Anyone here into R53 Mini Coopers?

[speeder]

I've been meaning to start a thread for a while here to smoke out any other fans of these cars. I bought one a while back on BaT that I mentioned on this board somewhere and now just acquired another one. One will have to go, not sure which.

I bought this '04 MCS with 78k miles and Dinan upgrades+Borla cat back exhaust on BaT. I wasn't in the market but it was in CA. and I liked the color a lot, plus it wasn't getting any bids to speak of.

It turned out that the seller was not a very honest guy wrt maintenance needs that were due and I got screwed a little. The cheap Chinese tires were below the wear bars, the front rotors were below minimum spec, one axle boot was ripped open spraying grease all over, one bad wheel bearing and the big one, completely shot lower control arm bushings, (LCAs).

The LCAs on this car are a big job because it either requires lowering the entire front subframe or pressing in and out just the bushings with a special tool. Not surprised that the previous long term owner, (not the guy I bought it from), did not want to pay the ~$1600 quote from the dealer to do it and sold the car, (I found the estimate with the records that came with the car).

Soooo, that was a bad roll of the dice on BaT. Of course, I corrected everything wrong with the car and now it's tighter than a bull's ass and fun to drive. Recent neglected maintenance not withstanding, it was babied most of its life with one long term owner who kept a huge 3-ring binder full of every receipt and article he ever read about Mini Coopers. He entered it in local car shows in NorCal, put expensive mods on it, etc...

FWIW, BaT reaches out to people who buy on their site asking how it went, all that stuff. I told them about the dishonesty of the seller and they tried to go after him for some refund but that went nowhere, of course. They did try and seemed to really care, so credit where due to them. They are nice people.

Here are some photos from the work I did on it, before pictures of the LCAs:






The special tool/press I had to buy to install the new ones:

[speeder]

I guess I could have posted these in the, "what are you fixin'" thread but here are brake photos, I went all in and replaced all pads/rotors/hoses/fluid:

[speeder]

Also replaced some cosmetic pieces like the A-pillar trim and badges, 4 new Bridgestone Potenzas that are really sticky for street tires and basically went through it from stem-to-stern. It's a fun car and a surprisingly great highway cruiser, I could easily see taking it on a long road trip, if I don't sell it.

Why would I sell it after getting it so dialed in? Because now I have two of them.

[speeder]

My good friend who owns the building where I work on cars has another R53 bought from BaT several years ago. It is an '06 MCS JCW with 40k miles, (28k when he bought it), that he drove for a couple of years as a daily and heavily modified until it was so powerful that I think it lost some appeal as a street car. Even with full Ohlins suspension and a better ltd. slip than stock, (Quaife?), it's sort of a beast.

It has been sitting in the shop unused for 4 years(?) and on Tuesday, I bought it from him. It was a "some assembly required" deal because he is from the church of lightweight and had completely removed the stock interior and put in light Recaro seats. All of the stock parts are on the shelf with even fewer miles on them than the car. I'm more of a "keep it stock" guy for most cars and want to return this thing to more or less original with the exception of some nice parts on it.

Here are some photos, kind of a "barn find" except it wasn't in barn but right under my nose for the last several years:




Looks dirty, (it is), but I started putting it back together and charged the battery, (took a charge!), gave it the first wash in years yesterday:

[speeder]

[juanbenae]

I looked into Minis at one point, and they seemed like they could be more headaches than fun if you were buying a 10 y/o rig with 80k miles on it. I live in Tuo*Co and no wrench will even take an appointment for that. LA prolly gots lots of options..


And there is no Pelican for minis....

[speeder]

I do all of my own work and they are not too bad once you get to know them. Apparently they have some failure points once they get high mileage but what car doesn’t? I can tell you that we have zero interest in Minis past 2006.

[onewhippedpuppy]

I had two back in the day, a 2004 S and a 2006 (I think) base Cooper. They are fun little things especially around town, you can park anywhere and zip in and out of traffic like a kart. Also surprisingly spacious and practical inside. I didn’t love working on them, much like a BMW there’s quite a bit of plastic that likes to get brittle and break when you look at it sideways. Still, it’s a lot of fun for not much money.

[astrochex]

My original owner 2006 Checkmate Edition with 224k miles is going to get sold on Sunday after 19yrs of smiles. Mild engine mods (CAI, 15% reduction pulley, tune) and an upgraded sound system made for a fun and generally reliable daily driver.

Denis, issues of note (that you are likely already aware of) are the water pump, power steering fan, and the upper motor mount. You might also want to replace the intercooler boots (a potential vacuum leak source), the belt and belt tensioner. I would stay with OEM sources for all those parts.

[Deschodt]

Had 3, new enough to not be too annoying. Super fun to drive, great design inside and out, amazing handling.. But as they start to age, they can be a nightmare. The 4th (kid's choice, R56) is kicking my a$$. It is by a mile the worst car ever designed as far as maintenance... I had to separate a new belt tensioner to replace the noisy bit only because... I just could not unbolt the original in its entirety without pulling the engine out. In case you think it's my pudgy hands, the dealer wanted $4000 + for a new clutch install ;-( And I just went thru the emission cycle BS, a failing chain tensioner requiring triple jointed arms, oil in a plug well, and it still sounds like a rusty barn door on the accessory belt area - but I no longer care. Told the kid that it was smogged for 2 more years, after that we let it burn, 100%. At least you specified R53, those were probably the best of the lot (did they ever fix the Airbag/seat sensor deal?) there were some turd-engines after that. For me it's never again but R53s do leave a smile on my face...

