Who here owns a Mini?

Used to have a great little 1275GT at university, until I didn't. Was slightly modified and very much a go kart for the roads. Man, I miss that. I loved blasting around the lanes surrounding Bath in that thing.
 
Thinking about the R53 MCS, one of the few cars in its current price range I’ve not actually driven. This will be my first car in over a year. Worth it still? Would be mainly used on the weekend, occasional motorway jaunts and road trips.

Edit: I’ve just been on autotrader, I don’t think I fully realised how cheap these really are at the moment, with half decent examples for not much over a grand???
 
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They are old now so will require a fair bit of maintenance. All the issues are well documented, though some can be quite expensive to fix.

Try to get a facelift (post 04) car, they were much improved. Still great cars. I’ve had 2x R53 GP’s a 200hp JCW and currently an 05 210 JCW so I’m a bit of a biased fanboy!

Lots of cars seem to be getting scraped these days so I expect them to start thinning out over the next few years! 100% a future classic IMO - Stephenson’s design was pure perfection.
 
FishLicker said:
Thinking about the R53 MCS, one of the few cars in its current price range I’ve not actually driven. This will be my first car in over a year. Worth it still? Would be mainly used on the weekend, occasional motorway jaunts and road trips.

Edit: I’ve just been on autotrader, I don’t think I fully realised how cheap these really are at the moment, with half decent examples for not much over a grand???
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I had a 2005 R53 MCS that I ran alongside my E46 M3 and it was a great car.

Several things - firstly, for the love of God, get a facelift. They fixed so many issues on the facelift and improved the interior.

Secondly, if you get a car built in 2005 or later and it has the Chilli Pack (which 99% do), it will have an LSD as well (you can check on the VIN checker websites to be certain). Don't get me wrong, it's not a great LSD, but better than nothing.

Thirdly, the biggest issue with the the facelift MCS is that they leak oil from everywhere. The good news is that this is normally from the rocker cover gasket (cheap and easy to replace), the sump gasket (cheap and a bit more involved, but not much) or the dipstick seal.

Fourthly, they're such an easy car to DIY on. Everything is accessible and enjoyable to work on. They are so easy to modify and with so many great quality cheap parts out there (JCW injectors/intercoolers/supercharger pulley mods etc), it really becomes really good fun to mod them.

Finally - they drive great. The steering feels like its directly bolted to the wheels, it corners like a go kart and flies round corners. They're pretty slick in a straight line up to around 80-90mph, but then because they have the aerodynamics of a brick, they slow down a lot at the top end. My old one was pushing about 220bhp and was as quick as an S2000 in a straight line from around 30mph-~110mph.
 
Malevolence said:
Used to have a great little 1275GT at university, until I didn't. Was slightly modified and very much a go kart for the roads. Man, I miss that. I loved blasting around the lanes surrounding Bath in that thing.
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I loved mine , was yellow with black pin stripes on the bottom . I had a Stage 1 head , twin Peco Exhausts and a K & N filter , used to fly .
 
We picked up last week a new John Cooper Works to replace a Polo GTI that had been (finally after 18 months, 2 written complaints and the Financial Ombudsman) rejected back to VW. Its a 3 door auto in silver white with black roof and mirrors, nav plus and comfort plus, harmon kardon hifi, blacked out rear windows. Ended up with a ridiculous deal which meant the JCW was cheaper than a Cooper S of similar spec by a fair amount, and thankfully turned buying the car round in 24hrs as it was onsite ready to go. Mrs is chuffed and absolutely loves it, i've driven it about 5 miles and it does feel very very good.
 
Vanquish-Storm said:
Looking at swapping our Mini Cooper out a Countryman. Anything to look out for our they much the same just a bigger car?
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It's effectively a Mini themed BMW X1. So, I'd consider the X1 as an alternative. I've driven a Countryman Cooper in both auto and manual form - despite having the same 1.5 engine as our Cooper 3 door hatch they are noticeably slower and more thirsty, which I guess is to be expected given the extra weight. The interior is similar I suppose and you'll recognise the controls/infotainment/instrument cluster from your Mini. But unless you're particularly keen on the Mini brand I think the X1 is a better car as much of the MINI appeal loses its shine once you move away from a Hatch or Clubman.
 
