Ok, I posted about looking for a car for my 16 year old daughter and I received strong feedback here that a Mini Cooper, while extremely cool, was not a good choice. I almost did not listen...
I knew the cars could be maintenance nightmares but figured if I could find one that had been well maintained I would be good. I did a ton of research and found,if you want an auto, get an "S" in 2005s or later (remember this is for my daughter not me and wife was against a manual - note always listen to your wife on this stuff). Fast forward to yesterday when I drove 2 hours to pick up a 2005 Mini Cooper S from private individual. He bought the car for his wife new, had ALL maintenance records, and needed to sell it because his wife had a new one on order. His son also has one in the same year. I am thinking, "clearly this one cannot be bad". First the good - it was beautiful. It was the cleanest I have seen anywhere. You could eat off the floor - I thought I found a steal. It had the most complete records I have ever seen - every oil change / tire rotation etc and the most common problems had already been fixed. As I looked through the receipts my stomach started to turn. He had the steering pump replaced in August....a staggering $2,300. What was I getting into?
As for the drive - do these things even have a suspension or are the wheels bolted right to the frame? It was a blast but you really need to stay with 15s or 16s (this had opt 17s). And then it happened -chunk on a downshift. Me to owner - "does it always downshift that hard?" "My wife drives it so I am not sure". WOT - either I was hitting random ice patches or the tranny is slipping. Pull it back into his garage and put it in park then drive a few times - it would almost chirp the tires.
It could need a simple Trans flush and filter change but I could not spend 6000 on a car that may need a 6000 transmission for my daughter.
TL: DR - Minis are expensive to work on and are terrible DD for a teenager