2013 Cooper S Used Turbo 1.6l I4 16v Steptronic Fwd Convertible Premium Leather on 2040-cars

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The original Mini Cooper still has universal appeal

It sold over five million units. It was voted the second most influential car of the last century, bested only by the pioneering Ford Model T. It counted among its owners Steve McQueen, Enzo Ferrari and Peter Sellers. It is the classic Mini.
The tiny, two-box, four-seat hatch is an automotive icon of the first order and it's high time it featured in an episode of Petrolicious. Of course, the video gurus did it right, filming this handsome 1971 Mini, which has been modified to accommodate the 1,275-cc four-cylinder from the Mini Cooper S of the time.
Its owner, Sumner Norman, describes life with his right-hand-drive, UK-spec Mini. Naturally, he points out some of the idiosyncrasies inherent with a car built under the guise of British Leyland, including some of well known reliability woes, which he says is the car "going British." Mostly, though, he just seems to have a good time with the little hatch.

Judge to approve settlement of Mini CVT lawsuits

BMW has agreed to settle a number of class-action lawsuits out of court. The suits stem from drivetrain issues on the 2001 to 2006 R50 Mini Cooper - in particular, its continuously variable transmission. The transmission was known to fail, often without warning on otherwise healthy and well-maintained vehicles. This wasn't the only major issue to afflict the original BMW-era Mini models.
According to legal site Topclassactions.com, the suits alleged that BMW knowingly hid the defects in the CVT from customers while informing dealers of the issue. The first suit was filed in 2011, while four additional suits have followed. Now, BMW has reportedly settled, offering to reimburse 1,200 owners that needed repairs within eight years or 150,000 miles of their purchase. Repair prices for the transmission range from $6,000 to $9,000.
Under the agreement, BMW will also offer up to $4,100 to members of the suit that had fixes performed at a third-party shop, while owners who sold their cars at a loss due to the issues are slated to receive up to $2,000. Finally, owners who are part of the suit will be warrantied for a further eight years and 150,000 miles.

Junkyard Gem: 2011 MINI Cooper Clubman

The original BMC Mini changed the automotive world forever in 1959, staying in production in essentially the same form all the way through 2000. Its innovative transverse-mounted engine and front-wheel-drive transaxle became the layout for most cars built in the world today, and its cheap price tag put millions of new drivers on wheels for the first time. Like the Volkswagen Beetle and Fiat 500, it was inevitable that the shape of such an iconic machine would be applied to a modern platform for the retro-ization craze of the late 1990s and early 2000s, and that's just what happened when BMW ended up owning the Rover Group. The BMW-built MINI Hardtop first appeared on our shores for the 2002 model year, and used-up examples of these cars are now extremely plentiful in self-service wrecking yards across the continent. The Cooper Clubman, which debuted here for the 2008 model year, has been a rare sight during my junkyard travels, and so I documented this one in Denver a few weeks ago. The Clubman wasn't quite as nimble and easy to park as the regular Cooper, but its increased cargo capacity and split rear doors made it a lot more useful for trips to the big-box store. It also offered more space for rear-seat passengers, and the right-side suicide rear door made it much easier to get into the back seat (on that side). The new MINI started out much larger than the clown-car-tiny old Mini, anyway. The added usefulness and more recent release of the Clubman have made it an uncommon sight in American car graveyards. This one was uncrashed and still had the original manuals inside, which suggests that some owners of first-generation (2008-2014) Clubmen are no longer willing to pay for major mechanical repairs when needed. We'll see how this sorts out during the next few years. As the owner of a 2000s wagon with a manual transmission, I applaud the original purchaser of this wagon for the choice of three-pedal setup. The interior looks to have been fairly tidy before junkyard shoppers tore it apart. The Colorado toll-road transponder suggests that this machine was a well-cared-for commuter for its decade on the road, but proved to be not worth repairing when some major component failed. This content is hosted by a third party. To view it, please update your privacy preferences. Manage Settings. The future will look exactly like the MINI CLUBMANIA human-scale pinball machine. This content is hosted by a third party.