Learn me: R53 Mini Coopers

I've started the long journey to redo my fleet of cars and the R53 Cooper S landed itself on the potential list for "fun daily driver". I'm hoping to hear from some people here who have had some experience living with one of these cars to understand some of the finer details. So without further ado let me jump into some questions: 

1. How do these cars handle the winter? I'm in the northeast and used to manage in a miata with snow tires and an LSD but admittedly struggled getting out of my hilly neighborhood. How does the R53 hold up in the snow? Do they all have LSD's or is there a specific package I need to seek out to get it?

2. What's the maintenance and common failure points like? I'm looking to unload my 135i andhoping to move into something that's a little less of a headache... or atleast, if it has a problem, it's easily narrowed down to "replace this" and not "well it could be any one of these 14 things..."

3.  What's the reliability like? I've heard horror stories but the consensus seems to be that 05-06 Cooper S' arent bad minus a couple common failure points that arent bad to address. 

4.  How are they to work on? I'm an avid DIY'er and wrenching on cars for 20 years but I don't like to spend all my free time doing it. Any reason to be concerned with a Cooper S?

Okay enough of that, now on to the fun stuff: 

5. How do these cars handle/drive for a FWD platform? I swore off FWD  for sports cars years ago but everyone seems to say the Cooper S feels like an exception. What's the real story here?

6. What's the driving experience like? I'm looking for something that maybe comes close to my old NA miata for fun-to-drive factor. How is the steering / shifting? The feeling of connection as a driver?

7. What else should I know that I'm not asking?

Not all R53s have LSDs (the one I owned didn't). You probably want one with an LSD or retrofit one. I drove mine in the Sierra Nevada in winter with snow tires, worked well but not quite as well as, say, a Mitsubishi Evo.

As to reliability and parts prices, they're a BMW in disguise.

My 2006 Cooper S had an LSD, but I believe it was a separate option when ordering.  There is no package that it came with IIRC.  I only had mine for the first 50k miles, but it was fairly reliable under warranty.  It had an oil pan gasket and O2 sensor replaced by the dealer, and I did the thermostat housing.  It wasn't a super annoying car to work on, but there are certain tools like the band clamp tool that you need for German cars.  My biggest fear would be needing to replace a supercharger, but it would most likely be a one-time cost.

As for driving, it was a hoot.  I never had any complaints about how it drove, but more power would have been nice.  It wasn't quite as engaging as my '90 Miata, but not much is.  Winter driving was fine on all-seasons, and true snow tires would have made it very acceptable for the snows we got in Virginia.  I didn't mind it for long trips, although the short wheelbase make it feel like it pitches more than other cars.  As a brand new car, I recommend one.  Now, after so many years, I'll defer to those that currently own one.

Find an '05 or '06 to get the LSD. It was optional on earlier cars, but standard later. My '03 is the best handling FWD car I've ever owned. The R53 has some known design flaws and you need to see maintenance records to see if they've been corrected. The PTO between the supercharger and water pump is fond of losing its lubricant, grinding the gears to black dust and having your engine overheat when the water pump stops turning. You will learn about the Fonzie smack to get the window lift to work at some point. If you're in the northeast you need to examine the area around the tail lights for any hint of rust. There's an overlapped seam around the buckets that wasn't given any body seam sealer and will trap water. The dealers were replacing the rear quarter panels under warrantee to fix that issue. It should be in the maintenance records if it was done. They're a BMW product and pricing reflects that. BUT, having lived through all that myself I still love the car, warts and all. It's a bit of a cult car, like Miatas, and you can occasionally find low mileage cars that have been babied from new.

I own a supercharged NB Miata and I find the MINI just as much fun to drive, more so when compared to a normally aspirated Miata. It's a much better travel car than a Miata, feeling more solid and bigger. I've made the run back from the Challenge to home in Michigan several times in the MINI without stopping (almost 1100 miles) and I've got a suspect back. It's quite comfortable. I've got a 15% pulley on the supercharger, a Volt exhaust, a short shifter, and Koni FSD shocks which all make it a bit more fun. I've had mine for 14 years now and I'd buy another one if I found a low mileage candidate.

