Hello, I've finally test drove a MINI today (for the first time) and I'm sad to say I was a bit disappointed by it. It was an '03 MCS w/ 71k miles.

The disappointment came after I punched it for the first time. I let it sail to about 6k rpm and after shifting quickly into the 2nd the engine bogged down to about 3500 rpm for at least a second before recovering. I was very surprised by this (as was the car salesman co-pilot).
Tried it again bringing it up to about 6750 in 1st gear before shifting into 2nd. Another bog down below 4k rpm for a second or two before recovering. It didn't happen in any of the other gears. It was almost like I was not up to speed because of excessive wheelspin but there was none, the rpms didn't hang before shifting. After I got home I thought it may have had something to do with the traction control but I don't know.

Has anybody ever had this happen? Maybe if it's something simple I can talk down the price a bit.
Thanks!

 

Sounds like you left the DSC on... My cooper burns through 3rd gear with no problems (not like I've ever done that before of anything ).

 

Next time press the toggle 2nd from the left and a little light on your dash should pop up (looks like it says "caution wheel spin") indication it has been turned off.

 

Well, having never even been in one before I didn't know how to turn it off. (DSC = traction control, got it)
Thanks!

It took me a few minutes to find the hood release and another minute to find the where to roll down the windows! haha

Aside from that (which may not be a problem now) I also noticed some oil or powersteering fluid leaking under what seemed to me like the crank pulley. I'm not sure what could be leaking.
It looked like a bit of a tight space to work on anything under the hood. Is it easier to see around from underneath?

 

i never revv'd my car to 6k rpm... dare i?

safe?

 

When i first got my mini and i would rev it close to red line but not quite it would hit the limiter and bog dwn and throw a check engine light. I replaced the intake and i could rev all the way to red line.

That could be it?

 

Possibly, but as others have stated, it is most likely the DSC/ASC. The S has enough power to spin the tires during quick shifts in 1st, 2nd and 3rd gear (with some light mods). When the ECU senses wheel slip, it will automatically retard the throttle, completely killing your buzz.

 

It definitely WAS a buzz kill!

My main concern about the car now is the oil (or whatever it is leak) under the engine on the passenger side. Is there anything that is prone to leaking in that area? The entire underside of the engine was covered in grime.

Three months ago there were MINIs galore around here for sale at good prices. Now they are all avg price but w/ high miles.

 

I dunno what the oil could be, but i do know that the belt tensioner is hydraulic and they go bad quite a bit, they tend to leak oil but i dont know if it would leak enough to see it under the car. I think on the newer ones to they have an oil filled engine mount to, but only on like 05 06s. There are a numbe rof thing u should check on a mini before even pondering buying it. Im sure someone here can post a link to another thread where that stuff u need to check out has been discussed already.

good luck, hopy you get a mini

 

It could also be a junk oil filter. The oil filter is located on the passenger side and can cause mistaken first analysis. Replace it with a OEM oil filter and see if that fixes it. Always go with the cheap fix first.

 

I'll search for that thread. I'm definitely getting an R53. Perhaps not the one I drove though. The salesman said he would call me back and has not yet... kind of odd I think.

 

Salesman may know of problems with the MCS - you noticed things. Looking to sell to someone who is not as observent?

Kevin

 

Perhaps someone else in the area did, the guy I talked to was oblivious... or at least very good at acting like he was. The car has been there for over 3 weeks now. I might just wait for them to get really anxious.

On the other hand I've been scouring auto trader for the right r53. I can't really spend over $14500 and the good deals seem to be quite far away from me. :(

 

So I did a carfax on that R53 and it doesn't look TOO bad at first glance.
But then you see it was a commercial lease vehicle for the first 45k miles.
Then the next owner drove it 26k miles in 1 year. And apparently it's been sitting at the dealership here since May 7th! And the dealer put over 220 miles on it since then. (obviously somebody working there has been taking it home)

So, it looks like this poor MINI has had a hard life and no one to love it. Unfortunately I won't be the one to love this one.

I was looking on Autotrader and found several Honda S2000s for cheaper than a comparable R53. Same year as the mini, same mileage, but usually $1k less. This kind of surprised me. I know the S2000 gets worse mileage but judging from what I saw on the R53 (23.2mpg) it's not THAT much different!

Btw that was another question I had... is 23mpg normal for city driving???

 

Depends on the type of "city" driving. In San Francisco, it can mean coming to a complete stop every 100 yds, resulting in less than 20 mpg.

 

I have an '03 MINI Cooper S with 72,000 miles and I get roughly 23 mpg city driving. Unless I have the classical musical station on...I'll get 25 that way

It all depends on how I drive. Heavy Metal through my speakers, 21-23 mpg. Classical or Jazz, 25 mpg

 

You don't say where in the world you are.....

I have a mint 2003 MCS JCW I'm going to sell with 65 K on it, PM for details if you're interested. I'm in KC.

 

Its pretty good by my standards, ours averaged 20.6 combined (city and highway). I find R56 a lot more economical than the R53.

 

20.6mpg mixed? The main sell point for me on this car was the 34mpg hwy sticker. (that's what put it over the competition anyway)
I drive about 70% on the interstate between 70-75mph and the rest is city/hwy mix. I was hoping I would get 29-30mpg. Now if this is a gross overestimate on my part then I definitely need to know.

If I bought one and my mileage came out in the low 20's consistently I would be extremely disappointed.

I live in central FL, btw.

 

Yeah, that's a ways away, too bad......

My MCS has averaged about 28 mpg in mixed driving........but I've never seen 34, unless I was driving a lot slower than 70 mph.

My '09 MCS Clubby averages about 32 in the same cycle, and that's with the auto trans.

 

We drive pretty spiritedly and average 24-25 MPG mixed/city in our MCS and 33 on the freeway with no stop and go (at ~80 MPH). Now this is with the modifications listed in my sig below. A few weeks ago the dealer accidentally wiped out the Dinan software and before we had it re-installed we were getting a little over 27 MPG mixed which I thought was pretty impressive (although I missed the extra "get up and go" so worth the trade off IMO). There are many variables to gas mileage such as weight (how many people in the car), outside temp (my MCS doesn't like hot/humid weather too much), airconditioning, etc.

 

I shift at 6,000 or more all the time without activating the DSC. I think you just need to learn to shift a little smoother.

The oil leak might be from the crank seal, especially if someone has replaced the crank pulley with a lightweight one.

 

I don't think people have made any performance modifications to that MINI.

And yes, I do shift pretty aggressively sometimes. Especially when I'm testing new cars. I just wanted to hear the tires chirp! Oh, well.

 

i own both an s2000 and a mini cooper S. they are totally different cars. i typically get way better MPGs in the mini than i do in the s2k. if you are trying to decide between the two, you should drive both and see which one fits your life better. if i had to pick between the two as an "only" car, i would go with my mini.

 

Thank you for your insight!
So is everyone in agreement that getting around 29mpg w/ 70%+ hwy driving is about normal? I usually drive nice but sometimes I'll punch it.