Advice on buying a Mini

[octagon]

Hi Everyone,
My 24 year old daughter has settled on buying a Mini. She graduated university a year ago, and is in the market for a used one. I was wondering if anybody has advice in this regrard, for instance, is there particular problems with the 2002 or 2003 cars? It is not so much the obvious abuse issues, but rather early design deficencies that might exist. Is there a site in Canada (we live near Toronto) that owners list their cars on, other than the obvious AutoTrader or the Newspaper. I have owned a number of MGs and the club I was in always had car listings for sale. In any case, thanks in advance for any help/ information.
Rob Dickinson, Richmond Hill, Ontario

[davewastey]

Hi
I used to own a 2004 mini cooper and it was great. I had no major problems with it and it had done around 100,000 miles. The only thing that needed replacing was the gearbox at around 35,000 miles (they don't last long).