Anyone here into R53 Mini Coopers?
 

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

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:
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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:

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Interior and stock parts:
 

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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....

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.”

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

Looks like you have a good one, congrats.

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

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.

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).

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

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.

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

My youngest daughter had a 2011 Mini Cooper S and it was a blast to drive. It had about 120k miles on it when we sold it. I performed all of the maintenance on the car and there simply is very little room to work on the transverse engine. Other than the difficulty of working on the car, it was badass! She drove the hell out of it and really enjoyed it.

I’ve a 2010 MCS since new. 157k. Awesome scalpel for commuting over the Santa Cruz Mtns for years. I know, I know,,,, R56 talk in a R53 thread. Sister in law had a R53 MCS that I got to dive on several occasions. I do prefer the supercharger over the turbo, stock to stock comparisons.

We experienced the dreaded direct injection carbon fouling at around 30k. Painful but, covered by Mini. The factory remap to mitigate the problem did result in decreased performance which sucked a bit. Still, a blast to toss around. Gas mileage is still around 34 mpg. Did invest in a new turbo at the same time I had the timing chains, ramps replaced at 150k.

I actually prefer the R56 interior designs more than the R53 as well as some of the exterior changes. I dislike most of the post 2013 models.

Now what I really want is a R53 GP to play with.

When I posted years ago about buying a friend's 2006 (IIRC), everyone said don't do it.

Just looked on FBMP, these cars are dirt cheap especially if they need some work, minor work but some that would cost a normal person a boatload.

Are they really that fun drive? Like 89 CRX Si fun? Or more fun?

What's real world highway mileage on an S?

is there a best year for the R53? or ones to avoid?

Shaun,

Best years is the 05-06
Teflon coated blades in the super charger
Better gear rations 1st and 2nd
Back pressure popping sound (Sounds very cool)
Electric power steering pump is much more reliable

I drove an 06 MCS DD for about 6 years, it was a blast and the 15% pully on the supercharger really woke it up.
The sound is so intoxicating.

Handles like a Go-Kart and had fun taking cloverleafs flat out.

I was lucky to get 20 to 22 MPG, SC causes it to drink fuel like a McDonalds straw :-)



Only reason I sold was traffic was getting really bad for my commute and I was suffering with the manual gearbox in stop and go traffic so I sold it for a Golf TDI.

I purchased it with about 60,000 miles on and and it had about 160,000 miles when I sold it and still had the original clutch. (next owner wiped out the clutch 2 weeks later)

Biggest expense was replacing the supercharger with water pump at 130,000 miles
Harmonic Crank pulley separated.
Rebuilding the front suspension-all new bushings and power steering hoses
Oil leaks, oil sump pan is at an angle and requires the front suspension to be removed to remove the pan

My old Mini is still on the road in WNC.

Great information, thank you John! With the low entry price, seems like a good commuter car except for the gas. I drive the hell out of my 07 328i M sport to work (just hit 263K miles, original clutch), very little traffic, and 70+ in empty clover leafs is the norm. I'll keep an eye out for one on FBMP, could be a fun commuter car. But still want an 89-91 Si.

Good in bed reading, thanks!

To me the Mini = BMW, with all that entails both good and bad. They are great to drive but the access generally sucks and there’s going to be some stupid stuff that breaks to piss you off. Projects tend to escalate because of stuff that breaks when you’re gaining access to the original broken part. Lots of plastic, snaps, etc. But if you DIY and have some patience they aren’t expensive to own.

i have a gp1 number 0927 of 2000 built in 06. i really enjoy the car. it is easy to see out of. the doors open quite wide. stops and goes really well. easy to drive in traffic and fits into very limited parking spaces quite nicely. they were all the same color with red mirror caps to differentiate from the regular 06 models. they have limited options...no back seat, very little sound deadening insulation, no rear wiper, etc. they were assembled in italy and 415 of the 2000 produced were exported to the US. interior noise and rough ride but lots of fun!

Cheap, high mileage R53s are a dime-a-dozen but should be avoided at all costs. Good cars are so cheap that you would have to be a fool to get "bargain" R53 Mini.

