Good morning everybody. I'm just about to pick up my second Cooper S; my first, and my second car, was a 1963 1071 S, way back before most of you were born. I was young then, and very inexperienced, and I threw it off the road after a month; I learnt about not braking into corners from that... I won't make the same mistake with this one, though. I've had a few seriously fast cars since then, all AMGs, including a couple of the supercharged 5.5 E-class, and I'm getting the Cooper S as a winter hack; it's not all that fast, but I'm looking forward to it very much. More anon...
2005, 105k miles, silver with black full leather, full service history, but I haven't yet seen it in the metal. It looks pretty immaculate, apart from a few stone chips on the front bumper lower lip, and four tiny spots of rust under the right rear light cluster, which I'm hoping will be just surface and not bubbling, but it won't be quite as good as in the pictures; they almost never are... I'll be surprised if it turns out to be a shed, though. I fear the tyres will turn out to be either ditchfinders or runflats, because the owner isn't very clued up on cars, but we'll see. Better ditchfinders than runflats, though, from what I've read
Yea get rid of the run rocks and get some good tires. They are a blast to drive. I still miss my R53. The real question is how fast do you want to go. I have heard of people pushing 300HP with the R53. The motor in it is very strong. We are here to help spend your money you can’t do one mod. It’s like an addiction. Welcome to the addiction Your friendly mod pusher
It may not have runflats; I'll find out on Sunday. Maybe it will have decent tyres on it now, but I suspect ditchfinders at best. I've no intention of modifying it; it's just a winter hack with a bit of go so that I can take the SLK55 off the road between about the end of November and the beginning of April.
Picked it up today. It's quite tidy; a bit of corrosion under the paint (about 1 x 0.5 in) on the tailgate, four tiny spots below the R/H rear light, a few stone chips, but that's about it. It needs a good clean and polish, and it will look quite smart. The wheels are black, though, which I don't personally much care for, but I can't see them when I'm driving it... It's in Dark Silver, full black leather interior, driver's seat bolster not badly worn; I've seen much worse at that mileage (105k). The warning triangle and first aid kit are gone, the interior mirror autodim has a yellow patch, one of the keyfob batteries is flat, the wiper blades are well past their best, but these are all small things. It doesn't appear ever to have had a tyre emergency puncture repair/reinflation kit, or a jack and wheelbrace; should a 2005 Cooper S have had any of those? The service history is OK, as is the MoT history; it'll do. The previous owner (one year) was a cheapskate, but the one before that (four years) looked after it a bit. The tyres are not runflats; Toyo Proxes on the rear, nearly new YingTong ditchfinders (Nereus Sailfish NS 601) on the front (previous owner ). I doubt the fronts will stay on long... There's a bit of a problem with the cooling system (not the pump, thank goodness) that I think is the thermostat, and the aircon doesn't blow all that cold, so needs a top up; again, small things. Overall, I think I paid a fair price for it; yes, it'll do.
My bought in the US 2006 R53 came with a jack & lug wrench, but no first aide kit or safety triangle. I bought & added a triangle. Your MINI sounds good, just add a bit of TLC & you will be good to go.
2013 SLK 55, with the Performance Pack. The last owner is a former club racer, and a qualified race driving instructor, who had it set up absolutely spot-on - 'optimised', both engine (435 bhp, no throttle lag) and gearbox (lightning-fast changes, instant kickdown, goes off from standstill very hard). It's easily the best car I've ever driven - as quick as my 550 bhp biturbo CLS 63 Shooting Brake up to about 80 or 90.
My wife's car as everything AMG, but the engine. That would be a little to much for her besides she and I like wood grain interior. Her is a 2005 that we think was the best year for the looks. We got it new. Now it sets in the driveway with the cover on it.