Can I jump in here? What about the non S cars as daily drivers. Any more or less reliable?

In reply to vwcorvette (Forum Supporter) :

The later R50 cars switched to the Getrag gear box and that was an improvement. The early boxes were said to be made of glass. Anyone who races the R50 in B-spec wants the later trans for durability. No supercharger PTO to fail, so they generally are a bit better in reliability than an R53. I test drove one years ago, before I bought my R53, and it was fun. It's underpowered, but you learn to drive it like any other econobox, it's just better at handling and has a general feeling of substance.

In reply to DeadSkunk (Warren) :

Non S any better than my Mazda 2? Which has a gazillion miles on it but still fun to drive.

In reply to vwcorvette (Forum Supporter) :

I've never driven a Mazda2 so I can't say.

I have owned an 03 and tracked it a couple times. They are pretty fun cars, very tossable, turn in is great and because stock they don't have a ton of power you can be pretty aggressive with the throttle. Mine did not have an LSD and if you plan on tracking it or autocross you definitely want one with it. Steering is great, shifter is great, the stock suspension keeps the car planted pretty well. Brakes are okay, they do the job for how small the car is but you plan on doing track stuff they should be upgraded along with cooling.

Someone already said the supercharger. If no one has done any maintenance then the gear oil burns up and the gears that drive the water pump grind to dust. The easiest way to fix it is to find a new supercharger. My car leaked oil from every rubber seal on the engine. It is common for the seals to go out on these cars. The hoses from the power steering reservoir go back and need replacing. Front control arm bushings tear easily and need to be replaced. They aren't hard to work on. Most engine stuff can be done by removing the front bumper and radiator. Once you do it the first time it is really easy to do after. Dropping the front subframe isn't too bad either. Mod Mini on YouTube has a ton of videos on how to do stuff.

The main issues with these cars is they have a ton of small stuff that goes bad and most people neglect the cars so they end up having a bunch of small problems. If you find one with receipts and recent service it might save you some time. Once we handled the issues with my car it was great. 

vwcorvette (Forum Supporter) said:

Can I jump in here? What about the non S cars as daily drivers. Any more or less reliable?

We have owned 3 non-S MINIs over the years, one a 2004 since new. Sold both my 2003s over the last year, to thin the herd. Both had more than 200K miles. I consider them pretty reliable.

toconn said:

I've started the long journey to redo my fleet of cars and the R53 Cooper S landed itself on the potential list for "fun daily driver". I'm hoping to hear from some people here who have had some experience living with one of these cars to understand some of the finer details. So without further ado let me jump into some questions: 

 

1. How do these cars handle the winter? I'm in the northeast and used to manage in a miata with snow tires and an LSD but admittedly struggled getting out of my hilly neighborhood. How does the R53 hold up in the snow? Do they all have LSD's or is there a specific package I need to seek out to get it?

2. What's the maintenance and common failure points like? I'm looking to unload my 135i andhoping to move into something that's a little less of a headache... or atleast, if it has a problem, it's easily narrowed down to "replace this" and not "well it could be any one of these 14 things..."

3.  What's the reliability like? I've heard horror stories but the consensus seems to be that 05-06 Cooper S' arent bad minus a couple common failure points that arent bad to address. 

4.  How are they to work on? I'm an avid DIY'er and wrenching on cars for 20 years but I don't like to spend all my free time doing it. Any reason to be concerned with a Cooper S?

Okay enough of that, now on to the fun stuff: 

5. How do these cars handle/drive for a FWD platform? I swore off FWD  for sports cars years ago but everyone seems to say the Cooper S feels like an exception. What's the real story here?

6. What's the driving experience like? I'm looking for something that maybe comes close to my old NA miata for fun-to-drive factor. How is the steering / shifting? The feeling of connection as a driver?

