Hello from Edinburgh! Buying advice please :)

[LightningStevie]

Hello everyone! I'm Steve, I live in edinburgh. Currently have a smart and I'm contemplating trading it in for a new or nearly new mini, or keeping it and getting an older one as a second car. My other half doesnt think we need another car, and of course he's right, but I prefer that idea.

I'm going to have a look at a 52 plate cooper with 66k on saturday. Its red with white roof/stripes/wheels, also has the twin sunroof, red leather interior and doors. Its from a used car dealer and its currently priced at £5495. Is that about right? What should I look out for?

All advice welcome :)

[Crombers]

Welcome to NMSUSAland :cool:

At that price / age it's certainly in the frame. I've had a look on autotrader & the car in question all looks standard which is good & there are a good few nice factory additions there

At this age I would be asking how many owners, condition of exhaust & what work was done under MINI warranty up to 2005 as cars of this age would have been prone to the following faults :

Power steering pump
Steering rack
Steering column

I'm sure there may be a few other items to check that other NMS members will remember

[AndyP & Lenore]

Hi Steve,

Can't really offer much advice other than what Crombers has said, however...:welcome:

There are plenty of folk on here who I am sure will be able to put their tuppence worth in.

A.:D

[Fartin Martin]

Welcome along!:thumbs up:

...and what they said:lol:

[GCA3N]

ok Andy here is my 2p worth.

Price looks about right and what crombers said pretty much sums it up, however there are folks on here selling there cars privetly quite alot and also obviously else where to, it goes without saying you'd get alot more for your money doing it that way.

I think most folk would agree that the statement that mini's hold their value seems mostly to apply to garage sales, as what mini offer for your car and what they sell them at differs greatly.

If you want peace of mind the garage is the way forward, echo what crombers stated there are quite alot of issues with the earlier coopers/ones so if it has not had the typical faults repaired by now there is a good possibilty you'll not have had the car long, and be spending money on it.

Anyways good luck on your car hunt. One other thing if you can push the budget a bit you should be able to get 05 cooper for not a massive difference to what your price is now.

[LightningStevie]

Wow thanks for all the advice guys! Will deffo check out and see if they steering rack stuff has been looked at. I'm going to have a look at what else there is, but I love the colour & spec of the red one. Plus, I reckon I'll be able to get a little off the price. Well I should hope I could :)

Cheers again! Will keep you updated :D

[LightningStevie]

Quick question. If the dealer has no record of the work being carried out, will I be able to check directly with Mini?

[GCA3N]

Quick question. If the dealer has no record of the work being carried out, will I be able to check directly with Mini?

If the work was carried out by mini I would imagine they would have a record.

[LightningStevie]

Its not at a mini dealer, which is why I would need to ask mini directly and hopefully they would be able to tell me

[Craig]

Maybe David at Jc's could help with the info ;)

[LightningStevie]

Jc's?

[Forbes]

Jc's?
John Clark Tayside

[RyanK]

Welcome!

[stoney]

yep what rest have said also have a look at the water bottle they seem to leak at the seem sometimes so if it 1/2 full or u see a greeny looking stuff on the heat shield then will prob need a new water bottle and radiator thats all i can think of

welcome to the site

[Crombers]

Maybe David at Jc's could help with the info ;)

My thoughts exactly :thumbs up: , I'm sure all you'd need is the reg or chassis no :thumbs up:

[LightningStevie]

Well, I didn't go to see the 02 mini in the end. Bought a 56 Mini cooper with Chilli pack instead!

[Fartin Martin]

Well, I didn't go to see the 02 mini in the end. Bought a 56 Mini cooper with Chilli pack instead!

Get pics up!:D

[SimonC]

Welcome mate

[LightningStevie]

Will do when I get some! It was literally just in this week, so completely un preped. 18k on the clock, chilli pack with blue dash and blue part leather. There was another mini with similar spec, but with the sunroof, at the same price. Howver, it had 50k on the clock, so it was a no brainer really! Cannot wait to get it! Getting it from PEter Vardy Edinburgh, very good guys to deal with :)

[Sheilz]

That's cool. Looking forward to seeing pics. Congratulations :thumbs up:

[audrey]

Hi Stevie :bigwave:

[Fartin Martin]

Will do when I get some! It was literally just in this week, so completely un preped. 18k on the clock, chilli pack with blue dash and blue part leather. There was another mini with similar spec, but with the sunroof, at the same price. Howver, it had 50k on the clock, so it was a no brainer really! Cannot wait to get it! Getting it from PEter Vardy Edinburgh, very good guys to deal with :)
sounds top notch mate!!..a would have got they sunny though..was always desp for one after my Cooper lol..can't wait to see it!;)

[LightningStevie]

Not sure this will work, but here are the pics

http://photos-d.ak.fbcdn.net/hphotos-ak-snc3/hs200.snc3/20736_319734279588_501479588_3324602_6558840_n.jpg

http://photos-f.ak.fbcdn.net/hphotos-ak-ash1/hs280.ash1/20736_319734284588_501479588_3324603_4778275_n.jpg

This is the car is it is replacing

http://photos-c.ak.fbcdn.net/hphotos-ak-snc1/hs129.snc1/5536_125810039588_501479588_2251241_202247_n.jpg

[Watson]

Poor wee Mater...what have you done!! ;-) What will we call your new baby....

[LightningStevie]

I'm sure Mater will go off to someone who will love him! And I have no idea what to call the new car yet!

[Bazthemod]

Looks great, just need to get yourself on some runs now! ;)

[LightningStevie]

Will do! Should hopefully get to the next Edinburgh meet though :)

[Duncan Stewart]

Very nice mini :cool: :welcome:

[Colin]

:welcome:

[Ally S]

Looks good - like the blue dash.

A good upgrade

[JOHN MILNE]

:welcome::thumbs up:

[LightningStevie]

Cheers guys! All confirmed for collection tomorrow evening :D


Looks good - like the blue dash.

A good upgrade

Yeah I really like the blue!

[shaunbhoy67]

welcome along mate

[Watson]

and..............................................

[Craig]

Aye how is it? Where are the photos? ;)

[LightningStevie]

Started a new thread. I'm sure you'll find it easily enough lol