Mini Nightmare! Why Used Car Dealers Lie and why you WANT them to!!

Respect mate

Classic dilemma... At certain price points, struggle for interest- below, moidered to death lol...

a MINI is not a casual commuter car. When things go bad, they go VERY badly VERY fast. It's not a car for the typical driveway mechanic.

Please keep up the honesty! You are a dealer for car addicts like me - and people who probably wouldn’t buy a Mini Cooper S of that age if they didn’t have a contingency fund for it

Great video, honest and to the point, never come across this kind of honesty before, so thank you. On one note, you've mentioned the fact of a timing chain rattle, how much of a problem could this be, I understand that timing chains are better than a timing belt but I own a CX-5 from new it occasionally has a rattle, Mazda are aware but will not do anything about, so are you able to advise me what could happen.

After the 'Death Rattle', ignored and denied after an inspection by Williams of Stockport's workshop Manager, my engine self destructed at 27000 miles.. It ended up with a new engine at a cost of £8500. I know the cost because I had to threaten Williams with a law suit if they did not provide me with an itemised cost of the repair under warranty!

Honesty , thats the ticket. I sell a car ever now and again and I tell them everything I know about the car and all I have had to do to it and what I think they may have in the future. I just bought a mimi from a friends car lot but I bought it for the fun of useing it but for the fun of working on it also. I got it for a good price and I expect to be throwing money at it in parts and will keep it for a long while. For me it's just a toy. I wouldn't buy a mini as an everyday dependable car.

What a gentleman you are, where I come from the sharks would tell you anything to sell you a car. I looked at these a few years back and there were so many red flags. Importantly, my mechanic told me not to buy one so, ended up with not one, but two Abarths. A 2011 Eseesse and a 2017 595 Tourismo. Apart from having to do brakes prematurely (in comparison to my Japanese cars), it been all positive.

Catastrophic dialect! - Not the first time an englishman speechs lightyears away from Oxford! 🙄🙃😏

Mini will fall apart faster than it drives

Don't EVER hold a car for someone .

Looks cheap enough to me.

This is why I ONLY play with the r53.. I'd ONLY get an r56 IIIIIIIIIF it was a 2010 OR NEWER

You are very brave in the type and age of cars you sell.
Sounds like you are on a hiding to nothing a lot of the time 😊

Some years ago I bought a Nissan Note automatic. It was a rush purchase as my Hyundai had been written off and I needed a car quick. I thought, it's a Nissan. What could possibly go wrong. Then after the dust settled I did my due diligence and discovered that the torque converter in this model is a common failure and an expensive fix. Arse. I had that car five years and almost 50,000 miles taking it up to 95,000 miles and it never missed a beat.

I have a 2013 Cooper convertible, I've owned it for about three years. It is a fun car to drive in California but It has caused a few headaches. The "run flat tires" and the TPMS are a nightmare. Repairs are more expensive. I want to ditch the run flats but the replacement kit is expensive. I will keep the car as a second car and get a proper car for my commute.

I bought a red Mini Cooper convertible I feel in love with it. I love driving it, but it's been nothing but trouble.

Would the best action to take Would be to have the AA to a have check before buying. Then everyone's happy. Thanks for sharing.

When a dealer tells me how wonderful the car is
i usually walk away. Dealers lie as much as politicians.
You seem an alright chap.

Just got rid of our 2009 Mini Cooper - possibly one of the worst cars we’ve owned. If you’re thinking of buying one I would strongly advise you not to. We had it 15 months and in that time the heater matrix failed, as did the drivers electric window regulator and the alternator.
We had several oil leaks fixed and we had a coolant leak from the radiator. All on a car that was 12 years old with only 85,000 miles and a fsh. The final straw was the last MOT advised that the valve stem seals needed to be replaced as the car was burning oil excessively causing it to almost fail its emissions test. The quote for that alone was over £1000. These are BMW engines that you would imagine would be far more reliable. Save yourself the bother and buy a Japanese car.

Tell them it has a 6 month warranty, you have 6 months to find out if it has timing chain issues.
To be fair I'm a mechanic and I wouldn't have one 😅🥴

I'll never understand why manufacturers build cars with weak timing chains. Citroën C4s are bad for this also.

