Hi all! First post here, so hopefully this isn't blatantly against the rules or something. I'm considering purchasing a 2009 Cooper S Convertible. It's Interchange Yellow with flat black wheels and I absolutely LOVE the look. Got a couple questions regarding things to look out for.

1. The car has ~56,000 miles and 2 owners. Any major maintenance items to look out for around this age/mileage? The dealer offers a third party warranty (4 year 48,000 mile powertrain coverage for ~$3,000) but I find it hard to believe that anything major in the motor/transmission/turbo would fail before the 100,000 mark. At least anything that would eclipse $3000. Your thoughts? Are there any options through Mini itself that I could look in to?

2. There's also an aftermarket exhaust and what looks like some minor modifications in the engine bay. See pic: https://i.imgur.com/01tUbkX.jpg Looks like a heat shield for the turbo? Any other obvious modifications you can spot? Any problems to be expected in the long term running an aftermarket exhaust on this car? It appears as though the modifications were rather tasteful so I'm not too worried about any hack jobs.

3. Anything else you guys think I should look for? Anything infamous with these cars? I don't know much about the car or brand so this is all new to me.

Thanks for taking the time to read. I really appreciate any insight you guys can provide!

 

Oops, guess this should have gone in the convertible forum. My bad!

 

well its all good, by 09 they had the same motors as the all the other r56 s. it looks like the only engine mod is the heat shield. i dont see anything else. i have had a aftermarket exhaust on my 07 for a couple years now and have had no problems with it. at 48000 miles there really shouldnt be any major maintance items to address. once you get closer to 60000 there will be some stuff recommened. the things to look out for on these motors are the timming chain issues. which are related to the timing chain tensioner going bad. you would be able to tell if this was an issue because you would hear a loud knocking sound coming from the engine. the other big thing is the carbon issue. these engines have a crappy pcv system and it causes carbon to build up in the intake ports and on the intake valves. (they are direct injected engines so fuel does not hit the intake ports and valves) so you might look into getting that cleaned. other then that just make sure that its had regular maintance and you should be good to go.Keep up on your oil changes and aroudn 60000 get a tune up. good luck! i have a 07 MCS and i love my car. this forum is great if you ever need info. welcom to NAM