Yes I am reading all the threads about high mileage mini's, and reading the stickied threads, and anything else I can find. Only reason I'm asking now is I found a dealer who is willing to give me a good price on my car and has a mini that's just pushing the top of my budget but seems perfect otherwise. So I put myself in more of a time crunch then I was originally planning.

I currently have a 2006 evo that I'm looking to get out of. It's great car to drive but I never really get to use the power and it's a pain to drive in the stop and go traffic I sit in every day going to and from work.

I've been looking at something I can get as a dd, do most of the maintenance on myself and will last another 100k( I could do this with the evo but even the maintenance/parts/fluids are expensive and I can't stand watching high depreciation rate of high mileage evo's). I'm pretty competent mechanically as long as I don't have to open up the engine or transmission directly. I would say maintenance, up to and including a clutch I should be ok with.

I stumbled into a friends mcs and thought this would be a really fun dd. I've been doing a lot of research on these cars. I've heard about people getting them over 200k miles so I know it can be done, and I've been reading up on the things to look out for. But I have some questions on common problems and high mileage maintenance.

I'm looking at $10000 tops as this is a car I will probably drive until it's completely dead, and will almost certainly have no resell value when I'm finished with it. So I seem to be looking at older and high mileage S's.

Mushrooming strut tops - seems like this is fixable with wood/hammer and about $400 for plates.
ticking supercharger - I think I heard this on one of the ones I was looking at, I heard it could be from running the SC without oil. I think I saw a rebuild for $700(including the gears), does that seem about right? If so I won't worry about getting a pristine one as I can afford a $700 repair if with maintenance I should be able to get another 100k miles out of it.
Power steering pump - Has this been resolved and if so is there a way to check and see if it's been fixed? I really don't want my car blowing up in my garage and burning down my house with kids in it.
Transmission problems - I keep hearing about transmission problems but I think they only seem to be on the non "S" models, everything I find points to the getrag 6 being fine, even in the earlier models. Am I safe if I get a 6spd S?


When should the major maintenance get done(things like timing belts), as I'll change the oil every 5k maximum anyways, and do routine spark plug and compression checks?

Oh yeah, anybody have compression numbers for these cars?

TIA!

 

Leaking thermostat gasket, not too bad to get to and replace. I did it in a few hours for $45.
Leaking coolant overflow tank. This thing is pressurized, sometimes the seams start separating. $40 bucks and a very easy fix.
The supercharger isn't the end of the world to replace cost-wise if you DIY, but a complete ***** as far as actual labor. It's sandwiched between the front-end and engine block, you have to take the front-end off or at the very least put it in service mode as far as I know (take out a bunch of bolts, drain coolant and the whole front extends forward a bit).
IF you get an automatic, know that the fluid is NOT lifetime, despite what Mini claims. I would do 3 drain/fills ASAP.
The kinds of problems or likelyhood of said problems showing up really depends on the year you are looking at.

Personally, if you want more reliability, I would go with a base model. They are much easier to find in your price range, you will most likely looking at a newer model with less miles too. Since you said you don't really get the chance to stretch the EVO's legs, I don't see how the S will be any different. The base model also gets better mpg and can run regular, as opposed to the S which requires premium. PLUS, the mod bug won't itch as bad. This is coming from a 2006 S owner with a Stage 2 Subaru Legacy GT in his garage as well.

 

Base model with a 5 speed would be better....
S is a good car, but the motors are getting pushed pretty hard....and if the prior owner was cheap and used lower octane gas...you could be looking at a head soon....the non s is more forgiving..higher compression, but with no SC, seems to have a better chance at getting 200,000+ miles...sure you might need a tranny in a non-s, but like a SC rebuild on the s, it is a fact of life.
As for the ps pump....same on both cars, the s can have a factory duct kit installed which seems to help....
As for lower cost fluids...lol, syenthic oil, special ps fluid, and generally fewer aftermarket parts suppliers means I don't think the switch will be a big $$ saver...it would beca fun drive though!! The twisties in a mini get addictive...it is a car for curves, not stright lines....s has more "go", but still a car for back roads and curves...but with tons more power at highway speeds!!

 

Thanks guys, I ended up picking up a 03 MCS, 80k miles.

The possible transmission problems with the early 5-speeds seemed more costly the the possible SC rebuild/fixes.

I took it to a mini mechanic to get the car checked out and it had several problems.
leaking thermostat, mushroomed strut towers, slipping clutch(ever so slightly). So I got the dealership to drop the price of the car by the cost of the parts from the dealership. Doing the work my self with parts picked up from WMW I even managed to pick up some performance parts and stay below the original price of the car and when I'm done it should be in pretty good shape. I'll post pics up in the "new mini" section once I get a chance to clean it all up.

 

Congrats!!
Welcome to the mini addiction!!
The strut towers are usually an easy fix...just reenforce them after the fix with some craven/m7 STD plates, or get fixed camber plates for the same effect but better handling!!
WMW has good parts and advise.....if he does not like something, he will tell you!! He will sell it to ya, but he will tell you first!
Check to see if the car has been lowered, if it has, and you will drive lots of miles, you will go through tires pretty fast due to the rears now having the wrong angle...easy fix though...just look to see if the inner edges are wearing quickly!! Many folks lower their cars and try to skip the $150-200 work of extra parts needed to do it right!!