WOW, a thread that is 36 pages spanning 10 years
I'm on my 3rd MINI. Shazam is a 2005 R52S that I bought in July 2018. He replaced a 2005 R52 that was purchased in October 2016. That car replaced a 2006 R50 that I bought in April 2014. 3 weeks after I bought the R50, I regretted not buying a convertible. But, I kept it. Loved it. Started modding it. Got sick (stage 3 cancer) in 2016 and realized that life is too short to not be driving what you REALLY want. Found a buyer that was willing to give me what it was worth. As luck would have it, found the R52 the same week, for the same money! The R52 developed transmission issues in February 2018. Sold the car as-is, and found my current R52S, again, for the same money. But he was a neglected basket case. But, it's kinda fun - but expensive - to make him right, bit by bit. I plan to keep it as long as humanly possible.

 

Still here...see ya'll at MOTD next month

111k and running strong...After this year and there after, she'll be given the royal ride to the Dragon and back (strictly for slaying duty) on a trailer behind my next project:




2019 Ford Ranger...first stage of the new overland adventure mods...

 

I better keep it as I could never explain the loss on parts and my labor I would take.

 

At 13 years old, and with almost 198000 miles on it, there would be no point in selling the MINI. Not that I would anyway. Over the years, and miles, I've come to love the bloody thing!!!

MSFITOY.

If you do buy a new Ranger, don't lean on the front fenders too much. I work in the stamping plant that makes them, and they are made from really thin gauge aluminum.

 

Hey thanks for the tip

 

My MINI will outlive me. At 75, this will be my last 'fun' car. She is Peppurr...a 2005 R52 S, customized to my taste, with 29,750 original miles. If you are going to the Dragon, stop by the Motoring Alliance tent on Vendors row and say hello. I love to put names with faces...

 

I will be there an say hi.

 

15.5 yrs of ownership..........and many more to come.

 

I had been planning on keeping my 2002 R53 forever but I'm starting to get a little wobbly. The body is great and the interior is pristine, mostly. I notice the back of the passenger seat wants to come loose. It's things like that that add character, right? I can thank this site and fellow posters for getting me through my bad days. I kept leaving a pool of coolant on the garage floor and had no luck in tracing it down until I read about the thermostat/thermostat housing gasket fix. This restored continence to L'il Red and confidence to me in taking it on longer drives - you hate to know you're losing coolant before taking off across the desert!

I've gone through my second gear shift bushing (cheap fix thanks to this site, again) but while I was working on the gearshift, I managed to somehow damage the neat gearshift **** I bought from Cravenspeed a few years back. They were perfect, as usual, and I now have a new, improved gearshift **** that even feels better than the last one I bought (although this one doesn't match the emergency brake handle I bought from them years ago!).

What scares me are the 133,000 miles I have on the engine and the unknown condition of my supercharger. I've been pretty religious about getting oil changes done, however, I've never serviced the supercharger (if you don't count adding the pulley I got from Way Motoring a few MINIs in the Mountains trips, years ago) so I'm wondering just how much more life that will have in it.

My car has the aero kit and I have two of the front bumper covers. It's a good thing as I tend to hit concrete parking blocks with a degree of regularity. You can't find these anymore. I have three sets of rims with different tires (winter, summer, all season) mounted. I think my only concern at this point is reliability and whether or not I want to have a garage queen that I only drive on nice days. I'm not that kind of driver. So, if anyone wants to help bolster my love for a 2002 icon, I'd love to hear how you cope with the challenges of ownership of a car when the parts are beginning to get a little harder to source. They look so cool and drive so fun - that's probably the biggest argument to keep it forever. I'll let you all know when I've reached THE point of no return! Now I just have to figure out how to get rid of the P2096 code! Cheers.

 

Keep Edgy!

I have a friend with a 2003 S with the JCW upgrade. Heused to run his car on the track and, the last I knew, was pushing 300k on the odometer. Never heard that he ever changed the SC oil. That said, there are posts on NAM about how to change the SC oil. Hopefully someone will chime in with a link for you and someone can help you with your P2096 code. But these sound like minor concerns for something that clearly brings joy to you. And no need for it to be a garage queen; that is not what these were made for.

Motor on; rain or shine...

 

Thanks! We all have moments of weakness...

I'm nearly 300 miles from a dealership and where I live, it's a lot easier to have my F350 pickemup truck worked on than my R53. My local Ford dealership has been terrific (Hellman Ford in Delta, Colorado). They were willing to put on my Borla exhaust and helped me get the coolant leak fixed. I'd also have to say that Cravenspeed has the nicest team of folks to help maintain the gizmos we add to these cars. My wife can trade in her 2008 Clubman, if new is what she's looking for, but I have a sweet spot for this R53. I'm the second owner and 100 of the 133 thousand miles on it are all mine!

