R56 Mini Cooper S

[HaroldBishop]

Our Mazda 3 Sport was getting a bit leggy and about to cost a bit of money in servicing, tax etc so man maths dictated it was time for a change.

Not really having an idea what to go for we simply looked round a few dealers, had a few test drives and decided on this:



It's a 2008 Cooper S with the JCW bodykit. It had about 32,000 on the clock when we bought it in August, full BMW history including replacement of the dreaded timing chain.





PH sticker added :-)



Its first few months have not been without incident - having owned it for three weeks this happened:



Completely random and one of eleven cars vandalised in our street that night.

On Christmas Eve one of the rear tyres (runflats) got a puncture and the warning system didn't work. The first I knew of it was when I took a corner enthusiastically and nearly ended up in a hedge.

The car also served as a hotel for three people for a night when we foolishly went to Manchester during Storm Desmond and couldn't to get back home to Cumbria for two days. Wouldn't recommend it to be honest.

Good points are that is a riot to drive, very capable and very quick for what it is. Pressing the sport button produces lots of pops and bangs which is great childish fun. Also, it is more practical than I thought:



Bad points are the usual daft oil consumption, tramlining, haidresser jokes and a stop-start system which seems to work on a part-time zero hours basis. However, having read various owners' forums I have concluded that this means it is working perfectly normally.

To do list is fairly small but includes a shorter aerial, removal of various dealer advertising gubbins and tidying up of the exhausts.

I know MINIs get a bit of a bashing on here but as a driver's car it is great and I would recommend it.

[csd19]

Interested to see how this thread develops, seriously considering an MCS for our second car. I want something a bit fun, and 'er indoors wants something a bit smaller for town.

[Chr1sch]

I absolutely loved ours, they sound fantastic and do go very well!

We had to have the timing chain gone twice but didn't have excesss oil consumption?

Lovely cars, I'm sure you will love it

[HaroldBishop]

csd19 said:

Interested to see how this thread develops, seriously considering an MCS for our second car. I want something a bit fun, and 'er indoors wants something a bit smaller for town.

To be honest that's a similar position to us, my wife changed jobs and so went from working 50 mins drive away to 2 mins walk, I too work within walking distance of home so we decided to look for something a little smaller. It potters about town pretty well although it is a bit crashy on poor road surfaces.

[AndyT77]

I had one and loved it, only changed it because I wanted something bigger.

[csd19]

HaroldBishop said:

csd19 said:

Interested to see how this thread develops, seriously considering an MCS for our second car. I want something a bit fun, and 'er indoors wants something a bit smaller for town.

To be honest that's a similar position to us, my wife changed jobs and so went from working 50 mins drive away to 2 mins walk, I too work within walking distance of home so we decided to look for something a little smaller. It potters about town pretty well although it is a bit crashy on poor road surfaces.

I also wouldn't mind spreading some of our miles over two cars; due to family illness last year and family living 120 miles away, we did 15k. Not masses but still more than I wanted!

Your comment re the ride on rough surfaces - as I understand it switching to non-RF tyres makes a fair difference? We've been looking at a few on Autotrader and there seems to be quite a mix of features/specifications, just trying to narrow down the right one for us.

[MrB.]

I had 2 R53 MINIs, a 2004 Cooper I bought new, then replaced it with a ex-demo Cooper S Cab 3 years later. I did 75k miles in the Cooper over three years, and 65k in the Cooper S over three years, the longest I've ever kept any cars. The Cooper was faultless, save discs and pads and a set of tyres, but the CS needed a new roof (warranty) and new supercharger (out of warranty - typical!), but otherwise brilliant cars. Having had run-flats on both, and a subsequent Z4, I wholeheartedly agree with previous posts about their affect on ride quality. Ditch them as soon as you can. Horrible to drive on, and, according to the guy who changed mine on the Cooper and my Z4, a f**king horrible job to do!

I loved my MINIs and have seriously looked at going back to them as I don't need a big car. The trips I did in both of mine just made me smile every time I drove them. Enjoy yours!

[samj2014]

I want to hate the BMW minis (and I kind of do), but my mum bought one recently and, aside from the fact that for a 1.6 petrol in a car that size it was disappointingly slow, it did handle nicely and was a pleasant place to be. I bet a properly fast one would be a proper giggle to drive!

[HaroldBishop]

csd19 said:

I also wouldn't mind spreading some of our miles over two cars; due to family illness last year and family living 120 miles away, we did 15k. Not masses but still more than I wanted!

Your comment re the ride on rough surfaces - as I understand it switching to non-RF tyres makes a fair difference? We've been looking at a few on Autotrader and there seems to be quite a mix of features/specifications, just trying to narrow down the right one for us.

Apparently it does make things noticeably smoother, I did consider it but my wife sometimes travels alone down to Essex to see family and I wouldn't like to think of her being marooned on a hard shoulder waiting for recovery. If it was just me driving it I would probably take the chance.

There is a huge mix of specifications as pretty much everything is an optional extra - this causes quite a few oddly equipped cars. For instance ours has a multifunctional steering wheel which has controls for radio, cruise control and telephone. However, whilst it has cruise control it doesn't have Bluetooth/telephone capability so the buttons for that are useless. Caught us out a little as we just noticed the buttons on test drive and presumed it was fitted...

[mikey P 500]

Looks noce, once you stop finding it fast this model can be re mapped to about 240bhp with no other upgrades required. I have a 2007 cooper S with the JCW tunning kit and it does have a surprising amount of performance for what it is, the after market remaps are now much better and cheaper though.

[HaroldBishop]

Well, sadly we've had to part ways with the Mini as Mrs Bishop is expecting twins... We've had a good year with it though :-)

Blast around Wastwater


Birker Fell with my brother in law's R53 Cooper S


Mega Mini Meet at Lytham Hall


Another from MMM


Last blast over Corney Fell a few days before it went


Definitely the best car I've owned and I miss it A LOT. Current plan is to buy a midlife-crisis John Cooper Works when the twins are older. In the meantime, our means of transport is this:



Much as I miss the Mini it is nice to have a Bose sound system again...