silence

We traded our G35x in today for a 2005 Mini Cooper S. She is graphite with black racing stripes, a black roof (dual moonroof), 6mt, HK sound etc. etc. even thule rack setup for two bikes!

I'll post some pictures when I get them (it's winter here obviously, so they will suck).

I know a few others have them as daily drivers, what an awesome little car--- there is nothing else that comes close to the fun of this thing that gets within 5 or 8 mpg of it.




Can't wait for summer to roll around- it's going to be a great day when I can head out to the garage and choose to drive my C43, this little thing or any one of my bikes!

LawRens

Gratz on the purchase. Hope you won't miss the power difference from the G35.

And just a head's up: my dad's friend's son also has an 05 mini cooper, and it's been nothing but problems for him in terms of electrical issues. Guages fail, radio inoperative, etc etc.

Hopefully you won't have any of these problems, but be prepared! :O

steve s

it rode awfully stiff on my friend's cooper.. it felt almost like my modified wagon (coincidentally, running on the same size 215-45-17 tires). i wonder if the run-flat tires contributed to the stiffness/harshness. handling on the other hand was fantastic, so eager in the twisties. lots of a fun for a little fwd !

Saaboteur

I had an '02 Cooper S with the factory JCW package. Fun car. Very engaging to drive, I loved the supercharger whine. That JCW package was pricey, good thing I bought the car used. Maintenance on it was nuts - C$65 per sparkplug, JCW-specific though! I was always filling the washer bottles in the winter, I felt they were a tad small in capacity. Exceptional handling, and very easy to park!

silence

yeah-

I'm not too worried about electrical problems. This one is old enough that if stock stuff breaks I'll just modify and or replace with used bits etc., I've got some experience with keeping "expensive to maintain" cars going without spending too much.

I really need to figure out how to add about 20% more power to it though... maybe a bad sign seeing as how we've only had it for about 20 hrs.

ob1kenobi

was wondering where you are.

congratulations on the new toy.

steve s

much easier with charged engines

timdf

I have a 2005 MCS (from new) and the first thing I did was ditch the run flats for some sticky BFG's - makes a huge difference to the ride and handling.

I can regulary get mine into 'tri-pod' mode as Clarkson would say :-)

My MCS has been fairly problem free (apart from when the dealer scr#wed with it) - only had an intermittent GPS nav system which I fixed myself as the dealer was / is incompetent.

Overall I love the 36mpg freeway and 28 city.

Just got to rev it to make it go (love the whine of the super charger) - but not much low down torque - there again I'm comparing it to my 911 twin turbo :-)

I think yours is turbo'd - so a simple flash should help on the power front - either that or a pulley change to make the super charger work harder ;-)

Enjoy !

jumph4x

Yeah, from everything I know and all the subjective feedback people give, those cars are anything but well built.

silence

this one has been around for 5 years and is totally mint with everything working right now- we plan to keep up with it. In the end I'm just not worried about that aspect of things. Also, I think a lot of the issues I've heard repeatedly are very minor things I can easily do myself.

I'll hopefully have some pics after this weekend- road trip to des moines for a gravel bike race.

silence

plan to add about 5 psi of boost in the near future with some supporting modifications- should be pretty much awesome!

here-

silence

parts ordered- should be up near 175-180 hp at the wheels right soon... doesn't sound like much.

girlfriend was to be out of town on Sunday with my Tahoe, but I guess the belt was out of stock so I won't have it in time. Have to do the work while she is gone- not telling her what's up, nor think it would go over well if she caught me with the motor jacked halfway out of her new car.

LawRens

What the hell are you gonna tell her when she asks you "why is the car so much more powerful?"

"oh, i just did an oil change honey." HAHA!

appatula

haha yeah and tell her thats why it is so important to check the oil level weekly or something then proceed how you thought it would be so nice of you to treat her new baby to a genuine oil change....on the house, GUARENTEED TO WORK....for many things.

silence

Plan is to tell her it was the new "lifetime" air filter...

LawRens

we need vids of her reaction when you do that. PLEASE!