Hello from Lower Southwest Michigan !!!

I will be test driving a 2009 Mini Cooper S Clubman this Wednesday for a
possible replacement for my 2000 Honda Civic

The Clubman is a 2009 with 23K miles on it and it does have Automatic on it with sunroof. Asking price is $22,555 which I think is kinda high but I may be wrong.

My question is this,,,,, I know the Clubman is known for certain issues like
the chain problem, turbo failures and etc.. I do I find out if the previous
owner took care of these issues before trading in his Clubman? Please note that the dealership got this Clubman through a car auction in Illinois

Can one buy an Extended Warrenty thru Mini when buying a used Clubman provided that it is still under warrenty?

Any other advice would be greatly appreciated before I go test drive the Clubman

All the best.

Sam

 

I would find a 6 speed over the automatic.

When I bought my used mini from a mini dealership it included an extended warranty. This was not a certified Pre owned either.

 

The issues that you point out are actually specific to the Cooper 'S' vehicles, regardless of body style (hatch, Clubman). You should be able to find out what service work has been done by contacting a dealer with the VIN, or possibly by calling MINI USA directly (haven't tried the 2nd route).

You can buy an extended warranty through MINI (via a MINI dealer) provided the car is still under warranty.

Price may or may not be high depending on complete list of options. Base price on my car, for example, was $21,100, but sticker after options was $29,050 (not including $700 destination charge). Options can add up quick.

If the car you're looking at is at a MINI dealer, see if you can get them to throw in or discount the extended warranty. As long as you're under warranty you can get any issues that need addressing addressed.

Probably a good idea to take a look at the complete list of options on the car, decide which, if any, you don't need or want and what you might like to have that the car doesn't, then price it out against a new car and figure out 1) if any financing offers that might be available make up the price difference, and 2) if the price difference is significant enough to warrant buying used.

 

I just went through the shopping process for a used one as well and while I ended up not buying mine through a MINI dealer, the service dept. was very helpful in at least telling me the history over the phone (via the last 7 or 8 of the VIN #). MINI-USA wasn't any help in the "pre-purchase" history.

 

I paid $21,900 for my 2009 Clubman S Manual with 26k miles about 5 months ago. It's loaded aside from JCW stuff, Nav, and Bluetooth. Depending on the options on the car I'd say that price is pretty ballpark fair.

 

Paid $21,500 for mine in August.

 

I am selling my 2008 Clubman with a little over 46000 miles for 17,500 here in the Sacramento area.It is an S with the JCW power upgrade and lots of nice improvements.So I believe the location has a lot to do with the asking price besides the demand.Q

 

While I know there are many factors in determining market price for a car I do feel that $22.5K is high for an 2009 MCS with 23K miles.

I have purchased 2 Clubman's in the past 18 months. One was an MCS and the other was a JWC. The MCS was bought 18 months ago and has almost every option except NAV and had 16K miles along with the CPO 100,000 mile warranty. I paid $22.5 at the time.

This May I bought a factory JWC with 29K miles which is also well equipped including NAV, Premium, Sat radio, Bluetooth, etc. It is missing a couple of expensive options like leather, back-up sensors and heated seats (LA area Car). The car was very clean and I paid $20.5K.

Now, I did look for several months for each car and I knew exactly what options were minimally needed on the car for me to make an offer. Another point is I bought both cars privately - the MCS on ebay and the JWC from a forum member. Private sales are more risky but they are also often times a little less expensive - you just need to do a little more homework.