buying a used Mini convertible - older with low mileage or newer with high mileage

twobone · twobone's Garage

There are a handful of mini convertibles that I'm looking at.

The car will get reasonably high mileage as my wife will use it as a daily commuter. Looking at the non-S model to save a bit of cash.

There is a super clean one owner 2009 model with only 15,000 miles purchased by the dealer from BMW (presubably off lease).

For the same money in newer, I would have to look at a 2010 or 2011 with 40,000 miles.

Pretty much all of them are going to be out of warranty in the near future.

My wife seems to have her head set on getting a "newer" version, but my thoughts are that an older one if super clean and well maintained with lower mileage is actually going to give us more years of driving pleasure as its miles that lead to expensive repairs like brakes, major services, etc.

With modern body shells and electronics there is not much difference in 2-3 years especially if we don't plan on selling it. Also insurance will be cheaper.

I'm trying to keep the budget reasonable.

What do you guys think of my logic?

1990C4S · 06:14 AM

I would probably choose the newer well serviced car with more miles, all other things being equal.

Either way it's crap shoot. Let your wife choose.

Steve Carlton · 08-10-2013, 07:09 AM

I think you can go either way, but should research if one model year is better than the other reliability-wise or feature-wise. If you plan on putting substantial miles on the car, the older one with super-low miles will "hide" it better than a newer one. The miles on it when you go to sell it will look more normal, assuming you sell it with say under 100K on it when you're done. Look into what an extended warranty would cost on the car- probably well worth it. Make part of the deal buying the extended warranty for $500 over cost (and make them show you). It's not a dick head offer and it'll prevent them from marking it up $1,000-1,500.

5String43 · 08-10-2013, 12:22 PM

I think I'd make sure it was a 2011 or newer. The reason is that in '11 BMW updated the engine. There were lots of changes and some of them were designed to fix the intake-tract coking problem that apparently is endemic to direct-injection engines. That said, these things are a blast to drive. I've got a '13 MCS Clubman and it is a total hoot. You and your wife will like the car, I predict.