...but don't throw good money after bad trying to keep it going.

Consider trading to a Honda or Toyota, which would be cheaper to maintain and repair, to get out from under costly repairs. Then when your finances settle down, consider shopping for a "new" toy. My daily driver is a Plain Jane 10 year old Suzuki SX4, bought used and has after 8 years been a good runner with minimal repair cost. Tires were the biggest cost so far.

Best to save funds first to minimize the borrowing....

Doesn't sound like you've had too much luck with the current car. And with there being known present problems that you would have to deal with very soon, (like the clutch), I wouldn't wait for something else to go wrong on top of that. And like you said, you'll be wondering when the next thing goes. And are you really getting much fun of it? Also, if you're going to be driving longer distances now, you're really going to wear thing hard and push the boundaries of how far it'll go. If you haven't got a quote for the clutch job, they average around $1K-$2K for parts and labour for the average vehicle. Not just MINIs. 
May be a bit harder to get the dollar figures sorted out. Even if you bought a 2020 version of the same spec'd 2011 car that you have, it's going to cost more for the newer version due to upgrades into the design over the last 9 years. So when you factor that in, it'll mean a larger monthly amount just from that aspect.
Then on the bank side lending rate, you'd have to shop around there too to find the best rate. Banks won't flex. You get what you get there. Some dealers offer in-house financing as well with different rates. 
And with what I was saying before, it literally pays to shop around to see which dealer is more motivated to sell. Push for your comfort level of where you want things at, as long as it's within reason. Some will really want to work with you. 
And if a new car still isn't in the cards, shop around for the best close-to-new MINI. That'll help bring down the payments. But I'd try for the new one first. Shop out of state if it comes to it. 
I've always had sales people call me back after I came into the dealer to try to make a deal later on down the road. Most dealers want your contact info when you approach them so they can call you later if they don't hear from you, and try you with a better deal. It's always a mind game with them.
 

Thank you so much for the advice. And I don't mind about the preachy part either regarding the DUI, I definitely know better now. The law in CA is to actually have a breathalyzer installed once you have one, but thank God that is over. 

I was thinking because I'd have it paid off soon and I would have around 3.5k a year more, I could use that for potential repairs and such for the future. But then again, why do that if I can find another car I could drive where I'm not always stressing if it's going to die. Also living in a new state, I'm going to be driving farther and longer since cities are so spaced out here. 

What I'm trying to figure out now is to have the same monthly payment and same interest rate that I had for this MINI. My friend worked at a dealership where I traded my Mazda in as a down payment (so I wouldn't have to pay anything), and I was able to have 3.34% interest on my MINI for 72 months. They rolled over the Mazda's balance no problem; HOWEVER, over here in Texas, they're trying to increase my monthly charges if I were to trade in my MINI (5k balance left), and said I NEED a down payment to get around the $260 - $300 range. How would I go about that because I get the feeling they don't believe me on my current payments and interest rate.

Wow, what a journey. Not just yours,...but mine reading all that. Quite the action packed roller coaster ride. Now it's your turn. Haha. Read on.

First things first. The DUI. I'm hoping you have that bit in order now and don't plan a repeat. I'm going to sound preachy for a bit here. But really, get a handle on that. If you need to have a breathalyzer installed in your car, that's not a good sign. Not sure if that's law where you live, but either way, that's a bigger problem than your car problems. If you get that wrong again, you won't have to think about any further car problems because you won't be driving. Think of yourself and others' lives around you please. Mind over matter. Off the soap box now. 

And now onto the car. Lose it. It's a high mileage BMW. It's usually a good plan to ditch it after the warranty is up. And where you're at with yours, it's not worth to keep IMO. Of all that you've done to it so far, it's still not good. It still has costly issues to address. You're not even able to really enjoy it. That's the whole part of driving. Otherwise it's just mindless point A to point B transport. MINIs and Minis are too fun to be 'just' transport. Enjoy the ride. But get another car to do it in. Mini's and MINI's are fun, but get a new or newer one to enjoy if you can afford it. Trade that one in. Take the loss. Why hang on to something like that if you can't be satisfied with it? 

As for the clutch, I wouldn't suggest the DIY approach. That's a bit of a job to do. The right tools and know-how are needed. Although, I'm sure you could probably look up the job on YouTube and someone might be able to show you how. Even still, it's a big job. But then again, the video presenter may not be a pro either. Take it with a grain of salt. Each car is different for how to access the clutch. Some are more in depth than others. 

I would see what you can get for the car now before sinking more money into it. It's a good time of the year to be car shopping right now. Dealerships usually look to unload their current year stock on the lot for the next year lineup. Depending on where you live, most people don't shop for cars in the winter. So dealers offer sales and discounts. More willing to work with you. And not only that, but during Covid, they'll also want to work with you more as well. You'll pay more for a new car up front, but then you'll enjoy it for a long time without throwing money into. Buy used and you could end up throwing a whole more into along the way like you have been, and lose any possible enjoyment, like you have been. Not all used cars are $hi7, but there's a possibility of it. At least with a new one, you have a warranty. Clean slate.

I got dealerships down to a science. There's a good time of the year, of the month, of the week and of the day to shop at one. If I'm shopping for a new car, I can buy it form any dealership. Why settle for one. Shop around to get the best deal and compare. Never pay MSRP or higher. 