Oh, actually, I replaced a lower engine mount in like 2 minutes, that is the only mini job I enjoyed, like, ever. Did not fix the issue, still jumps out of 6th gear. Oh well, he uses 5th now.

[astrochex]

One other item, the thermostat housing is non-metallic, so it can deform over time. Good to replace when you're in that area.

Last item, coolant overflow tanks can fail. I put temp reflecting material on the underside of the header shield and the flexible radiant blocking panel above the header shield in an attempt to reduce the heat soak from the header to the reservoir.

[Rot 911]

My wife is on her fifth mini. This one is a 2016 countryman that hasn’t caused me any serious headaches. But you have to roll your eyes when most of the engine maintenance starts with “remove everything in front of the engine.”

[speeder]

I think that a lot of it depends on how the car was maintained and driven throughout its life, my blue one with 79k miles is just flawless after I fixed the aforementioned items. No squeaks/rattles, no under the hood noises other than the supercharger whining like it should, great shifting, etc.

Driving impression is that it definitely handles and is fun in traffic and fast freeway cloverleaf transitions, haven't had a chance to take it up in a canyon yet but it has a lot of grip with the Potenzas and the aftermarket sway bars.

I would not touch a high mileage or neglected/beat-up Mini with a 10-foot pole. Astrochex's car might be an exception on the miles because he has kept up with everything and is an enthusiast. The '07 and later turbocharged models hold zero interest because of the styling changes and extra heat and access issues under the little hood. The Mini Cooper re-issue of 2002 was an absolutely perfect retro product and they have done nothing but ruin it ever since. The very first ones, (02/03), had some QC issues that were ironed out in the 04-06 cars.

Hard to beat the $$:fun ratio in an everyday usable car.

[astrochex]

It is definitely a fun car to drive. Entirely unique.

Looks like you have a good one, congrats.

[Scott Douglas]

My brother has one that he bought from a friend whose brother had it before him. The brother had hot rodded it to the point of everything on it was touched almost. Car has <50k miles on it. It had run into a deer so needed some work when my brother got it. He finally got it running and smogged and recently had the OZ wheels powder coated white. He doesn't drive it much as he's usually hauling something that needs his truck.

He says the interior is mint and it's fun to drive. I think it's a 2010 model but I'm not sure.

[ryans65]

I didn't get it until I bought one cheap from a customer of mine, well two actually right around the same time. Both 06 6 speed S models. One needed a clutch and the other one I bought in the carmax parking lot after seeing a guy sitting there with his mini keys and title in hand. I had seen the car in the parking lot so as the guy left I told him I would give him $500 more than whatever carmax had offered, which ended up being $2500! The car immaculate. I miss that one alot.

There are some real pain in the ass jobs you'll have to deal with during ownership but the driving experience was pretty incredible. Thinking about them makes me want another one but I'm afraid the ship sailed on those years ago, price wise.

[speeder]

Originally Posted by juanbenae

I looked into Minis at one point, and they seemed like they could be more headaches than fun if you were buying a 10 y/o rig with 80k miles on it. I live in Tuo*Co and no wrench will even take an appointment for that. LA prolly gots lots of options..


And there is no Pelican for minis....

There is a fantastic and very active online community for Minis, the primary forums being NAM, or North American Minis. It’s at least as good as Pelican, which only really has a good 911 tech board, (which is excellent).

[speeder]

Originally Posted by ryans65

I didn't get it until I bought one cheap from a customer of mine, well two actually right around the same time. Both 06 6 speed S models. One needed a clutch and the other one I bought in the carmax parking lot after seeing a guy sitting there with his mini keys and title in hand. I had seen the car in the parking lot so as the guy left I told him I would give him $500 more than whatever carmax had offered, which ended up being $2500! The car immaculate. I miss that one alot.

There are some real pain in the ass jobs you'll have to deal with during ownership but the driving experience was pretty incredible. Thinking about them makes me want another one but I'm afraid the ship sailed on those years ago, price wise.

Wow, that was one dumb schit in the Carmax lot. I can’t believe that anyone sells their car to them.

[Scott Douglas]

I've sold two of ours to them.
Wife's 2004 Mustang convertible, which had a botched up fuel pump replacement that ended up with a bad gas gauge and replacement ECU, and the Honda Odyssey that she was tired of driving once the kids got old enough to drive.
It's an easy. no hassles way to get rid of cars in a hurry, without having to deal with the public.
I was glad to get rid of the Mustang as it was always a PIA to me.
I sometimes miss the Ody for its hauling capabilities but I got a decent enough price for it and we were done with hauling kids to soccer or baseball games, so off it went.

[ryans65]

I don't know and that was probably a 10-12k car at the time? Not crazy money but certainly not a $2000 car.

Originally Posted by speeder

Wow, that was one dumb schit in the Carmax lot. I can’t believe that anyone sells their car to them.