Discussion
I have just bought one with 70k on the clock and seems very nice. Everything works, runs very smooth, cant fault it. Paid £6000 from a local garage for it, which seems a good price inc warranty, full mot, new tyres and serviced that day from mini , as fully loaded with every extra and mini FSH and apart from 2 tiny marks, perfect bodywork.............. Go for it............
Justin S said:
I have just bought one with 70k on the clock and seems very nice. Everything works, runs very smooth, cant fault it. Paid £6000 from a local garage for it, which seems a good price inc warranty, full mot, new tyres and serviced that day from mini , as fully loaded with every extra and mini FSH and apart from 2 tiny marks, perfect bodywork.............. Go for it............
That's very cheap! The ones I have been looking at are more like 9K!I have driven a cooper S (both the s'charged and t'charged ones). are the JCW that much more powerful?
Mines a 03 plate car, with panoramic roof, harmon upgrade stereo etc and supercharged. Really new to this mini stuff and dont know when the turbo took over. Personally like the sound of the supercharger wail LOL.
Somebody with more knowledge will appear shortly. Must admit is is quite nippy , but not as hammer like as my Mountune ST Focus. But would be better in the corners than the ST.
Mrs is very happy, as it is her car, lets just say that.
Somebody with more knowledge will appear shortly. Must admit is is quite nippy , but not as hammer like as my Mountune ST Focus. But would be better in the corners than the ST.
Mrs is very happy, as it is her car, lets just say that.
The JCW is hardly any different from the normal S and the life of the car is not changed in any way you should consider a few things some as noted already.
A R53 will have a few issues as now the last made are about 5 years old so what issues may there be?
Sometimes a car with 70K on that has been loved can save you money, however there is nothing to worry about, have a look at the car take a note of the above and see what has been done, then you will also know what to expect, if it has not been done in the life of the car it will need it.
Check around the engine mount for black oil, this will indicate the mount is dead and needs replacing, I almost always see this on all un-cared for minis. A common sign for cars that are driven quite hard but not given the attention needed.
Cars not cared for can have some signs, firstly the above, then dirty engine block with mud all over them, broken dip sticks, coolant running down the water bottle, power steering fluid running from the bleed (should do that if there was too much put in)
So would I buy one at 50K? well to answer your question yes I would as they are easy to run, do not cost much, loads of fun and tunable. Look for a loved one over a cheapo though as they can bite you on the ass with big bills if not cared for
Minis can be made to go very quick indeed, the JCW is a bit of a softy compared to what can be done, you can take and S put a 17% or 15% pulley on it with an air box change and have the same power as the JCW then you can take it much further there are many minis running very high power and quick 1/4 mile times, however the JCW is a nice stock version. Don't be surprised if you only make 195Bhp with your 210bhp ~ that figure is not achievable with almost all of the JCW cars
Hope this helps
A R53 will have a few issues as now the last made are about 5 years old so what issues may there be?
- Power steering pump may have failed or will at 60K
- Rocker cover gasket will perish at 60K
- Sump gasket will fail about 70K
- Engine mount will leak and fail every 30K
- Clutch can last a long time but normally fail at 60K
- Clutch bearing release will rattle at anywhere from 100 miles after being changed and get worse over time, they all do it
- Chain tensioner will fail at about 70K
- Supercharger will not boost as well at 100K but will continue well on another 100k but will slowly loose boost
- Bypass valve will give up about 100K
- Exhaust will rot through unless JCW at about 100K
- Chain guides should be checked at 100k for wear
- Wish bone bushes will almost always be failed when you look at the car, generally split within the first 1000 miles of being change unless to uprated, they will become worse and wallow over time causing wondering on the road
- Coolant bottles crack and leak which can happen any time
- Coolant caps fail quite often
- DM Flywheels can fail too causing a knock when on and off power
- Steering column can knock at low turning speeds which is a bearing normally goes at 60K
- Aux belt should be changed every 12K to stop any slipping, normally not done but should be
- Dampened mass crank pulley can split and become noisy
- Aux belt tensioner piston / dampener can fail at 80K causing a rattle
- Intercooler will want to be cleaned out every 20K to help with fuelling and performance
- Door locks have been known to fail and can be trick to sort
- Change the dip stick every 30K to save you a bill for fishing it out when it snaps and falls into the sump
Sometimes a car with 70K on that has been loved can save you money, however there is nothing to worry about, have a look at the car take a note of the above and see what has been done, then you will also know what to expect, if it has not been done in the life of the car it will need it.
Check around the engine mount for black oil, this will indicate the mount is dead and needs replacing, I almost always see this on all un-cared for minis. A common sign for cars that are driven quite hard but not given the attention needed.
Cars not cared for can have some signs, firstly the above, then dirty engine block with mud all over them, broken dip sticks, coolant running down the water bottle, power steering fluid running from the bleed (should do that if there was too much put in)
So would I buy one at 50K? well to answer your question yes I would as they are easy to run, do not cost much, loads of fun and tunable. Look for a loved one over a cheapo though as they can bite you on the ass with big bills if not cared for
Minis can be made to go very quick indeed, the JCW is a bit of a softy compared to what can be done, you can take and S put a 17% or 15% pulley on it with an air box change and have the same power as the JCW then you can take it much further there are many minis running very high power and quick 1/4 mile times, however the JCW is a nice stock version. Don't be surprised if you only make 195Bhp with your 210bhp ~ that figure is not achievable with almost all of the JCW cars
Hope this helps
Edited by RKDE on Friday 20th May 07:55
The thing with jcw minis is that you have to look at what it has on the car, some have the full power upgrades, others just have cosmetic parts or the aero kit, so "jcw" can mean quite a few options.
wathched two early model red cooper s minis auctions end on ebay a few days ago, one went for 3 something and the other just over 4 grand- depriciation seems to be catching u a bit with the supercharged coopers, probably due to the running costs.
Plenty of minis on the forums not selling at the moment, owners dropping prices and still not selling - I'm still trying to work out rough prices for what I want to get though, so I'm reluctant to say that some seem overpriced.
wathched two early model red cooper s minis auctions end on ebay a few days ago, one went for 3 something and the other just over 4 grand- depriciation seems to be catching u a bit with the supercharged coopers, probably due to the running costs.
Plenty of minis on the forums not selling at the moment, owners dropping prices and still not selling - I'm still trying to work out rough prices for what I want to get though, so I'm reluctant to say that some seem overpriced.
Tom74 said:
Oh dear, just read RKDE's post above as I have an 04 MCS with 60k on the clock, looks like its going to cost money this year....
How likely are those failings at 60k, as nothing like that was mentioned when it was last serviced, albeit I only do c.6k pa?
Tom I am running an 02 R53 at the moment with coming up to 78k on the clock and so far have not had any of the problems, apart from the central locking one, that RKDE had on the list. Maybe I have been lucky, maybe I am running a ticking time bomb but I am not too stressed about it right now. How likely are those failings at 60k, as nothing like that was mentioned when it was last serviced, albeit I only do c.6k pa?
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