Cooper S (R53) - Yay or Nay?
Discussion
Folks,
In a bit of a pickle and thought you lot may be able to help! I've been offered a red R53 Mini Cooper S (52 plate, 73k, FSH, few decent options ticked) for somewhere around £3,500 as my mate doesn't want to go through the hassle of selling it privately (he already has his new car). Unfortunately tax and MOT is up in April though but I have a friendly mechanic who works for beer tokens so not the end of the world (potentially).
Firstly, is this worth it price wise? Upon cruising PH and the like the values range quite wildly.
Secondly whenever I see a mention of these on marque specific forums (not Mini ones) everyone bangs on about them breaking constantly and being poorly built - is this really the case? As said I can get mechanical work done for basically the price of parts (which could be considerable) but don't fancy not having a car half the time.
Currently got an EK9 so about 185bhp and about 1050kg so I'm guessing the Mini will be slower with 163bhp but has tuning potential. Thought now may be a good time to try and sell the Civic to get the summer crowd interested but would be a bit sad to see her go for something so 'normal'. I was going to sell the Civic at the latest next year so my thinking was a good deal on this Mini and selling the Civic now may protect me from some depreciation (not to mention a Mini will be far easier to P/X to a main dealer if I go down that route with my next car).
In a bit of a pickle and thought you lot may be able to help! I've been offered a red R53 Mini Cooper S (52 plate, 73k, FSH, few decent options ticked) for somewhere around £3,500 as my mate doesn't want to go through the hassle of selling it privately (he already has his new car). Unfortunately tax and MOT is up in April though but I have a friendly mechanic who works for beer tokens so not the end of the world (potentially).
Firstly, is this worth it price wise? Upon cruising PH and the like the values range quite wildly.
Secondly whenever I see a mention of these on marque specific forums (not Mini ones) everyone bangs on about them breaking constantly and being poorly built - is this really the case? As said I can get mechanical work done for basically the price of parts (which could be considerable) but don't fancy not having a car half the time.
Currently got an EK9 so about 185bhp and about 1050kg so I'm guessing the Mini will be slower with 163bhp but has tuning potential. Thought now may be a good time to try and sell the Civic to get the summer crowd interested but would be a bit sad to see her go for something so 'normal'. I was going to sell the Civic at the latest next year so my thinking was a good deal on this Mini and selling the Civic now may protect me from some depreciation (not to mention a Mini will be far easier to P/X to a main dealer if I go down that route with my next car).
The mini and its engine is solid, the engine is known to be un-bustable and can be tuned to go much quicker than the civic. That car should be worth at least £5k easy
Do a better search, and remember that most people who post on the internet post because they are upset or not happy those who are happy generally say nothing.
I have worked on many minis and they have their fault like other cars but in general most of them require little love and attention though give them love and attention and it should keep on going
Do a better search, and remember that most people who post on the internet post because they are upset or not happy those who are happy generally say nothing.
I have worked on many minis and they have their fault like other cars but in general most of them require little love and attention though give them love and attention and it should keep on going
Mine's an 03 R53 & been running the Hartge tuning kit since it was 6 months old, just done 50,000 miles, serviced regularly, driven fairly hard but is well looked after. Nothing major gone wrong with it & is one of the most fun cars I've owned.
At that price I would jump at it if I was you;)
At that price I would jump at it if I was you;)
Ok so an update, I went to view it today and spotted the following faults or issues:
Interior - Needs about £100
1) Aftermarket stereo - Alpine with ipod cable. Not bad quality though but not OEM. Would probably leave this in.
2) A lot of the interior trim needs repaired as there are a lot of scratches on it. I think this could be simple enough for me to repair though as just sand it down and respray. Probably cost about £30 for paints etc.
3) The gear knob is beyond repair I think as it's discoloured. Probably about £20-30.
4) There seems to be some wetness on the rear seats but couldn't spot any in the boot? Think it might be a spill so could hopefully clean that off. Unfortunately he said it's been there since he got the car though..
5) Passenger vanity mirror flap is broken off. Probably could source another for £10.
6) Heater/AC controls are a bit funny as when the AC's on they don't fully work, I'm guessing this is a bit of a pain but could be fixed with a bit of time.
7) There is some wear to the drivers seat bolsters. May be able to bring it back with some dye and a good clean for about £20.
8) Generally it's pretty filthy so needs a proper clean to get up to my standards. Could take all the seats and carpet out and wet vac it for free.
