New mini owner - saying hello

[gr4eme]

Afternoon - Just popping in to say hello, new owner of an immaculate Jan 2006 Mini Cooper S JCW. Not many JCW factory build cars around and its an absolute hoot to drive. Under 60K miles and fantastic condition inside and out a real credit to the previous owner who I managed to prize it away from. Picked up from Wales a fairly long trip from Leeds ta couple of weeks ago. I cant get the image up-loader to work, so will send some pics later this evening. Is there an active Yorkshire based owners club that anyone attends?

[GaryF]

Hello there!

Sounds like you have bought a nice clean car.

Do upload some pics - you can use thumbsnap.com or the like to upload them and then post the links - if you encapsulate the links with '[pic]' at the start and '[/pic]' after then your pics should magically appear.

Enjoy your new Mini

[gr4eme]

Thought I’d done this last week , but must have messed up the pic links.

An absolute cracker of a car - handles amazingly and is a very quick car. Most of my friends and family cannot believe such a small humble car as a mini can be so darn fast 😀

[irocfan]

gr4eme said:

Thought I’d done this last week , but must have messed up the pic links.

An absolute cracker of a car - handles amazingly and is a very quick car. Most of my friends and family cannot believe such a small humble car as a mini can be so darn fast ??

[E-bmw]

A bit of work including - cam, injectors, inlet, pulley, a map achieving 233 bhp later complete with coilovers & brake upgrades, mine (not JCW) corners like a housefly & is a major hoot to drive on track.

[GaryF]

Looks great in black and nice alloys.

As above, what's you first mod going to be then?

[Dickie-D]

Congratulations on your purchase, and nice wheels.

I've had my R53 Cooper S for 14 years and although I've considered getting something more 'grown up' many times, I just can't bear the thought of parting with it.

[gr4eme]

Hi - Mod wise was thinking

Styling - i like the chrome - must be old! I've seen all the craze for Kill All Chrome - but i dont think it actually suits the car....
Wheels - Ive always wanted some deep dish alloys - and i think this car would look great with a set - but balance is all important - i don't want it looking over modified - if you can understand my logic.

Engine wise - i want to keep standard - as its a factory JCW i think this could be a backward step.

I have seen an enlarged bonnet scoop and i think that could look great!

Stripes - I've though about some in either dark blue (matt), or Black but i like the look of it standard tbh.

Looking to join an owners group and to take a look at others before i decide on anything mind.

Thanks
Graeme

[gr4eme]

Dickie-D said:

Congratulations on your purchase, and nice wheels.

I've had my R53 Cooper S for 14 years and although I've considered getting something more 'grown up' many times, I just can't bear the thought of parting with it.

I sold a E92 M3 for this Mini - and i haven't regretted it once. Yes the M3 was faster but you really had to work it. I love the size of the Mini the gearbox and the fact that on the changes, its always - on so to speak. 6 down to 3 is crackling for overtakes, and i live the whine, even over the V8!

The handling of the car is superb. Everyone says it but once you have seen for yourself just how much fun there are - i dont think there is anything like it at the min. Newer mini generations have got bigger, heavier and some questionable reliability issues.

Its well screwed together and a defo keeper!

[GaryF]

Agree with you totally as regards being able to enjoy and use all the performance on the road.

It's possible to really rev it out through the short gearing and actively get involved in changing gear frequently (a good thing rather than sitting in the same 'long' gear the majority of the time).

You can't do that responsibly with much faster / bigger bhp cars and just feel constrained / frustrated.

Since I've had mine tuned, the performance and pick up even in sixth gear is a complete hoot due to the gears being so short.

Enjoy.

PS. I just dechromed mine (see other thread) after seven years ownership and I'm knocking on the door of 50. I think they keep you feeling young, or young at heart at least anyway

[Drekly]

GaryF said:

Agree with you totally as regards being able to enjoy and use all the performance on the road.

It's possible to really rev it out through the short gearing and actively get involved in changing gear frequently (a good thing rather than sitting in the same 'long' gear the majority of the time).

You can't do that responsibly with much faster / bigger bhp cars and just feel constrained / frustrated.

Since I've had mine tuned, the performance and pick up even in sixth gear is a complete hoot due to the gears being so short.

Enjoy.

PS. I just dechromed mine (see other thread) after seven years ownership and I'm knocking on the door of 50. I think they keep you feeling young, or young at heart at least anyway

Agree with all the above, you've listed the reasons why I bought mine. And once you have them north of 200bhp they feel fast enough anyway.

As to the OPs car I regret not tuning our old R53 several years back, my two gripes about the car were 163bhp wasn't quite enough and the brakes were too weak to support more power in any case. I would love to have tried one with a JCW 210 conversion and bigger brakes.