Hello everyone! My family has been looking for a replacement for out 250k mile 1989 Toyota Corolla for a few months now. We went from looking for VW Golfs and GTI's to Mazda 3's to Ford Focuses and Honda Civics. After what seemed like an eternity we finally threw Mini Cooper into the mix. My wife had ridden in one with her nursing classmates and was impressed with the interior room for how small the car was. I was never on board with the idea of owning a R50 but the lure or 37 MPG and reliability soon pulled me in. Fast forward to today and now we are the proud owners a 2004 R50 Mini Cooper, Gold with a Piano Black roof. It only has 53k miles and hopefully will be part of the family for quite some time I should have pics in the next couple days so ill be sure to get them up. Can wait to join the Mini revolution!

 

Welcome and Congrats! You got a pretty rare color there.

I'm still disappointed to read your post though... was hoping someone was giving away free steaks.

 

Yea, just like Chili Red & etc. had my bib all tucked in knife and fork at the ready.

If mileage was your motivation for getting into a MINI you will be sadly disapplointed. Watching the MPG ticker on the on board computer will distract you from the true enjoyment of MINI motoring.

Here are a few web sites to help you get started filling up a MINI favorites folder.
http://pure-gas.org/index.jsp
http://www.lightinsight.com/
http://www.motorcycleroads.us/index.html
http://www.motoringfile.com/
http://www.realoem.com/bmw/select.do
http://soopercooperinfo.com/
http://www.toptiergas.com/retailers.html

Welcome to the clan! Be sure to wave. Pictures - gotta have pictures.

 

Aye, I apologize for teasing all the steak-o-philes out there with the thread title My wife and I weren't real excited about the color at first, it was the extremely low mileage (average 5500 mi. per year) and low price that pulled us in. But once we saw it in person it wasn't so bad. I still would rather have a gun metal grey, white or black one but this little guy will be fine. The exterior is in good shape, only a couple very small dents with no paint damage. The interior is a little more roughed up. The first owner (we are the third) was a smoker and apparently just threw his cigarets *****-nilly around the car because there are some strangely located burns. 4 or 5 on the carpet and a spot or two on the head liner near the lip of the window. The drivers seat is also in rough shape. Structurally its fine but the leather is severely worn in a couple of spots. Might just have to get some seat covers and call it a day. The only other thing that annoyed me about the car is the driver side door latch doesn't function very well. You have to pull it ALL the way out, then give it a little more pressure and kind of push your forearm into the door to get it to unlatch. The passenger side just opens with your finger tips. I might actually take it into the dealership to deal with the door handle issue because I can see myself getting very frustrated with that situation especially if my hands are full when Im trying to get out of the car. :| Other than those things everything is great. Sunroof opens, radio works etc. etc. I got there and started doing the walk around on the car and popped the hood. I was surprised to see that the headlights raise up with the hood. haha I'm sure there are many more surprises to come for sure.

 

Welcome aboard. Post some pics good luck and remember to wave!

 

I feel like thanking you and giving you a hug, like I would someone who just adopted an abused animal and knowing they'll take care of it and bring it back to full mental and physical health.

 

I'll try to remember the wave thing...I don't know though...I don't do well with rejection. lol As for the pictures I'm going to detail it this weekend and give it a good wax THEN she can pose for the camera I was probably going to do all the fluids right away just so I know for sure when to schedule the maintenance. The owner said he did regular oil changes with 10/40w standard oil. What do you guys think about switching it to synthetic? I know it's not recommended to go back and fourth but it only has 53k on it so I'm thinking I can get away with it and not have any leaks pop up. Opinions?

 

Welcome to nam from the Florida. Synthetic is diffentatly the way to go. It won't hurt anything to change.

 

Welcome aboard....You will definitely notice the difference from your Toyota Corolla.

 

Yea I pretty much talked myself into the synthetic. I'm mechanically inclined but I really hate changing oil on a new car. Finding everything and making sure I'm not turning stuff the wrong way is nerve wracking. lol I'll be digging into the DIY's heavily on the site to be sure. So is 10/40w the proper weight oil for the R50? It seems a bit heavy to me.

 

Hey everyone! Got a chance to clean up the car so I'm posting pics as promised. Our 7 y/o daughter named her Roxanne. I know what your thinking but its not after the Sting song...its after Max's girlfriend from The Goofy Movie...she's 7.

 

Thanks for the pics... she's a beauty. Haven't seen that color in quite a while.

 

Thank you all for the warm welcome. In the 5 days we've owned the car I've gotten more waves, more thumbs up, and more conversations with random strangers who either happened to own a Mini or really WANTED to own a Mini that I've lost count. This truly IS a community. It's one both my wife and I are just now discovering and I think we'll enjoy for quite some time