Best place to find an R53 Cooper S

[BilderBurger]

Slightly odd maybe, I'm selling my Porsche & getting back into a Mini. I had an amazing, fully loaded R53 before the current car & wish I'd kept it. I've had drives of newer Minis since then, but for me, the 53 is the peak in aesthetic terms & that alone is sufficient to excuse all the mechanical shortcomings for want of a better phrase of the old girls, compared with the newer versions.

Clearly they're getting a bit leggy now & the usual places, MT, Ebay etc. is needle in a haystack territory, so, any tips on where to keep an eye out for a good one? TIA.

[VEX]

Just watch here.

Picked up mine within 24hrs of it appearing here. It was a great buy and just what I was looking for.

At 14 years old and a little warmed up it has needed some work, but I am still (just) within my notional £5k budget for a weekend / track day toy.

V

[MrC986]

OP, try the Minitorque forum as their seem to be a few nice ones being mentioned currently for sale with some nice upgrades for considerably less than the cost of a standard car plus the upgrades.

[CarsOrBikes]

Generally the ones for sale there are de-chromed, lowered, and exhausted.

[BilderBurger]

I'd go as far as a 15% pulley, after that I lose interest.

Thanks guys, the search is on. I'm killing my Porsche using it to commute through thick traffic, so the idea of a cheap & cheerful S to smoke around in is appealing. Plenty of tempting px clearances out there for me to get my spanners on too.

Edited by BilderBurger on Saturday 10th February 16:58

[MrNoisy]

I bought my first mini (r53 cooper S) last dec at BCA auctions 😃

05, LSD, chrono pack, leather, pano roof etc etc

Did quite a bit of due diligence, phoned mini uk for known history, mot checker. Only had a months mot on it.

It was an absolute steal and flew through its mot with no advisories.

Last owner was a DR, full documented history in the glove box - you couldn’t make it up.

[phib]

Hi, If your looking for a good one at a good price there is a grey on in the classifieds that there will be a deal on this week !!
Heated leather, 12 months MOT, Serviced on sale and 1-month warranty

Phib

[R53rider]

Most unfortunately there are an increasing number of specific, MINI only 'marketplaces' on FaceBlab.
I'm finding that looking for parts and bargains I've ended up on about 8 various ones. I say unfortunately because I'm not very good at driving it, I find it intrusive, I don't know who can see what and it doesn't really have a search function once you are in a Group, at least not that I've deduced as an inexperienced FaceBlaber. I find I HAVE to use it. There are loads of used R53s and decent used parts for sale on various of them. Far more than on eBay.
One of the good things (and to some extent bad, double edged sword) is quite a few of the members are singularily ill-informed.