Hello,
I have the opportunity to buy an 2008 base clubman for $2,000. It is manual, gas, front wheel drive and has roof racks. The catch is, that it has a engine valve problem that needs to be fixed (which I can do myself). The car has 130,000 miles and a brand new clutch, chain and tension-er. I think that I can get all of the tools and parts that I would need for around $1,000. Is it worth it?

 

It is a New York vehicle? What does the under body look like? Any rust issues? Can you do all the maintenance yourself? A valve problem could mean pulling the head. Are you prepared to do all the assembly yourself? It can get very pricey to pay a shop to do the work. You’ll probably want to spend a bit up front to get all the maintenance up to date.

I would take a day or two to think about it, and get familiar with these two sites:
https://www.realoem.com/bmw/enUS/select
https://www.newtis.info/tisv2/a/en/

These cars can be reliable, but an older Mini will take some effort to bring up to date. They can be easy to work on, but time consuming to perform basic tasks.