 

Edgy- My MCS (Tigger) has 166k on it, and its just now getting to the needy stage. New Alternator, belt, clutch, now a power steering pump, soon a pair of timing chain guides, but the engine is still terrific, synthetic oil every 5k miles since new (I know the original owner), it makes great power, and is WAY too much fun to let go of. I, like you, have about a 2 hour drive to the nearest dealer, and the local shops don't know squat, so I do all of my own work except for alignments (that shop is right by the dealer as well-go figure). I'm figuring on keeping Tigger unless a GP comes my way, I may even keep him then....

 

The nature of automobiles is changing. The new ones are great, no doubt about it, but they are almost unapproachable from a maintenance standpoint.

I'm still willing to crawl under my R53 to change the oil, I change the rims/wheels for the seasons in the comfort of my own garage, and a good day at home is when I get to spend quality time in the garage detailing it, or making some small improvement.

I'm amazed at just how well the design of this particular car has stood the test of time. I like it, with its curved rear windows, better than the new ones. I do have a very adequate backup ride for when it's being difficult. The license plates are cheap, the insurance is reasonable - two factors to keep remembering when looking at the new ones on the dealer's lot.

Feeling a little less wobbly. Thanks!

 

 

2005 MINI Cooper non-S, almost 14 years and 160k mikes of ownership. Still love this little Justa! Only driven by a little old man......at MidOhio, Nelson Ledges, PittRace, autox’s and over 8000 miles on the Dragon.......leave for MOTD 17 in 17 days! Wooo hooo!

 

A couple of years ago, I had a 06 BRG Justa 5 speed. This car was great. it had the factory rally lights, very good suspension and was very fun to drive. I should have never sold it. At the time, I had too many Minis' and needed to thin the herd. I sold it and a 05 MCS with chrono package, which was another I had wanted to keep, but a girl looking for one of my used Mini Coopers, wanted it so bad, that in a weak moment, sold it to her! I still have three, but the 06 Justa is really missed!
I hope you keep yours for a long time to come!

 

.

 

+1 Borla...

 

i think this kinda says it all:

 

It's been a long time but I seem to recall when we first started looking at Mini's in 2002, they were only available as a special order from authorized BMW dealers. The dealer had models to test drive but the cars they had in the showroom were already sold. We had to make a $1000 deposit to get on the waiting list just to order the car and then when our turn to order came up 3 months later, we had to give an additional $1000 deposit and then wait for the order to be placed, the car built and then shipped from Europe. We got on the waiting list around October 2002 and ordered the car January/February 2003. We took delivery in June 2003.

Historically, I have kept my cars a long time. Partially because I don't like car payments and partially because I enjoy the challenge in keeping my cars in great shape regardless the age or miles. Our R53 now has 150,000 miles, it's a daily driver and stays outside when it's at home. So with the brutal sun here in Phoenix, keeping the paint protected with wax and/or sealants is almost an obsession. Or a hobby.

The car has a sort of sentimental value to my wife, so that also drives me to take care of it as well. Our daughter will be driving in a few years, so I hope to teach her to drive in it as well.

I had a previous car hit 256,000 miles before it was totaled in an accident. That car was 18 years old and also purchased new. Though my R53 is 16 years old, I only drive it less than 10,000 miles per year, so high mileage records will take a long time. Perhaps it needs more "fun" driving to rack up the miles?

 

I've had my 06 MCS for about 9 months now...Bought with 132,000 miles on the clock...I've put maybe 500 miles on it so far...It had all the right stuff serviced replaced(lots of service records)and some good stuff added before I bought it..
So I think this ones a keeper...I've had my 99 Miata for about 15 years now...Both of them are not dailies so that helps a bunch...

 

Looks very clean...keep her

 

I am. I fix everything myself. So the labor is nothing. Just parts.

 

...

 

Original owner - took delivery in May of '03 IIRC. Indie Blue r53. Lost compression a couple years ago and has been sitting and waiting for some love. Finally had the time to pull the head and do a head cleanup and valve job. Wasn't too bad - head was only a few thousandths out. Intake valves looked great - exhausts were pretty pitted. Lapped them all back in. Thinking about a ported and polished big valve head down the road, but just want to get it running for now.

Spent it's first half of its life in MA and then the second part in CA, and now in ND - this car has traveled, but only has about 100k on the clock. Needs exterior weatherstrip and some dents and dings worked over. It was backed into by a truck with a trailer hitch at hood level and there is a big dent there that I need to try and pop out, and the pre-cat has completely separated from the rear bit. I think I'm going to go with an OBX header and have the cat welded on. I have the Borla sport exhaust system on there, but the hangers need to be replaced, so that's on the list too. Hopefully I can get to alot of that stuff this winter. Also want to pull the hood and have some offset louvers from rodlouvers.com welded on and get the hood repainted and do a restripe this winter as well - but we'll see if I get that far before spring.

Here's where it sits now.