7. What else should I know that I'm not asking?

1. Not a lot of suspension travel and no LSD, so I imagine they don't handle snow all that well.

2. It's a BMW built to a cheaper price point.  Parity or worse with you 135i in reliability.

3. I had one when they were relatively new and it was trending toward 1500-2k annually in repairs, with me doing the labor.  Suspension reinforcement, power steering pump, steering column coupler, harmonic damper of all random things, yaw sensor (maybe due to track work.) etc. etc.

4.  PITA.  You'll probably be using a drilling hammer and a 2x4 to flatten back out a strut tower after hitting even an average pothole.

5.  They handle great.  The most frustrating thing is that you can't put the power down on track-out.  Again, not a lot of suspension travel for rough track stuff, and the strut towers are made out of cheese, so I wouldn't jump the apex at turn 3 at Road Atlanta, or track all the way out on the gators in turn 5 for example.  Ireland Engineering sold reasonable reinforcement parts, but I would look for cracking and metal fatigue.  Rear camber isn't adjustable, so you will need aftermarket LCAs if lowering from stock ride height. 

6.  It was a fun car, other than just being needy.

7.  Windshields....you will go through a lot of windsheilds.  If you are first in line at a traffic light, you won't be able to see it.  They sell a stick-on fresnel lens for this purpose, even.  The stock rim and tire package is comically heavy.  Like...you will hurt yourself underestimating how heavy the first time you pull a wheel.  

8.  It's still a BMW, with all the good and bad stuff implied.  The interior quality and styling of the early cars seemed really nice to me.

In reply to toconn :

I had a 2004 R53 setup for autocross a few years ago.  It was great to drive.

Adding an OEM LSD made it much more fun to drive.  They don't have much ground clearance for unplowed roads.  I believe the bottom radiator bracket is made of plastic and not well guarded from front impacts.

Maintenance is a problem.  Everything is packed tight and made of plastic.  I would not own this car without a dedicated Mini mechanic for the annoying stuff.  It has all of the regular BMW problems with cooling systems, window regulators, bushings, etc and it has weird mini specific problems like a tiny clutch, mushrooming shock towers, and the water pump and supercharger running off the same shaft.

I enjoyed track and autocross driving in mine.  To go fast, you need to get the rear end moving around.  I wasn't as big of a fan on mountain roads.  To keep the rear end planted, I had to slow down.  Putting down power on corner exist was an exercise in throttle modulation.  I would rather have the opti0on of power oversteer on corner exit in a RWD car for public roads.

The 2005-06 shifter feels much better than the 2001-04 shifter.  I think there was a change from cable actuated to rod actuated.  Steering feels great on all years.

There is no hot hatch that compares to the early Mini with ~200hp, 2600lbs, and a nice interior.  The Fiesta may be as good to drive but the interior isn't even close.  The Fiat 500 Abarth could work if you are ok with the seating position.  Everything else is bigger and heavier.  My wife and I still miss ours.

In reply to toconn :

1.  Can't help you here, I live in the south.

2.  I have an '03.  I've replaced engine mounts that were worn.  Braved the 100k supercharger service.  Basically everything else has been enhancements.  Generally the Mini community is pretty helpful on most tasks.

3.  Feels like this is the same question as 2?

4.  The first time taking the entire front of the car off is an experience.  The second time it'll take you 30 minutes.  I've generally found it easy to work on (if a bit tight in spots), with the exception of bleeding the brakes... berk that.  Never again.

5.  This is my first FWD car that I've driven in anger.  It's a lot of fun.  Mine is fairly nuetral with a tendency to lift-throttle oversteer.  It stays planted in a corner once set.  I've been surprised and happy with how the little thing drives.

6.  The audio makes the experience better.  Winding up the supercharger makes you feel like you are flying down the road... at 35 mph.  The steering is quick and precise.  Again, I was happily surprised by the driving on my Mini

7.  I would expect to take the car apart at some point.  The pictures look worse than it really is, so don't be too afraid of it.

I got my Mini a couple years ago, you can read all about my exploits (or lack there of) here:  https://grassrootsmotorsports.com/forum/build-projects-and-project-cars/2003-mini-cooper-s-r53-street-touring-prepared-build/145066/page1/