9) There is what I guess is an aftermarket boost gauge on the dash. This probably needs to go.
Exterior - Needs about £360
9) Quite a noticeable dent on the bonnet just below the intake scoop. It's probably bent the bonnet in by an inch and a half right in the middle and this has then misshaped the area below the scoop as a result. It was there when the guy bought it so unsure what caused it, no paint damage so looks like low velocity impact damage. The bumper is fine though with no indication of any crash damage and there is no damage under the hood so looks to be cosmetic. Still a pain and I've no idea whether it can be repaired or if a new clam would be needed, I'll stick a rough price for a dent repair as £100 but this could require a new bonnet - if anyone knew the cost of one of these that would be great..
10) All the wheels are a bit curbed round the rim. The wheels themselves are of questionable design as well but oh well. I can refurbish these at home quite quickly so would probably cost about £40 for all the materials as I've got quite a bit of the tools already from the last set I did.
11) It's got Toyo 888's on it and the front two I'd describe as smooth so would need replaced immediately. Was thinking I could put the back two on the front then buy some Hankook RS2's (what I've got for summer on my Type R) on the rear then when it rains at least I'll get understeer instead of a twitchy rear. About £120 fitted for two.
12) There don't seem to be many dents or noticeable scratches on the exterior. Again the car is filthy so would need a proper detail to get it to my standard. I don't think the people who've owned this have been too car orientated but the flip side of this is there doesn't seem to be much damage from people using sponges. This wouldn't cost anything as I've got about everything already.
13) The passenger window motor doesn't drop the window very much so probably needs looking at. £100 for a replacement.
Engine - about £60 (but have potential to gain by selling the manifold)
14) Brake fluid needs changed as indicator is saying -260 days! Probably be around £15.
15) Service indicator is saying one isn't due for 11k but the last stamp is from 53k (20,000 miles ago) so I'd probably need to do an inspection two service. Parts for this would be about £50 at an estimate.
16) He's got the stock manifold fitted but is including a performance one and decat. This was fitted when he bought it but he thought it was too noisy. Could potentially sell this but no idea on value, maybe £100. Or sell the stock one and fit this.
17) Engine bay is dirty but again can clean this.
18) Service history is as follows:
11k Service (TLC package - BMW)
29k Inspection 1 (TLC package - BMW)
46k Oil (TLC package - BMW)
53k Inspection 2 (Independent)
That's it, but then if the service indicator is saying 10k to go I'm guessing it's been in since but the book not stamped but obviously can't confirm this. Spoke to the guy who owns it and he said it got a service around about 65k just before he got it. It's on 73.5k now so this appears to be true. Still would do my own for piece of mind as mentioned above.
General - £250
19) MOT is due in April so will need £55 to do this. I'm getting the car looked over by my mechanic one evening this week but he's strangely confident any issues will be cheap and easy to fix so doubt it will fail as long as the tyres are changed.
20) Tax is out in April as well. Probably cost about £190?
Conclusion
So all in about £770 and the car will be fit for purpose for the next 12m and ready to keep/sell as I see fit. What's the market value of the car do you think as it stands from what I've said? He's now asking £3,800 meaning the total cost would be £4,500 'on the road'. Once it's fixed I was thinking it may be worth about £5k so my margin is now very slim with exposure to be wiped out depending on the MOT/dent repair. Not sure if I'm going to go for it or just stick tot he Civic! Any opinions would be great, guys!
Interior - Needs about £100
1) Aftermarket stereo - Alpine with ipod cable. Not bad quality though but not OEM. Would probably leave this in.
2) A lot of the interior trim needs repaired as there are a lot of scratches on it. I think this could be simple enough for me to repair though as just sand it down and respray. Probably cost about £30 for paints etc.
3) The gear knob is beyond repair I think as it's discoloured. Probably about £20-30.
4) There seems to be some wetness on the rear seats but couldn't spot any in the boot? Think it might be a spill so could hopefully clean that off. Unfortunately he said it's been there since he got the car though..
5) Passenger vanity mirror flap is broken off. Probably could source another for £10.
6) Heater/AC controls are a bit funny as when the AC's on they don't fully work, I'm guessing this is a bit of a pain but could be fixed with a bit of time.
7) There is some wear to the drivers seat bolsters. May be able to bring it back with some dye and a good clean for about £20.
