Mini R53 Cooper S or other

[crazyfields]

• Hey all, first post so please advise if this needs to be put elsewhere.

I am looking for a fun run around £5000 max.

Used for commute (A-road 30 min out and back), occasional motorways, Yorkshire moor road thrash and possible Harewood 'run what you brung' fun.

I'm thinking:
- Hatchback
- FWD
- 3 door
- Good handling
- sub 200bhp (I want to limit my trouble)

I'm thinking of a Cooper S R53 supercharged in the standard or Checkmate / Chilli guise for LSD fun.

Can people please advise of anything that would be useful for looking out to buy and / or an alternative car that would rival an R53.

Thanks in advance.

Edited by crazyfields on Sunday 11th June 16:30

Edited by crazyfields on Sunday 11th June 16:31

[Gigamoons]

Mk5 golf gti
Honda civic type r

[wobert]

I’ve bought this in the last month….previous R53 owner from the noughties and wanted to rekindle my interest before the prices go up.



Mechanically it’s had everything done that is usually needed.
I have a lever arch file with all the receipts etc.

Bodywork needs some work (DA polish) but the back end has already been sorted, (new boot lid and bumper repaired / repainted).

You don’t need to spend £5k, this stands me £3.5k including the bodywork repairs.

The usual bits needing attention are:

Engine leaks.
Suspension including subframes and bushes
Supercharger service, which includes water pump, crank sensor and dipstick tube.
Boot lid rust - they all go nr the handle due to the gasket design
Body under rear lights rusts
Leading edge and bottom of front doors rust.

Take your time finding one with the right spec and that has had the work above done.

Mine has £4.5ks worth of extras, Chilli pack essential, HK stereo, panoramic roof etc nice to have.

[oceanview]

For a 5k and under Mini CS, limit your trouble be avoiding them!

[Bungleaio]

The lsd on the R53 was a £100 dealer option so not all cars will have them. Great cars though.

[The Rotrex Kid]

Cooper S is a great car, fragile though (IMO)

An EP3 is a great car for what you want.

A mk5 golf GTI is a good shout too.

[wobert]

Bungleaio said:

The lsd on the R53 was a £100 dealer option so not all cars will have them. Great cars though.

From 2005 onwards it was a NCO if you ordered the car with the Chilli pack

Edited by wobert on Monday 12th June 09:41

[pb8g09]

These are fragile and thirsty cars (with spicy VED too).

I bought one for £1.5k during covid and it had the full bingo card - oil leak, rusty tailgate, remote key not working, glove compartment door opened over every bump, due 'the supercharger service'. It was a good fun car but I only drove it around my local roads knowing I could walk home or get a bus if it blew up anywhere.

And it did. On a bend the steering pump shat itself and I was left sat on top of the local council's bollard trying to find a scrappy to take it off my hands.

Leave your nostalgia in the past, these things are knackered or garage queens.

[Disco You]

I’m very surprised that nobody has said Renault Clio 197/200 yet. They tick all the boxes.

[wobert]

pb8g09 said:

These are fragile and thirsty cars (with spicy VED too).

I bought one for £1.5k during covid and it had the full bingo card - oil leak, rusty tailgate, remote key not working, glove compartment door opened over every bump, due 'the supercharger service'. It was a good fun car but I only drove it around my local roads knowing I could walk home or get a bus if it blew up anywhere.

And it did. On a bend the steering pump shat itself and I was left sat on top of the local council's bollard trying to find a scrappy to take it off my hands.

Leave your nostalgia in the past, these things are knackered or garage queens.

The VED is £395 p.a. I’m only planning on running mine from April to October, I’ll then SORN it over the winter and it can sit in the garage.

That reduces the VED to just over £200.

I disagree, if you buy right, they are robust little cars, the engine especially so, compared with the R56 that went thereafter.

Treat it as a 20 year old car and you won’t go wrong.

[pb8g09]

wobert said:

The VED is £395 p.a. I’m only planning on running mine from April to October, I’ll then SORN it over the winter and it can sit in the garage.

That reduces the VED to just over £200.

I disagree, if you buy right, they are robust little cars, the engine especially so, compared with the R56 that went thereafter.