The conventional wisdom is that '05/06 cars are the best but there are plenty of people on the big Mini forum who prefer the '04...bugs were worked out and last year for 2-spoke steering wheel and certain other styling cues that went away in the last ones. I now have a clean '04 with ~80k miles and an absolutely mint '06 with 40k miles. The '04 is the tighter car as far as interior squeaks/rattles go, (it has none), both cars have had fastidious, enthusiast owners since new, (with the exception of the short term owner I got the '04 from).

I haven't driven the '06 yet but I rode in it when it was on the road a few years ago. It's waaaay faster than the other one, with the JCW package and the mods that took it up from there. I need to see which one to keep. :cool:

There are many cars with 90K to 140K miles that need a suspension rebuild, oil leaks, coil packs, etc. in the $2K range. Perfect cars are $6K. Both cheap.

Reading some of the needs work ads, I get the sense these are not cars for people who don't do their own work.

If you don’t DIY you’ll be paying ~$200 per hour at the local European specialty shop. Not a great situation on an otherwise cheap car.

Agreed, and not jut DYI, DYI with an engine hoist.. A lot of work requires the service position which is no joke. I really enjoyed the ones I owned, plural, but you have to be a serious masochist to have one outside of warranty. I still cannot believe the quote for a clutch job a few months back...
All local independants: "oh no we no longer do mini clutches, it gets expensive and our customers get pissed off"
Dealer: $4000 conservatively, likely a little more (on a car worth $5K)

That’s why I think these cars are so cheap on FBMP. I have to imagine they were extremely fun to drive and extremely expensive to maintain for the average person

Those $2k ones could be $6k in a hurry and they would still be rust belt schit buckets that no one would ever give you more than $2500 for. On BaT, R53s range from $5-6k to mid-teens.

Absolutely true but also the case with any low value used BMW or Audi, many of which don't serve up any style or fun.

At those prices, I would go into business doing clutch jobs on them but they really don't fail much. I can definitely see how accessing things on the firewall side of the transverse engine would be a drag, (prime reason to never buy a turbo/later Mini). That said, it's not a difficult platform to remove things, including the drivetrain. A lot of the criticism seems to forget the design parameters of the original project...it's a Mini. As in, tiny car. They could have made it bigger, then it would have been like the current abominations that say "Mini" on them but look like ugly x-over SUVs.

When the car was introduced in 2001, people went absolutely bonkers over it. I remember being at the Auto Show, you couldn't get near the Mini exhibit. My broke, slacker buddy in MN. who had never spent over $2k on a car in his life took out a loan somehow and bought one of the first ones. If they would have introduced what they are selling now, the brand would have taken a schit on arrival.

I don't think we really disagree on anything here.
Fantastic little cars that drive like go karts, cute and surprisingly roomy, different, and really not at all fun to do maintenance work on (except for the lower engine mount, LOL). Also some turdy engines over the years - but if you stick with R53 and you are very DYI/mechanically gifted, fun. Otherwise, hassles... And don't get me restarted on the effing Mini emissions drive cycle (BMW crap). Just spent a week on that...

PS: when my kid bought the car, one plug well was filled with oil from a failed seal and it hardly had any codes... But disconnect a battery and it'll take you a week to get the car "ready" for a SMOG check, never again with BMW stuff (same issue on my E46 M3).... From now on I either buy pre-smog cars or new stuff. The middle ground is becoming a hassle and $$$ service costs..

Los Angeles car in the Hamptons now

https://www.facebook.com/marketplace/item/29772689918982862/?ref=browse_tab&referral_code=marketplace_top_pick s&referral_story_type=top_picks

Just today, after this thread, kid comes home tells me there's new lights on the mini. Some misfires (oily plugs) and passenger airbag light ! Lovely.. as I said, it's smogged for 2 years now, he can drive it as is with 5 out of the 6 gears, and then we burn it, or donate to the hollywood stunt team - I want to see it dive off a cliff.

The fella across the street just rolled in with a 2025 Countryman in Periwinkle blue.

You nailed it with that statement. This is just a weird looking car at every angle, and it's frickin' huge. "Mini" is an ironic name anymore, as in the Dallas Cowboy's center being nicknamed Tiny or Little John .

The electronic interior with the big round LCD display and all the dancing lights that go into motion on the exterior when he walks up to it with the fob in his pocket gives off
"sell it before the warranty expires" vibes.

Just a reminder of how out of whack the new car market truly is.