He keeps pushing me Lol I just have to find out what's goin on with insurance once I get back stateside in a week. Till then its a waiting game
If he keeps pushing it is time to slow down & really check things out. Take your time & be very thorough. Time is on your side.
If he really wants to sell it to you he will wait for you to get back in the states. Take it out for a test drive and maybe stick it up on a lift and look it over really well. You should really find out who "tuned" the car or if it's just dealer flashed with the JCW tune to run the larger JCW injectors. 10 K tops and that's as high as I would go but I would start at 8K and let him work me up to his final #. It may be below 10K. :ihih: but 10 would be the highest walk away price. People will lower the price after you walk away and they even call you back and make a deal. Never is a modded MINI worth what the owner put into it. Except to themselves. If he really wants to move it he will take 10K because only a hand full of people are in the market for a R53 MINI that has been already modded by some else.
An un-modded MINI in the same condition is worth more money. Those mods while nice do not make that MINI worth more & they do raise more questions as to the MINIs condition.
Supercharger rebuilds aren't worth the shipping cost. Only thing I'd trust is a factory re-manufactured unit. I've blown up two rebuilt superchargers.
^^^^ Yup I have learned from many others SC "Rebuilds". The simple facts are Eaton the maker of the M45 SC does not make a rebuild kit for it. Companies and people have tried for years to market rebuild kits and services but they are not Eaton M45 parts. That's why I will only buy a factory re-manufactured unit with a warranty or a "take off" unit from a trusted source. (I have a few sources :ihih I don't need a new SC at all but by the time I do I may upgrade to a TVS or a Rotex unit with a Vipec ECU. That combo will do everything the OEM ECU does without the stupid limits and BMW adaptive software and Siemens code garage. The new Vipec will be ODB2 enabled so it will even pass emissions. :ihih: Not to mention 300 + WHP easily with the TVS or Rotex without Meth. :devil: See you are never done modding.
Wait just a little...R53 prices should come down, especially when the F56 GEN3 hits the streets...people will try to unload their GEN1 cars especially non-Motoring Alliance Members.
I don't think the F56 will affect R53 prices. Too many years in between. Still, some will try to always shoot for the moon on prices. There are plenty of internet resources like this place to check to see if you are getting a decent deal. Really, an 06 R53 is 8 model years old at this point. Most big banks won't loan money on vehicles older than 2008. Credit unions are a different story. There has been some great advice from a mechanical point already stated.
The one thing that scares me is the unknown tuner. A bad tune will kill any car no matter how good the installed parts are.
WJust got an email from him "... the tune is a common tune for basic Bolton's. Canned tune via rom-raider". So i have to do some research on that and find out what is exactly that is... As for the value of my car. Obviously I think the consensus is that she's prob gone. But with insurance, and the fact there is a loan on the car, from what I have read they will give me the FMV for it as of today, and gap insurance will cover the difference right? Yea the car has" I think 53k miles" but he transmission is literately brand new and was just replaced at 47k miles by mini and under warranty.. Does that go into consideration on the FMV? What would y'all think an 09 S be with a new tranny and healthy clutch and new stores go for? I went thru KBB on the mobile version (on my phone) and it was saying $12k and I highly doubt it went from $19k to 12 in 2 years... Also thinking ahead I might find a small beater for the mean time and save some $$ and use the extra car money (if I get some) to help with some finances...
I find it weird, everyone I show the pics too, then tell em no airbags deployed, they all say wtf.... and I kinda agree with em. I'd be lying if I wasn't bothered by them going off. They should have... I think...
I do not claim to be a crash expert .....But looking at the pictures of the car and knowing about where the crash sensors are ...I can see why the airbags didnt go off....It's almost like the roll over was so perfect it missed the sensors.....Again I am not a crash expert nor do I know why the airbags did not go off....But with the damage from the pictures, the sensors were not hit......
Glad your ok. Well there are a lot of factors which and when the module decides to deploy. I guess the first and most common is speed to brake pressure and sudden drop of speed , example your at 120 mph then you apply hard braking the presure sensor alerts ABS which signals the module then makes an assesment the time , like you would decelerate from 120 to 25 in 3 secs and the module detects this as abnormal rate and will decide. In your case i think that ABS did its job well , it detected the your loosing traction and your yaw rate was probably uncontrolable so air bag modulegives the command to execute.