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Nostril Cheese Nostril Cheese is offline
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Join Date: Sep 2006
Location: Oz
Posts: 9,251
MINIs are fun, if you can work on them. Do NOT buy an auto.

Mk1 Coopers are about as quick as your Miata. Cooper S is a very fun car with a few mods. Pan gaskets leak, window regulators fail. Power steering pumps fail. Had a Cooper once come in with a burnt exhaust valve at 56K. Pretty much all the bushings will be worn.

Mk2 Cooper/S really arent very DIY friendly, require a computer for just swapping the battery. More powerful, but it feels like a much bigger car than it is. Direct injection issues, Window regulators fail, Vanos problems, typical cheap modern BMW build quality.

That said, Mk1 MCS with a good history and expect to throw money in for suspension and cooling system work. I've seen them going for around $6-7K these days.
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Old 01-19-2014, 01:51 AM
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