Like I said with the time of the year. It's in your favour right now. Both because of the winter shopping but also due to new line up model year coming in, more discounts available, etc. 

As for the time of the month. It's better to shop towards the end of the month. Most dealers have a monthly target to meet for sales. A lot of them make aggressive targets to meet, so as to motivate the sales staff to push hard,...but they don't meet them much. If you shop at the beginning of the month, they'll be less likely to do much of a deal for you. Towards the end of the month they'll want to hit that target and they're more desperate, and will do a lot more for you so they can achieve it. 

For the time of the week. Better to shop earlier in the week. Don't shop on the weekend. Most people do. Go in on a Monday or Tuesday, when most people won't be there. Once it gets to mid-late in the week, they pick up on people coming through. And then they'll be busier. You don't want to catch them when they're busy. They'll have too much on their plate. 

Time of day. Try them mid-aft. In the morning, they're getting stuff lined up, cars moved around, meetings, and such. Let all that die down. Don't catch them on lunch either. Sales staff need to report their deals with the sales manager for approval. If the manager is busy in meetings or on lunch, the deal isn't going to be smooth or quick. 

Also a plus is that a lot of car dealers are looking for used cars. They're finding people are shopping for used more so than new. Less money to throw around for the consumers. So your used MINI may be a plus for them. 

Stuff to think about. Happy hunting.

Hello everyone! I have a 2011 R55 Mini Cooper Clubman S (6- spd Manual Transmission).

 

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BACKSTORY:

    This car has been great for 2 years until I drove it without coolant for a month (thinking coolant was just for your AC), and my dumb ass destroyed the whole engine and coolant housing/tubes. I ended up getting the engine replaced with a USED 2014 Mini Countryman N18 engine (55k miles). My friend who worked on it was able to install the new engine and replace the old clutch/flywheel with a new one. HOWEVER, he told me that I bought the wrong type of engine, so he had to change it from automatic transmission to a manual which (thank God) worked out for the most part. 

 

Now this is where things get worse.

 

    I had a DUI, so I had to get a breathalyzer installed into my car. Once installed, when I'd push to start button, it would just click. It takes a couple of tries to start the car. The dealership and the breathalyzer mechanic blamed each other on the problem, and neither knew how to fix it.

 

    A year later around 2018, the turbo went out since the acceleration was weak, so the warranty at the Mini Dealership covered for it. But after a couple of days, the acceleration STILL wasn't going as hard as it used to around 3rd/4th gear. It was slow when merging onto the freeway. The dealership raped my wallet bit by bit as they said "This part is the one" and it wasn't. After installing new spark plugs, vacuum tubes, etc, they said all I needed was this little bolt that was expensive, but I bought it anyways because I just wanted my car fixed. After that, my acceleration was finally fixed. 

 

    It's now 2020 and on July 4th, someone backed into the back left side of my car. Insurance covered it, but they said my back left tail light needs electrical fixing. The mechanic said they tried the old tail light and the new tail light, but they didn't work whenever I reversed; however, the left signal and hazards were still good to go.

   Shortly after, at 133,000 miles I had a routine oil change. The shop didn't top off my fluids (my fault for assuming all shops did that), so I got diluted antifreeze/coolant at Walmart and filled it up (idk if this was the problem). I drove at 90 mph for quite some time in the countryside(idk if this has anything to do with it). I never drove that fast for that long of a time either. Freeway speeds were coming up, so I slowed down. When I tried shifting back up, the shift knob was stuck and wouldn't let me shift. Once stopped on the side of the freeway, it was making loud screeching sounds, and smelled like plastic was burning. I tried starting it again, but it still wouldn't allow me to shift.

 

    At the maintenance shop, they said I needed to get a new transmission and the transmission fluid oil was burnt. After quoting me for the expensive work, I said **** it I need to fix my car. I asked them if they are SURE this is the only problem for the car, and they said yes. After a couple of days, they sent me a video of my wheel I guess screeching with the wheel off. They said I need a new clutch/flywheel for another $xxxx.xx amount and I need to do it now or else it'll be double since they need to take the engine out again. I said no, and they said the clutch/flywheel won't grab on correctly, and I will need to get it fixed in the future. 

 

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    Thank you guys for hanging on this long, I'm almost done. 

 

CONCLUSION: 

    After driving the car for a couple of days, it feels great, but I do see what they mean about the clutch. They even fixed the breathalyzer problem where it would click instead of start, so now it starts right away! I was looking for new used vehicles today to replace my Mini, and I noticed their clutches seemed more tighter and responsive. I'm not a car guy whatsoever, but I love this car to death. I was looking into DIY projects into changing the clutch/flywheel, and changing the oil, but since I'm not a mechanic, I'm scared of messing the car up even more. The car was financed around $18k, I ONLY have $5k left on it. The repairs were around $10k in total.

 

    Should I really keep this car, or trade for something else? I'm extremely nervous for the car breaking down again and driving for longer distances.

 

    *** I bought an OBD ELM327 mini monitor and the only problem that comes up RED and INCOMPLETE on the "Emissions Readiness s/DTC" is the "Evaporative sys". Is this an extremely bad notification to have to where I have to trade my car? ***