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Potential new daily:Mini Cooper S R53

thebig25

Well-known member
Joined
27 Sep 2008
Messages
459
My current station car (£400 Honda CR-V) is boring me to tears and I've been thinking about replacing it with an R53 Mini Cooper S. Thoughts behind it are (a) they are good fun, and (b) with the seats down I can still get stuff up the tip.

I had one when they were first out but didn't own it long enough for anything to go wrong. Anybody got any insight into what I should be looking out for on a used model? I'm looking at the early cars, £2-3k ish if possible.
 
thebig25 said:
My current station car (£400 Honda CR-V) is boring me to tears and I've been thinking about replacing it with an R53 Mini Cooper S. Thoughts behind it are (a) they are good fun, and (b) with the seats down I can still get stuff up the tip.

I had one when they were first out but didn't own it long enough for anything to go wrong. Anybody got any insight into what I should be looking out for on a used model? I'm looking at the early cars, £2-3k ish if possible.

Can't add anything to this unfortunately but watching as fancy one as a daily myself :grin: :thumb:
Is a decent one achievable for 2-3k?

:popcorn:
 
adamw said:
thebig25 said:
My current station car (£400 Honda CR-V) is boring me to tears and I've been thinking about replacing it with an R53 Mini Cooper S. Thoughts behind it are (a) they are good fun, and (b) with the seats down I can still get stuff up the tip.

I had one when they were first out but didn't own it long enough for anything to go wrong. Anybody got any insight into what I should be looking out for on a used model? I'm looking at the early cars, £2-3k ish if possible.

Can't add anything to this unfortunately but watching as fancy one as a daily myself :grin: :thumb:
Is a decent one achievable for 2-3k?

:popcorn:

No idea! That seems to be the bottom of the market, and as I don't need a museum piece I thought I'd start from there.
 
JCW's is worth hunting out

Have driven them and it's a fun drive, for what is a large'ish small car
 
I had an R53 for about 18 months, great fun. When I bought my Boxster I didn't want to sell it really but not much space forced me to.

Power steering pump is infamous for failing, and it's quite expensive to have done. So if it hasn't been done then expect it to fail.

The engines are leaky, so look for oil leaks. Mine had a number of leaks from rocker, and other various places. Check crank seal/gasket

Coolant tank is also another thing that would fail at the seams.

Better to get one from 2004 onwards if possible as they had various redesigns over the years and they say most of the issues were dealt with by 2004.
 
Ragpicker is the man to talk to, he sold his heavily modified R53 a week or 2 ago for 6K-ish, sounded like a cracking car and he had a lot of fun with it :thumb:

He saw the light and bought a Boxster instead :grin:
 
The best thing to do is head over to MINI Torque, and see what's out there. They can be a little intolerant, and swear a lot, so be warned. I reckon you'd need more like gbp4-5k for a decent facelift (2005-06) R53 with some fettling.

The major issues are all well documented and include power steering pump, coolant expansion tank/thermostat, leaks from rear boot handle, timing chain tensioners, failed front wishbone bushes, and engines that weep oil. Brakes are weak, and you really need to avoid run flats, and heavy OEM rims.

They are great fun, very robust, and - provided you're not on 18s, run flats, and old suspension, great fun to drive. They're easy to modify for more power: a reduction pulley on the supercharger is the trick.

I've had mine since 2008. It's still a work in progress...
 
I've got no idea what I'm talking about as such but a friend of mine has had 2 of these and both of them ended up needing a new instrument cluster thing (where the speedo is) both started off with just the tiniest bit of pixelation on the mileage before they went. Not sure if price is right but I'm sure it was circa £600 for a fix?

I've had a go in one though and they are great fun to drive :thumb:
 
I looked into r53s recently and the facelift 2004-2006 cars are the ones to go for. Better gearbox with an lsd, if selected with the chilli pack, and Teflon coated jcw supercharger. I looked at a few and as the budget increased I ended up going with an 07 plate r56. Cheaper tax, higher mpg and nicer interior. Think it is slightly bigger inside too.

Paul
 
I looked into r53s recently and the facelift 2004-2006 cars are the ones to go for. Better gearbox with an lsd, if selected with the chilli pack, and Teflon coated jcw supercharger. I looked at a few and as the budget increased I ended up going with an 07 plate r56. Cheaper tax, higher mpg and nicer interior. Think it is slightly bigger inside too.

Paul
 

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