That would be my choice . Why take a chance on a used engine doing the same thing in 31 days.
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You’re concerned about the silly little car (Ever look under the hood of one of these things? I have… Oh man! No wonder labor is so high! I watched a mechanic trying to dig his way through layers of components to find the wiper linkage, ugh.)
Forget the car! What about your wife? Consider yourselves fortunate that she is okay. Put her in something safe and reliable so she can safely travel 40 minutes away after dark without endangering herself!
You should have given up novelty cars like that Mini when you abandoned the bachelor days.
The feeling you’ll get knowing she’s safe and not waiting for a rescue call will more than make up for missing this thing. It’s demise could become a blessing in disguise.
They don’t call me “common sense” for nothing. You can thank me, later.
CSA
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THat sounds more in line with what I would expect paying.
I also have to agree with @oldtimer-11 .That there would be no reason to tell you the mileage that the engine had prior to being rebuilt. Basically you are getting a new engine.
Yosemite
If you look at my other postings, you will see that I normally advise people to keep their existing car and repair it, the devil you know versus the devil you don’t. However, even I would strongly urge you to cut your losses on this one!
The issue isn’t so much the fact that the car isn’t worth the price of a used or rebuilt engine (which it’s not from a financial point of view). The issue is that buying a used, or even rebuilt engine for a car which is not known for reliability is likely to result in more expensive mechanical problems in the not-too-distant future, after sinking more than $5k into it. Also, the $5k used engine has such a short warranty (only a month) that I wouldn’t even consider it.
If you can get $1500 for this thing in “tow away” condition, TAKE IT! It’s a no-brainer! You could likely get a more reliable car with that money, if you don’t mind driving an older model. Or you could use it as a down payment on something new(er).
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Thanks I’m leaning towards selling the vehicle but have not firmly made up my mind. I’ve written to a local Mini Cooper club and they suggested a mechanic who builds or replaces engines as an after hour hobby. I am not sure how that will turn out. I’m assuming no warranty repair but perhaps lower cost. I’m thinking of garaging the car and taking my time to think about this rather than trying to rush to a decision. At the moment I’m thinking about trying Uber and Lyft for a month to see how that goes. I do have one other functioning car that I share with my wife, although it’s getting on a bit in years (BMW X3 2005 117K miles). I look at transport as a necessary evil: I may be able to put in $5,000 and get 5 years more use out of the car? Or maybe only two months…it’s a bit of a gamble.
Alternatively as I live in Denver and, although not downtown we have a number of neighborhoods within the city, I think I might be able to get by with using Uber or Lyft or car sharing service as I don’t need to commute that often. Now going to the mountains for the weekend may require renting a suitable vehicle and then returning it. It’s extra work but in the long run perhaps cost effective? I know that many of us leave our car sitting for 22 or 23 hours a day seems such a waste and yet there’s the convenience factor.
As you can tell from my rambling post I’m still mulling over the pros and cons thank you all again for your ideas and suggestions.
You have two vehicles that never met the definition of just transport . Your BMW is getting close to the time when you will have the same decisions about it as you have now. Since you think that having a vehicle is almost a pain look into the cheapest lease you can find.
If you have $5000 to spend, think about what else you could buy with that money, such as a low-mileage used Toyota Corolla, Toyota Camry, or similar. The Mini is more of a novelty than a transportation car.
To be honest, you could probably buy a 1997-2001 Toyota Camry for somewhere between $1500-2000 in excellent condition, with less than 150,000 miles, and probably drive it for another 50,000-100,000 miles with just routine maintenance. Your Mini didn’t even last for 50,000 miles before the head gasket failed, causing the engine to overheat. I’d say that makes for a much better gamble than putting $5k into this car, with just a 30-day warranty I might add.
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I think you have that backwards, in most cases there is a coolant leak, the owner drives without coolant and damages the cylinder head and head gasket. The BMW could be next if a coolant leak develops and it is ignored.
Last month I had a 2013 Lexus IS250 in the shop, the water pump had been leaking and the owner drove the car until it wouldn’t move anymore (I see this once a month).
I wrote an estimate for a used engine, $2500 plus labor but the customer had a service contract that requires new parts. A short block, two cylinder heads, gaskets, fluids and labor $13,000.
A Mini Cooper (Turbo ?) is not a car for someone who does not have “fun money”.
Back in 1963 when I was a graduate student, another graduate student who had a room in the same house where I lived, bought a 1962 MG Midget. The car was fun to drive, but it did have mechanical issues.
