MINI Most liked posts in thread: Another Newbie

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.

 

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.

 

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

 

I'm expecting it to be more 'fun for my buck' than almost every other car I've had.