Newbie - Seeking Advice....

[MrMiniMan]

Howya,

I know little or nothing about Minis. My Mam had three of them at various times when I was growing up so I have an affection for them. In fact, I learnt to drive in one of them....and I remember they were fun to drive.

Anyway, I'm looking to buy an 'old style' Mini. It will be my daily driver, so I imagine something in the late 90s is best? I like the idea of a Cooper as I assume they have a little more power than the 1L engines.

I realise I'm being vague.....but I guess I'm just after some advice for buying a Mini. There seems to be quite a few on Donedeal etc. but some ads look and read a bit ropey.

Any basic advice for a newbie purchaser?

Thanks

[MrMiniMan]

Alright....not quite a 1990s car....but any advice on this one:

http://cars.donedeal.ie/vintagecars-for ... ar/7654860

Anyone know this car? Anything obviously good or bad about it?

Thanks

[CB_Phil]

Relatively new to the Mini scene myself. my 1st car & all that. But The main things i would say is bring someone w/you, look everywhere for rust, pull carpets up, go thru boot (pull out spare ect), check under neath Check electrics, check the motor, both running &any free movement, engine steadines & the same goes for the wheels, check for free movement there. go thru what you think maybe needed & price the work or spares if your gona do it yourself (factor in postage) it may sound trivial, but theres always something (maybe that just me ) Ive put alont into mine, wish I asked for advice lke you did before I went for my 1st, but shes a much better car now, but for the money Ive spent buying & sorting I could have started w/something a bit stronger to begine with.
998s from what I read make great town run arounds & are fun & can be tuned pretty well. SPIs (91-96, unless you get a jap, then 97) & then MPI after that. They have the most power in standard trim.
As for the one in the add, she looks well, but pics are deceiving, go look @ her & look hard
When you do get the right one they are great craic & well worth it,
best of luck

[woody]

From '92 on all Minis are 1275. In 92-95 Coopers were single point injection when other models had carbs. 95-96 All minis were single point injection and 97-00 ( excluding Jap) they were all twin point injection .
The mini in the ad looks good but you may have to read between the lines. If it has been done properly to a high standard somebody is loseing a lot of money on it, why? The ZV plate would sujest it has been imported and old UK minis are terrable for rust. You have to be very carefull with freshly painted cars, they will usually look great fro at least a year.

[MrMiniMan]

Hi,

Thanks for the advice. Someone on the forum has actually had a look at that '78 car and filled me in. I'm looking for a daily driver and it would probably be unfair (and unwise) to put such an old car through a fairly lengthy daily commute.

There was a super looking limited edition '96 Cooper SPI on Carzone recently but it looks like it's gone.


Any advice on this one?

http://cars.donedeal.ie/vintagecars-for ... ]--[viewAd]

Any pros/cons of carb vs. SPI?

Thanks again.

[woody]

In standard form and good order the injection will be torquier low down and easier starting in winter.. When things go wrong injection may require Rover Mini specfic diagnostic equipment where as any mechanic can look at a carb.

[MrMiniMan]

Thanks for the info. I'm going to see the '91 carb Cooper next week.

The limited edition Cooper that was withdrawn from sale is this one:

http://www.adverts.ie/car/mini/cooper/1 ... le/6146083

Any advice on this one? I think it's up for auction tonight. Temped to go along. Looks lovely

Cheers

[The Marcos Graveyard]

It may be worth a call to your insurance company first, as the car was originally a left hand drive.
I remember we had a guy from Germany in the Club a few years back, Christian I think his name was, he was living here for a few years and had his German Mini Van with him, his insurance was loaded because it was a LHD, he said that even if he had the car converted to RHD his insurance company would still consider it to be LHD and continue to load his insurance.