A mechanic for whom I started working as an 8th grader mowing the grass around his shop and house and continued working for him through high school advised me that when I bought a car to stick with Ford and Chevrolet. These were the basic transportation cars of the day. Parts were readily available and every mechanic had experience working on them. I think this mechanic would say today “Stick with Toyota or Honda”. These cars, particularly the Civic and Corolla are the Ford’s and Chevrolets of earlier years.
The Mini Cooper and the BMW aren’t basic transportation cars. These cars are fun to drive, but require more maintenance than a Civic or Corolla. My experience with Toyotas is limited to two Sienna’s and a 4Runner. They are reliable, but not the most thrilling vehicles to drive.
I once owned a Ford Maverick. It was easy to maintain. It was very reliable. It sat outside and I started the engine when the temperature was -22 degrees–well below zero. Was it fun to drive? NO!!!
If you really like fun cars to drive, maybe it is worth it to repair your Mini Cooper. If you just want reliable transportation, go with a Civic or Corolla.
Many Toyotas of that era used timing belts . . . and I’m willing to bet that almost all from that era and in that price range are screaming for a timing belt service. I can’t imagine anybody will change the timing belt on their 20-year old Toyota, and then put it up for sale the next day. It’s probably due or long overdue by the time they put it up for sale
My point is this . . . $1500 won’t get you much. Either a decent looking car which is screaming for overdue maintenance, or a car that might be okay mechanically, but looks awful
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Not in my area.
Since you seem to have cars that are fun to drive–a BMW and a Mini Cooper, you might think about a Mazda Miata. If you want an enclosed car, a Mazda3 is more fun to drive than a Corolla or Civic and might be a good replacement for the Mini.
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Thx. The Miata was on our shopping list back n '92. My thinking now is : try Uber/ Lyft for a month, then decided to fix / repair / replace the Mini. If I replace the Mini, it will be a ‘beater’ car that does well in the increasingly rare snow in Denver but something rugged for our mountains. Our BMW btw is a 2005 X3 so, nothing too fancy…
Michael, I guess I am missing something here . I would call your 13 year old BMW a perfect beater vehicle because it really will not lose value at a high rate now. I also do not understand why you would even want to put money in the Mini Cooper. There are so many new vehicles on the market at the 20000.00 or less price point which also have better loan rates that seems like a no brainer to me.
It’s true that my 13 year old BMW is pretty much depreciated. I suppose I’m trying to avoid putting in $20,000 into a use second car. I think I can replace the engine in the Mini for approximately 5 to $6,000 based upon some new pricing that I have. The used engines have between 50 to 80K miles which makes me hesitate. So my plan is to try Uber and Lyft for a month and decide if I need a second car at all. I remember Tom M saying on the podcast if you live in a city why would you want a car - this is the philosophy I’m trying to adopt.
I lived and worked in San Francisco in the early 80s and wanted to buy a new Audi Coupe. Naturally, I used public transportation for my work commute. The car was for night and out-of-town travel. I compared the cost of owning the car versus taking taxis at night and renting a car for my occasional out-of-town trips. It was clear that owning the car was much more expensive, and I didn’t even include possible repair costs. I bought the car, knowing that it was strictly a luxury item for me.
Another thought: Perhaps a used EV would suit your needs. My neighbor recently got a used Fiat 500e for his 4 mile commute to work for very little cost. EVs tend to depreciate a lot. He seldom drives his Lincoln Navigator any more. Says the Fiat is more fun to drive.
Rebuilt engine would be my choice. Shop around!
thinking abt this option
I go back to the Morris 850 Mini-minor of 1959. My dad did business with a DeSito/Plymouth dealer who also handled the Morris line. I remember being at the dealer with my dad while he was getting some work done on his Dodge. There was a Morris 850 in the showroom and one outside. The owner of the agency saw me looking at the Morris 850 and said, “Let’s go for a drive”. He gave me the keys and he and I took a ride in the 850 with me driving. I had never driven a car that handled as well or was as responsive to the controls. The owner of the agency said it would be the perfect car for a college student that I was at the time. My dad thought differently–the bus was perfect transportation for a college student. All my life I have owned “practical” vehicles. I guess I am too frugal. At almost 77 years of age, I sometimes wish I had purchased a fun car to drive. If I were in your shoes, I would fix the Mini.
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At college ca. 1972 a buddy told me about the Austin Mini… he and a pal driving, one at the wheel and the other dribbling oil into the transmission there under the shift lever, to keep up with a leak.
I didn’t know much about cars then, but the desperate unreliability of British cars was already folk wisdom. In the next few years Toyota and Datsun and then Honda entered the market and then, on a steep learning curve, learned and improved, leaving the Brits in the dust.