Treat it as a 20 year old car and you won’t go wrong.

That's because you bought a minter/garage queen

Looks like a great car by the way - just think they're not easy to find anymore, as you say, 20 year old car now.

[Terry Winks]

They are epic fun to drive, I bought one for £1400 in covid, its been sat a while now but I have a box of toys to fit to it, at some point. Would like to get the engine out and do a proper rebuild on that too, but it's an epic hot hatch.

[pb8g09]

Going back on the OP and potential alternatives.

Clio 182/197 or Megane RS, Fiesta ST (Mk7) or maybe an Abarth if you can handle the seating position for your commute.

All of the above often can crop up close to your budget. Wouldn't touch an Mk 2 Mini CS unless it's post 2010.

[jonwm]

I bought one in lockdown for £2k one drunk night on eBay, kept if for 12 months exactly and did about 500 miles in it in total.

It was a well looked after example but suffered underside rust from no use over the previous 3 years, tailgate replaced by BMW and full dealer service up until 2017, I think it was a 2 owner car (LC54 reg like a poster above).

I recall horrendous fuel consumption and the standard oil leak (never enough to drip on the floor), enjoyed the drive but having had a Cupra 300 previously I felt this was very slow.

I wanted one when they were new back in the day so scratched that itch I guess.

Sold it for £1600 after the MOT advisories were longer than my arm on the underside.

Seems from last MOT (just looked) its overheating now too.

[TameRacingDriver]

You don't say whether you need to carry many passengers, so you could also consider an MX5 or MR2 Roadster for some rear wheel drive fun. Just look out for rust on the MX5 and precats / subframe on the MR2. Both are better handling and more 'fun' than a hot hatch for me.

As a £5k hot hatch goes though a Mini is one of the better choices, but I'd definitely also look at the CTR (EP3 or FN2), and the Clio RS.

[ZX10R NIN]

crazyfields said:

**Hey all, first post so please advise if this needs to be put elsewhere.


I am looking for a fun run around £5000 max.

Used for commute (A-road 30 min out and back), occasional motorways, Yorkshire moor road thrash and possible Harewood 'run what you brung' fun.

I'm thinking:
- Hatchback
- FWD
- 3 door
- Good handling
- sub 200bhp (I want to limit my trouble)

I'm thinking of a Cooper S R53 supercharged in the standard or Checkmate / Chilli guise for LSD fun.

Can people please advise of anything that would be useful for looking out to buy and / or an alternative car that would rival an R53.

Thanks in advance.

Edited by crazyfields on Sunday 11th June 16:30

Edited by crazyfields on Sunday 11th June 16:31

As someone said check that the Cooper S you're looking at actually has the LSD fitted.

Ay 5k I'd take a good look at the 208 GTI:

https://www.autotrader.co.uk/car-details/202305247...

https://www.autotrader.co.uk/car-details/202306058...

[ZX10R NIN]

If you want an okd school hot hatch with an LSD then the Corsa VXR Nurburgring could be the pick:

https://www.autotrader.co.uk/car-details/202211282...

https://www.autotrader.co.uk/car-details/202306078...

[pb8g09]

ZX10R NIN said:

As someone said check that the Cooper S you're looking at actually has the LSD fitted.

Ay 5k I'd take a good look at the 208 GTI:

https://www.autotrader.co.uk/car-details/202305247...

https://www.autotrader.co.uk/car-details/202306058...

Wow depreciation has hit those hard- look super modern for that money. How reliable is that engine?- is it the same ropey prince said to avoid?

[Terry Winks]

Looks like the same dash and wheel setup that's in the 2008 I have just sold, a performance driving position it won't be, the steering wheel is on your lap.

[CrippsCorner]

It's funny I see people say quite often that they're unreliable. I ran mine for 4 years and genuinely spent £40 on repairs in that time. It done me about 15k miles. Loved it to be honest, and still miss the supercharger to this day! I did modify mine quite extensively (maybe why I didn't have to replace many parts for failure reasons) but it was a hell of a lot of fun, and to this day stands me the most track time I had.

I had 2x Clio 182 before it, and to be honest they were better out the box, but the MINI just grabbed me.