Used 2003 MINI Cooper Consumer Reviews
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Good for a while...
socalpv7, 10/21/2016
2003 MINI Cooper S 2dr Hatchback (1.6L 4cyl S/C 6M)
11 of 12 people found this review helpful
I had my 2003 Mini Cooper S for just over a year. It was a good year of ownership but not without it's major hiccups. I, too, was one of the people that thought I would be amongst the "lucky ones" and not have any of the issues that the other reviews mentioned. I wish I was wrong. The Mini was not bad at first...I got mine with only 57K miles. It was fun to drive, gripped like a go cart, had decent acceleration, and got okay fuel economy. Just over a year later I am glad it is gone (with 64K miles). I miss it, but it was far too expensive to maintain. Here is my list of the things that went wrong while I owned the car (I kept up on maintenance, or at least tried to): 1. Engine would occasionally randomly have issues idling and sometimes shut down. 2. The A/C is basically non-existent. Even with a fresh re-charge it never blew cold or strong enough to make a difference (say hello to sweaty back on hot days). Also, don't know if it was just mine, but anytime the A/C was on, even on low, the car was much harder to drive and would sometimes stall when idling. Acceleration was also drastically decreased. 3. Everything creaks and rattles from the interior plastics, cheap door sound, etc. 4. Clutch/flywheel started making screeching sounds, come to find out flywheel was burning ($1,800 for clutch and flywheel). The dealer said this is a common issue. 5. A/C compressor went out in the middle of the summer ($900). 6. Two days after the A/C went out, passenger window motor regulator failed, couldn't roll window down or all the way up. 7. Headliner was sagging since the day I got it and got worse on cold days. 8. Power steering fluid reservoir always had a leak no matter how many times it was fixed (common issue). 9. Two weeks after the A/C and window regulator went out, the power steering failed. It was a nice August summer turning around the weight of the car with no A/C or passenger window. Luckily enough that was under recall and got fixed. 10. After the recall got fixed I got a list of $3,600 worth of repairs that the dealer said "red--required attention soon". Add on the "yellow--will soon require attention" and it was up to about $5,200. I decided to part with my MINI at this point. Needless to say, it was hard to sell with such a long list of issues. If you are a college student or are tight on money, this is probably not the car for you. You can get a similar driving dynamic and performance for other cars that will not cost you as much to maintain.
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Miss it, but GLAD it's gone!
zmr359, 08/02/2011
2003 MINI Cooper 2dr Hatchback (1.6L 4cyl 5M)
21 of 25 people found this review helpful
I bought my Cooper used w/ 68,000 miles. W/in 4 months this happened: First the key fob quit locking/unlocking door & would instead spontaneously open all the windows. Then the driver's side door handle quit working so I had to roll window down to get out, until window quit too, then I had to crawl out passenger side. Electrical issues caused all windows + sunroof to open when it rained which ruined the cloth seats. Then it started running out of gas before it was on E. Doors locked shut once so my bf had to crawl out window & I had go out trunk so I could roll window up. Then the tranny quit! $5k for a rebuilt! So then I had to give car back to bank 6 months after I got it.
2003 MINI Cooper for sale near you
3 of 32 listings
- Base 2dr HatchbackMSRP: $4,49928 mi away
- S 2dr HatchbackMSRP: $5,999148 mi away
- Base 2dr HatchbackMSRP: $6,447382 mi away
See all 32 listings
Older and Wiser
Green Skunk, 09/04/2002
2003 MINI Cooper S 2dr Hatchback (1.6L 4cyl S/C 6M)
12 of 14 people found this review helpful
My original Mini "S" was more fun to drive, however now that I am older and maybe a little wiser, I don't miss having to carry a complete tool kit in the boot just to keep motoring. The new Mini is 10 times more comfortable and the handling is almost as good even though it weighs twice as much. Sometimes getting older with new toys isn't all bad.
mighty mini
george daly, 09/26/2006
2003 MINI Cooper S 2dr Hatchback (1.6L 4cyl S/C 6M)
5 of 5 people found this review helpful
This is a great car. It is very reliable, fun to drive, and gets great gas milage. I would buy another one. I have owned sport cars and luxury cars, but I like this one the best.
For Risk-Takers Only
joe troise, 09/12/2015
updated 09/14/2018
2003 MINI Cooper S 2dr Hatchback (1.6L 4cyl S/C 6M)
11 of 13 people found this review helpful
These little cars are very seductive, but beware--the early model Minis are quite trouble prone and as expensive to maintain and repair as a Porsche (not an exaggeration---I checked this thoroughly). Clutch? How's $2400? Engine? How's $6,500 on up? Automatic transmission? Don't even ask. Front brakes? $500. Broken AC? $1200 on up. New catalytic? How about $1800? Broken sunroof glass? Again, don't ask, you'll have a heart attack. Plusses: Fun to drive, great acceleration on the S model, plenty of leg and head room for tall drivers, decent fuel economy, great handling and braking (to a point--a Mini does like to hop around a bit). Minuses: Not a car you want after it ages. Not a car you want out of warranty. Buy the newest one you can afford. Tend to rattle. BMW cheaped out on these cars. I've only driven up to 2014 or so, and therefore cannot comment on newer than that. AC mediocre due to large glass area, punishing hard ride, jittery handling on rough roads, extremely high repair and maintenance costs. In short, if you can't throw $150 a month at a car to keep it running and safe, then don't buy an R53 or R52 Mini Cooper, or perhaps any Mini Cooper out of warranty. These cars are toys, not everyday drivers.
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