Keep up the good work.
I'd buy a car from you.
No one should spend their whole budget on a used vehicle.
80% would be my limit.

Seriously is it a 2007? That's 16 years old! I wouldn't pay more than £500

You deserve a medal.

Blimey, what happened to ‘buyer beware’.

Lol, I had a friend like this. He would keep buying secondhand cars, very please with himself over the money he saved over buying new. When something failed or needed maintenance, he would blame the dealer or servicing people for selling him a shit car or doing shoddy work. I kept telling him that it was normal and he had to budget this sort of stuff in. So now he decided the problem was the brand of car and got a second hand, high mileage Mercedes which he believes is a quality car that won’t cause him issues. You can’t make this stuff up. He is a professional person who works in a large multinational, has a Masters degree, so isn’t thick. Just lives in a universe full of assumptions when it comes to cars and doesn’t care to educate himself. He just expects his cars to work, with minimal input from himself.

What a lovely motor for the money! Also very refreshing to hear such honesty in the trade. Did you keep it?!

Wish you were in America
Thanks for being an a honest person

Absolutely. It’s called perception bias and we want our perception re-enforced. This is because if it’s challenged, that suggests we could be wrong about things, and we don’t like that.

They're also not interested in the maintenance aspect (what's the point of an owners handbook?) and that because they've bought it problem-free, it should stay that way. Ignorance and apathy a wonky combo. Don't get me started! 🤣
Fair play to you for being up front - I guess most of 'em simply can't handle it.

I would buy a car from you 👍👍👍

I was going to buy a mini...but after watching this video...I have now decided not to. Thank you for the honest and informative video.

I sell cars privately it's a nightmare I think people don't like that we have things they want but can't afford so for that they waste our time bstards

Your a good egg. Not your usual used car salesman. Customers need to do their research not expect to be lead by the hand on every possibility. As you say every car has it's potential problems.

I have 2005 BMW 120d Sport Auto 55 plate with 153K miles bought in 2010 remapped to 200BHP/300lb-ft, uprated IC, lowered uprated (dual flow dampers for comfort and sportiness) suspension, Milltek exhaust, V Power diesel - like Boris I always try to build back better. Spent about £13K in fixing it over 13 years that is without servicing, done most of the big jobs - turbo, 4 injectors, all the suspension front and rear arms, dampers, some of the bushes, radiator, condenser, alternator, idler, pulley, belts, steering rack. It drives like new, quite a lot of it is TBH. No DPF, EGR, SCR, swirl flaps or DFI, keep it till the auto gives up the ghost. Immacuately maintained, none of that lifetime fluids do the - rear diff oil, power steering, coolant every 100K, ATF & sump every 50K or 5 years, oil & filter every year or 12K miles etc. It's a good B road blaster...Keep it cause I know the service history - I buy the service fluids, oils and filters. I use a BMW specialist for repairs that insists on BMW franchise parts...I am an ownership kind of guy don't really like renting home or car. PCP once for a new Range Rover and had a 6 cylinder Boxster from Porsche franchise - wife said mid-life crisis. I'll tell you those Porsche dealership they treat you well, it's like you're part of the family. Pickup the car drop a curtesy car then once the servicing is done drop off the car. You have your own relationship manager, email or call them, they take care of everything sad to say but way better than Land Rover it's true luxury service not just in name. The drive belt was due but I didn't have time to get it done at Cambridge so they arranged it to be done Catania in Sicily with an English speaking rep. I mean that is what you call service. The service Porsche give they have won my heart, they just can't do enough for you. I used to test them to see if they would say no it was 10 year old Boxster any thing, they fixed it. I did track days in it, they changed suspension all under warranty. Amazing company and people...

