end of the world really....these dont really have chain problems, so I hope that wasnt because of the long duration between changes. At least maybe its all new in there now?

9K seems a little high, but might depend on your area / if its very clean ect. You will NOT get your money back from this car. Know that.

Since you can work on your own car you will be fine. A Mini will cut your knuckles up a lot more, but thats about it.

 

The best action would be to have it inspected by a qualified technician familiar with this model. They will know exactly what to look for. It will be money well spent.

 

Famousamos, good results with your purchase on the Conutryman?

iwashmycar, well for one I don't wash my car, I live on a dirt road so it's lost every time I try. Those are exactly the kinds of suggestions I am looking for. "Ditch them ASAP" = I assume you mean the run flat tires? That's unfortunate to hear, the car has a brand spanking new set of Pirelli run flats on it. What's everyone do for spare tire if they ditch the run flats? Also, I drive through Genesee County Michigan frequently, and the roads including the highways are well, far less than ideally smooth (read: terrible). This car did have a timing chain problem, although my research agrees with you, the N18 engine isn't AS known for chain problems. I really can't imagine that letting the oil burn and get a little low, but not low enough to trigger a computer warning, would have contributed to the chain problem. The part numbers listed as chain tensioner when the dealer did the repair are 113055 and 889700, I haven't been able to find if those are the "better" tensioner numbers. As far as 9k... They had listed as JCW styling, I read that as being a JCW, kelley blue book had it at about 13k. But it's not, and the kbb value for the car and location was something like 8000 to 11000. So not unreasonable. They already bought their replacement for the Mini, some BMW thing. I tried getting them down to 8500, but since they apparently don't NEED to sell the car, that wasn't working.

I typically drive my vehicles into the ground. Part of it is typically not affording really nice vehicles, part of it is I drive a lot of miles, and part of it is I like my cars, typically. Example, I'm in a 2008 Grand Cherokee now. Just finishing the 5 year loan on that, bought at 90k miles and now has 203k on it. I paid 13k after the dealer agreed to replace the short block for rod knock, kbb now values it at $2,000. It's a perfectly fine running vehicle with some worn suspension bushings, so it doesn't make sense to sell it for so little when it has plenty of life left, thus eventually it will be driven into the ground.

That said, I don't intend to get my money back on the vehicle itself, I am hoping the jump from 16mpg to 30mpg does overall save me some money. If your comment was to warn me that I'm startstruck and the repair expenses will outpace the savings, I'd take note. FWIW, I fix my own vehicles when I can, all the way through engine rebuilds, as long as no darn programming is required.

Minidogger, unfortunately, I'm not making that investment, you are certainly correct that it's always a good decision. I prefer trusting my own eyes and hands. A mechanic could give it a clean bill of health and it still blow up the next day, just reality.

Thanks,
-Justin

 

Oh,

No oily residue anywhere I noticed, no leaks, kick and push/pull test on tires showed wheel bearings and tie rods were in good order.

I think I'm going to just go ahead with it. Sometimes you get a car with a good reputation that is a lemon. Sometimes a series of cars are lemons and you get one that runs forever. Luck of the draw sometimes.

Thanks,
-Justin

 

Yeah I mean you are not spending the $30K+ they costed new, so it certainly a lot of car.

To clarify before - nothing wrong with runflats, but youll probably ask yourself why you left them on if you ever replace them. One of those things where "you dont know what you dont know". Might as well live in ignorant bliss until the nice Pirellis wear out. I just carry a plug kit and a compressor. I figure if its worse than that, Ill make due or eat a tow. Id rather plug a regular tire and get going than be limited to 50 miles or 50 mph...whatever the runflat rules are. If I am lucky enough to plug it I could in theory make it hours home, vs. just to safety haha. Its all a crapshoot right?

Lastly....we see about 20-low 20's MPG out of our '13 All4S auto, but my wife drives it like she is in the Italian Job...so YMMV. Might see 30 cruising the freeway, but I wouldnt count on way high MPGs. It feels like we get gas a lot, but then it fills at less than 13 gallons (for us typically), so then it doesnt feel so so bad.

 

In my opinion 83K means...walk away. It is a repair bill just waiting to happen. I would spend more money and a get car with 50K miles or less. Read the posts on this forum...it is full of people who bought exactly what you are considering and now have problems and they are now in repair mode all the time. Avoid the misery.

 

50 is when the warranty ran out, so 50 or 83 could hardly make a difference.

I bought ours at 50 and now about to 80-81 ironically. Mine is probably a better buy at 80+ than it was at 50 since I put in filters, fluids, plugs, battery, wheel bearings, rebuilt the CVs, thermostat, water pump, belts, and probably more.

 

I’m very happy with my purchase. By far my favorite car I’ve own. I live just south of you in northern Oakland county. The roads in south East Michigan are a disaster and I live on dirt roads. I had good luck finding mine on cargurus. I found better deals in Ohio and only looked at bigger none mini dealerships. Worth the 2 hour drive. Got my 2012cm base for 12500 with only 32,000 miles. I drive 20,000 miles a year for work. I’ve put on 14000 miles so far and only issue was bad spark plugs.

 

I've now got just over 109,000 miles on my 2011 base Countryman. Other than regular maintenance items (including a water pump), i've had no other nasty problems. But as much fun as it has been to drive, I'm not sure i will buy another one.

