Hello everyone, I just bought my second British car (by accident, just like the first one) and now I am the proud owner of a 2003 Mini S. As I dropped the former owner off at his house after we left DMV, he told me I got screwed! Then he showed me the obviously fresh screw in the RF tire! Hence the picture in front of Schwab. Schwab was great and fixed it for free. Two quick questions, O.K. .... three questions: 1. My key fobs will not operate the locks properly. I read the owner's manual and tried reprogramming them and the batteries are new. The locks seem to make noise, but nuthin. The only thing the remotes actually do is open the moonroof and unroll the windows. Suggestions? 2. I HAVE to get cruise control. Can you tell me how to reliably retrofit it please? 3. Where is the best place to start to increase power? The Super does lag off the line, so I would like to improve the low end, 1st gear, off the line power. Suggestions? Thank you and I look forward to coming up to SPEED with my new baby!
:cornut: 1st Post. Welcome to MA and we're glad that you're here. Congratulations on your new to you R53. I can't help as I'm an R56 guy but we have a very knowledgeable and loyal R53 crowd around about these parts and your questions should pose no problems to this crowd. So we'll just wait for some of them to show up. Jason
Welcome Aboard! Congrats on the new car read through the 1st gen mod thread. You'll find advice about exhaust (new or 1 balling), air filters or cai's, and supercharger pulleys. All great starting points and can be relatively inexpensive. But first make sure the basics of your car are all good first. Don't fancy up the house with a shaky foundation. Also find your local MINI club and talk to people there. We all like to talk about our cars.
Welcome to MA! Frist I would loss the run flats. I can't really help with the key. If the car is in good shape the best mods are just what mrntd said. 15% pulley for the SC is probably the best size to get. I have a 17% but most go with 15%. They do lag a little off the line. This is worse when it gets hot. Sitting at red lights the intercooler gets hot and makes the lag more pronounced. You can get a modified bypass valve from Detroit Tuned that will help on the lag. but I would do the CAI,SC pulley and exhaust first. Enjoy the MINI. You didn't buy a car, you got a pet that eats petrol.