Will I ..... won't I ????? Advice needed.

[Ireland]

I'm thinking of picking up a second-hand Cooper S as basically a run-about and track-day toy for myself.

I am thinking of maybe a decent '05 or so.

Cars aren't selling very well second-hand here right now so I reckon I'd pick one up fairly right.

I have an Octavia VRS that I use as a daily driver and a Cerbera "for fun" so an older one would do the job fine.

The two things I really need to know are

- is a Cooper S good as a track-day car (particulatly on a twisty track like Mondello) and

- what should I watch out for (aside from the obvious accident damage / finance / etc) with this model?


Thanks in advance.

[okgo]

Make sure you drive a few, some are as slow as st...

Also make sure there are no rattles!

Aside from that, just the usual I think!

[antihero3000]

Hi mate, after much searching I finally bought my cooper s last weekend.

Although aimed at the American market I found this useful.

There was a brilliant in-depth guide in performance car magazine a few issues back, it had the rs twingo on the front cover.

Many of the problems such as overly long gearing, cabin rattles and electric problems all seem to have been ironed out in the facelift cars (54 plate onwards I believe).

As for track work i'm not sure but plenty of the locals seem to use them at the nurburgring with some minor tweaks

I'd also highly recommend buying from the mini cherished programme if possible. The service I got was first rate, the car is given a thorough going over and the years mot/warranty/breakdown cover seems worth the small premium you pay.

Helpful forums are mini2.com, minitorque.com and the new mini section on here.

Hope thats of some use.

[nottyash]

There were power steering pp problems on earlier models costing up to £800 to fix.

[RKDE]

but the above is going to be a recall very soon from mini thanks to watchdog...

They are very good on a track and handle like a go cart, they are very easy to tune and quite cost effective. First thing to do is loose the run flats as they hamper your drive as there is very little give in the walls.

the cars with LSD handle very different to the cars without too, and if you can get a model with the LSD fitted I would

Edited by RKDE on Monday 2nd March 12:43

[Rakey]

You can have a lot of fun with a MINI, on track or even as a fun weekend car.

I'd be looking for a facelifted MCS, as you'll get the better gear ratios, and a few other nice updates that helped remove some of the problems on the older cars.

I'd then be looking to try and make sure that you one which includes LSD too.

Other than, not much else needed to get the fun out of a MINI, although there are some nice to haves like the MFSW, chilli pack, Xenons etc.

And then there are some nice little mods you can add to increase your fun factor, try having a look over on GTT's site

[Ireland]

Is it worth considiring the JCW over the standard S?

[DJ JULES]

Yes agree with the above have a gtt 220 soon to be tweaked to 280 wahoooooooo

[RKDE]

I have a JCW and have to say the conversion is steep but if you can get an S with the conversion for around the same money you will love it. its a lovely kit and while it never really produces the power stated its still bags of fun, the same could be achieved through after market tuning using a pulley, air box and exhaust, but the jcw has a new blower and cylinder head, if you have a cam and manifold can really make a monster from the JCW.

[Rakey]

Ireland said:

Is it worth considiring the JCW over the standard S?

If your budget will go to it then yes, as a JCW would be more fun, and the original buyer will have taken most of the hit on this addition, so expect a premium of about 1k ontop of the MCS price you were looking at.

But try to get one thats got all the toys on it, so you don't start wanting to get the other bits and pay through the nose, such as brakes and suspension.

Otherwise taking a MCS the aftermarket route could be a more cost effective route to follow.