 

iwashmycar, That's a good idea with the plug kit and compressor. When I've plugged a tire, as long as it's not leaking I just keep driving with the plug in, right down to the wear bars.
I drive about 15,000 annually just to work and back. 23 of the 27 one-way miles are 70mph expressway. I guess it'll be interesting to see if I drive a mini like I'm in the Italian Job (love the reference btw), or if I drive it like i'm still and old fart slow Jeep driver.

Michaelo, I appreciate your 2 cents and opinion. I think we may be in different income brackets. Then again, Famousamos37 got a pretty good deal in my opinion at $12500 for 32k miles. I suppose for my craigslist and ebay search I did cap the price at 10,000, maybe I did miss some other good deals.

Famousamos37, do any farming? Heard of MAEAP?

 

mikey_t, if no serious problems, and you've been on this forum a while, the CM just not your flavor?

 

I don’t do any farming but I have a few apple and pear trees in my back yard but they just feed the local wildlife.

 

Hey Jawilli6, sounds like you and I are pretty similar after reading. I am pretty handy myself and have a 2014 Base that I got for my daughter to drive to college/work (very nice looking car and fun to drive)... This was because the 96 Tacoma 4x4 I handed down to her was a pig on fuel and economy... Now my son has the Tacoma. She gets about 24 mpg in the Mini. I got a pretty good deal I thought at $9K with 50k miles. After having it about a month, it gave me some major electrical issues the not even expensive MINI dealer could help with other than taking my $ to give me a report of pages and pages of proprietary codes and thousands of $ to fix things I knew were not a root cause.... Car would go into limp mode at best and then at intermittent times crank fine with no start... Other time, perfectly fine... My daughter pretty much had to still drive the reliable Tacoma for much of the time I had to troubleshoot and fix this MINI. Ultimately, on my own with a friend, and good people on this forum, I found an intermittent main relay as the root cause (probably drove previous owner nuts and sold it). I thought it might be fuse box wiring issue and had bought a wrecking yard fuse box assembly that came loaded with relay/fuses. Didn't need any of it but the one relay... Anyway, I'm scared shitless of this car unfortunately and on waffling to keep it or get rid of it (headaches). Coming up on a year of having it. Every time my daughter calls me I think what now lol. I don't like all the electronics and such either which is way over complicated and needless really. Even the battery has some special sensor and process to replace it properly and tell the computer it has a new battery. Seems like there is a light on for something small or large often, and hard to troubleshoot. Mechanical is one thing, but gremlins are another. I've replaced bulbs in license plate, windshield washer pump, CV boot leaking, and the car even fixed itself (so far at this point being electrical, not mechanical) after it telling me the car door was open but it wasn't and left the lights on and dinging the whole time driving. About to tear into the door, new latch, etc. and the next day it was normal... Maddening. So, you may get lucky or not, but with your background I'm sure you can handle all of it fine, just the electrical problems may get you.

 

I had a 2007 3 series BMW for seven years, was diligent about regular maintenance issues, put lower than average miles on it. It was a beautiful car. The only real trouble I had with it was electrical. 3 or 4 times during the time I owned it, I got stranded. Each time the issue was electrical. Something to consider with our Minis..... Maybe BMW doesn’t know how to do electrical system.

Kat

 

2014MC,
I believe I'd lose my mind if things went that sideways. I'm very sorry for your troubles and I appreciate you sharing. Intermittent electrical problems are the figurative definition of hell.

What's this about the battery? You can't just replace the battery? What the....?!

Anyone know if these BMW/ Mini products are similar to USA manufacturers in that they use CAN bus communications?

 

True about the battery. Many posts on here about guys doing battery changes. Mine is 5 years old, so I am anticipating that nightmare sometime soon. 😉

Kat

 

Guess that's what I'll be looking into next. The batt in the one I'm buying is the original, so 7 years old.

Thanks everyone for the feedback. I appreciate it. I'm committing to buying it tomorrow if nothing goes terribly wrong.

Thanks,
-Justin

 

I've had the car for 8 yrs now and its just time to move on to something different. I will say that I've likely been one of the fortunate (maybe lucky?) owners of a MINI. Nothing major has happened, the car has been well maintained and still looks good and it only has one niggling issue with the radio where the readout goes blank every once in a while.
I saw you mentioned your battery was likely 7 yrs old. I'm on my 3rd battery in 8 yrs. You will (or should) be replacing that item very shortly. The battery is easy to change but some cars require some programming to get it working properly. Mine never has.

 

Battery is easy. IF you have a little extra wire / module running to the positive lead it has IBS - Intelligent Battery System. All this does is monitor the charge and "smartly charge it" supposedly. Could you just slap a new one in? Probably; but it might not last as long as it should (Maybe 3 batteries every 8 years or so.....). Wont actually require programming to work per se.

You can use one of those smart phone apps + OBDII dongle, or just have a shop do it. I had a shop do ours and it was like $250. Yeah its a lot, but battery + coding + reassurance that I myself wouldn't break all the plastic cowl / firewall parts getting to it was peace of mind.

 

Nearest Mini dealership near me (that I know of) is in Southfield, MI, about 2hrs from me. Maybe I can call around and find someone who can do it locally.

I've been looking at the "BMWhat" app and "Carly" that claim they can reset the battery deal if you get a dongle.

Thanks,
-Justin