[TW]Fox said:
It's effectively a Mini themed BMW X1. So, I'd consider the X1 as an alternative. I've driven a Countryman Cooper in both auto and manual form - despite having the same 1.5 engine as our Cooper 3 door hatch they are noticeably slower and more thirsty, which I guess is to be expected given the extra weight. The interior is similar I suppose and you'll recognise the controls/infotainment/instrument cluster from your Mini. But unless you're particularly keen on the Mini brand I think the X1 is a better car as much of the MINI appeal loses its shine once you move away from a Hatch or Clubman.
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Worth noting thank you, test drove a countryman today they gave us a JCW to try and wasn't really blown away by it and the spec.
 
Uh oh, I did it again this time an R56 hatch, something I have never modded before so look forward to seeing what I can do with this one. I picked up the new one in April. I had one briefly for 3 months before I found out my girlfriend(now wife) was pregnant and panic swapped it for a Qashqai, although that ended up with me getting the blue Clubby so atleast it had a happy ending.

This isn't my first Mini, I even have a youtube channel about them including build and "how to" videos for all generations. I've had plenty over the years including these:

JUNE 2019 R53 by James Baker, on Flickr

CLUBBY by James Baker, on Flickr

F56 July 2020 by James Baker, on Flickr

P1030454 by James Baker, on Flickr

15610182196_8f1cb6c830_o by James Baker, on Flickr

36317873395_0c71cbbf00_o by James Baker, on Flickr


So onto my latest one:

Its a little rough around the edges but I like a challenge and the previous owner was super honest about it all and did it at a great price for me. You dont see many mellow yellow ones about these days, well this one is yellow for now:

https://youtu.be/i9GVMPZPeCY

Spec:
2007 Mini Cooper S R56 with 70k on the clock in mellow yellow
Chilli pack
JCW body kit
Black headlining
Black interior controls
Yellow seat belts
Mini DRL's
R112 Mini wheels

Had all the usual bits replaced recently including the timing chain which was done only last week. \

Its currently say on BC coilovers but those are going back to the original owner once I pick what suspension I am fitting to mine. And for those that didnt watch the video above, I am going to cannibalise my R53 to make this something special, I know that will upset some people but meh

Going to be lots of updates on youtube as well as how to videos as you would expect.

Plenty of plans, just need to get my head around what you can do with an R56 hatch again as its been a while. It will need a full respray at some point but for now I am going to tidy the rough bits of paint up, enjoy yellow for the next year and go from there

Tweedbean’s R56 Project by James Baker, on Flickr

Tweedbean’s R56 Project by James Baker, on Flickr

Tweedbean’s R56 Project by James Baker, on Flickr
 
Some lovely Mini's and tips in here guys, bought this little beauty yesterday and she's a fantastic drive. All the nice little mods done already;

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Bargain at not much over £2k, needs a driver-side front shock and an oil leak fixing (only a touch but needs doing) but other than that she's gorgeous and had a lot of money spent. Wasn't looking for a red one as I love my lairy colours but it just stood out with the nice red and black combo done in a good way :cool:
 
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JediFragger said:
Some lovely Mini's and tips in here guys, bought this little beauty yesterday and she's a fantastic drive. All the nice little mods done already;

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Bargain at not much over £2k, needs a driver-side front shock and an oil leak fixing (only a touch but needs doing) but other than that she's gorgeous and had a lot of money spent. Wasn't looking for a red one as I love my lairy colours but it just stood out with the nice red and black combo done in a good way :cool:

@tweedbean Love your Mini's mate and sub'd to your channel, some really nice vids :)
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Not a fan of the black trim but otherwise a lovely little motor. Has it got the pulley mod?
 
We’re running one car at the moment (my partner’s F55 Cooper S) because we don’t need two until Spring next year. I do have a new one on the way for myself but it won’t arrive before January at best.

We were all ready to swap the F55 for something like a new Seat Leon and even did a 150 mile round trip yesterday to test drive one, but it was so meh that we’ve decided not to do anything and continue using the F55 despite the fact that it’s far from ideal with a 2 year old.

We’re going to get some roof bars and a roof box for it, and continue enjoying just how damn good it is to drive for another 2 years or so. I love it. I really do.
 
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