Beautiful Mini! ❤

The manufacturer may state the timing chain and the automatic transmission's lifetime (sealed) fluid may not need changing if maintenance intervals are respected. However, with the N14 /N18, I would humbly disagree. The timing chain, ESPECIALLY with the manufacturer recommended oil changes (every 10K miles), will most likely need a change at 50,000~70,000 Miles. In fact, the best way to extend the timing chain life is to increase the oil change frequency to every 5,000 miles. Unfortunately, on a used car...it's very difficult to verify the higher frequency of oil changes unless the maintenance history has been meticulously kept. I have an 11.2007 R55 S with the N14...and had the timing chain replaced (full kit) at 85,000 miles on the odometer...for around CHF2200...four years ago. I change the oil & filter myself every 5000 miles with 5W30 full synthetic. The car takes 4.2L...and I check the oil dipstick after every other fill-up of the gas tank. I keep a 1L bottle of oil in the car at all times...as it needs a 0.4L top off after every 750 miles. I try to keep levels on the high side of the dipstick measure. Bottom line...if you want that mini to last, CHECK and CHANGE the oil at 2x the manufacturer's recommended frequency. This is the one specific maintenance area where you need to be on-top of the situation with any N14/N18 Mini. Especially the N14.
As for the automatic (steptronic) transmission....DRAIN and REPLACE (do NOT flush) the fluid every 50,000 miles.
Lastly, I do use 6 oz's of SEAFOAM on the dirty side of the vacuum return hose from the N14 valve cover (upper left corner of the valve cover when facing the car) every 6 months. With a warm engine, I take a coffee-sized paper cup of SeaFoam, with my thumb over the removed vacuum hose, and slowly let the vacuum pull SeaFoam from the cup as I carefully tilt the cup (so as not to stall the engine...avoiding a vapor lock). I prefer to have someone in the car keeping the engine rev at 2000rpm while adding the SeaFoam. I then shutoff the car and let the SeaFoam sit in the air intake and above the valves for 0.5 hours. Thereafter, I run the car at 4K rpm for 5 minutes to clean out the excess carbon (until the smoke clears, so to speak). This is necessary due to the older Direct Fuel Injection system whereby carbon builds up around the valve tops. SeaFoam (or similar cleaners) does a good job of lessening the carbon build up. Not sure if this will avoid an expensive cleaning by a certified tech (with crushed walnut blasting)...but at least it extends the interval for said maintenance.
IMO, Mini's are a lot of fun to drive...sportive and good looking too! However, GEN2's are a terrible first car, unless that young driver has a family member (e.g., dad) that keeps track of the maintenance. Also, Mini S's and JCW's are probably not the best cars for young drivers...too much power in the hands of inexperienced drivers, IMO. Had a business colleague who's young brother-in-law was given a new Mini Cooper S upon graduation from university. Hit a signal pole and was killed, along with his 3 friends, while driving fast & furious.

Very well done. Totally agree. Because sales lies so much they think if your honest, there's even more underlying issues.

If 😊😊I buy any car I want to fix things myself

The first generation that came out was the most problematic, and none of it was BMW parts either . The second generation was better now the third generation is most reliable and all BMW and also more expensive

Those who choose to lie to procure a sale place themselves at risk of a void sale and an action for misrepresentation if the purchaser acted in reliance on the representation. Top marks to this salesman who has acted honestly and in good faith.

Being open, honest and transparent, keeps one's conscious guilt free.

My daughter bought a 2016 Mini Cooper Countryman S. She was haveing a hard time with the six speed shifter. She's never driven a manual transmission. Everything has been automatic, from her pickup truck to the army wrecher she drove in Iraq. Her friend showed her how to use the shift. She sitll had a problem so I took her out and showed her how to shift. She asked me to drop her off at her friends house. I headed home. I was going up a moderate hill on a tar road. I got a wiff of what smelled like brakes. The parking brake was off. Suddenly there was a thump. I looked in the mirrow and saw a puff of blue smoke. The over rev warning light came on, I took my foot off the gas an started rolling backwards down the hill with the car still in second gear. After owning the car for a week it blew the clutch. She bought it from a Mazda dealer. Four weeks and counting we haven't seen the car. I like Minis, the last one I drove was when I was living in Scotland. Lesson learned don't buy a use care from a dealer who doesn't sell the make of car you're buying. I don't know if they still do, but they use to make Mini vans. I had a friend who had Mini that was set up for racing. One day he suddenly realized that he could do the same thing with his van! It was a very fast van.

Excellent video thanks. Fine example of an honest fellow.

Yep. You are good...

You are certainly a rare find brother! 👍👌

Sounds just like when you go to buy a Subaru. Thankfully I had a great experience buying a WRX from a used car dealer in my area. They went above and beyond with service and professionalism.

Lmao seeing a mini countryman as an ad on this video

It seems the more honest you are the more you get fucked about.......that explains MPs