8) Generally it's pretty filthy so needs a proper clean to get up to my standards. Could take all the seats and carpet out and wet vac it for free.
9) There is what I guess is an aftermarket boost gauge on the dash. This probably needs to go.
Exterior - Needs about £360
9) Quite a noticeable dent on the bonnet just below the intake scoop. It's probably bent the bonnet in by an inch and a half right in the middle and this has then misshaped the area below the scoop as a result. It was there when the guy bought it so unsure what caused it, no paint damage so looks like low velocity impact damage. The bumper is fine though with no indication of any crash damage and there is no damage under the hood so looks to be cosmetic. Still a pain and I've no idea whether it can be repaired or if a new clam would be needed, I'll stick a rough price for a dent repair as £100 but this could require a new bonnet - if anyone knew the cost of one of these that would be great..
10) All the wheels are a bit curbed round the rim. The wheels themselves are of questionable design as well but oh well. I can refurbish these at home quite quickly so would probably cost about £40 for all the materials as I've got quite a bit of the tools already from the last set I did.
11) It's got Toyo 888's on it and the front two I'd describe as smooth so would need replaced immediately. Was thinking I could put the back two on the front then buy some Hankook RS2's (what I've got for summer on my Type R) on the rear then when it rains at least I'll get understeer instead of a twitchy rear. About £120 fitted for two.
12) There don't seem to be many dents or noticeable scratches on the exterior. Again the car is filthy so would need a proper detail to get it to my standard. I don't think the people who've owned this have been too car orientated but the flip side of this is there doesn't seem to be much damage from people using sponges. This wouldn't cost anything as I've got about everything already.
13) The passenger window motor doesn't drop the window very much so probably needs looking at. £100 for a replacement.
Engine - about £60 (but have potential to gain by selling the manifold)
14) Brake fluid needs changed as indicator is saying -260 days! Probably be around £15.
15) Service indicator is saying one isn't due for 11k but the last stamp is from 53k (20,000 miles ago) so I'd probably need to do an inspection two service. Parts for this would be about £50 at an estimate.
16) He's got the stock manifold fitted but is including a performance one and decat. This was fitted when he bought it but he thought it was too noisy. Could potentially sell this but no idea on value, maybe £100. Or sell the stock one and fit this.
17) Engine bay is dirty but again can clean this.
18) Service history is as follows:
11k Service (TLC package - BMW)
29k Inspection 1 (TLC package - BMW)
46k Oil (TLC package - BMW)
53k Inspection 2 (Independent)
That's it, but then if the service indicator is saying 10k to go I'm guessing it's been in since but the book not stamped but obviously can't confirm this. Spoke to the guy who owns it and he said it got a service around about 65k just before he got it. It's on 73.5k now so this appears to be true. Still would do my own for piece of mind as mentioned above.
General - £250
19) MOT is due in April so will need £55 to do this. I'm getting the car looked over by my mechanic one evening this week but he's strangely confident any issues will be cheap and easy to fix so doubt it will fail as long as the tyres are changed.
20) Tax is out in April as well. Probably cost about £190?
Conclusion
So all in about £770 and the car will be fit for purpose for the next 12m and ready to keep/sell as I see fit. What's the market value of the car do you think as it stands from what I've said? He's now asking £3,800 meaning the total cost would be £4,500 'on the road'. Once it's fixed I was thinking it may be worth about £5k so my margin is now very slim with exposure to be wiped out depending on the MOT/dent repair. Not sure if I'm going to go for it or just stick tot he Civic! Any opinions would be great, guys!
Re the dent repair. I got a rather sizeable one repaired on the front left wing a couple of months back and it cost £76, can't even see where it was now.
Tax is going to be around the £230 mark.
An Insepction 2 level service at my local indie is around £80 plus parts.
My R53 (owned for 5 years) has needed a new alternator, 6 tyres, a software update and fluids since I bought the car at 3 years old. apart from this winter when the battery went flat it has never refused to start.
At £3500, if the mechanic comes back and says it is mechanically sound then I would take it.
Tax is going to be around the £230 mark.
An Insepction 2 level service at my local indie is around £80 plus parts.
My R53 (owned for 5 years) has needed a new alternator, 6 tyres, a software update and fluids since I bought the car at 3 years old. apart from this winter when the battery went flat it has never refused to start.
At £3500, if the mechanic comes back and says it is mechanically sound then I would take it.
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