My wife bought a 2011 R55 CPO Sparkling Siliver with Black Roof and mirrors. N16 Engine 6 spd. auto, heated seats and standard equip and Sunroof. Picked it up Sept 8 with 26K on it. Looks fairly new tire sall the way around and new front brakes and rotors. It looks to be in great shape wit some scratches on the roof and top of the bumper above and below the right barn door. The rest of the body has no dings, dents or scratches. According to CARMAX the was originally leased in NY and was sold at auction at end of lease. It has the remainder of warranty and service and has the extended CPO warranty and I purchased the extended service contract. It will get the windows tinted and probably new wheels, just need to decided what size 15,16,17. To try and keep it Retro will probably be Rota RB's as they look like the old Minilite mags. This being her car she will decide on exactly what she want and I will go along with it. I have my toys to play with. We also have a 2002 Toyota Tacoma and 04 Expedition(Big Green)Both vehicles have been trouble free and have had just maintenance as needed. After reading all the posts on issues with other years and models what should I be aware of or watch for on Lulu. I like that it is a little quirky and has a personality but what about the cranky side? The things I don't care for is no Gauges, or way to check trans, power steering fluid. AT 72 I have no plans on getting into working on this thing if I can help it. Been working on cars all my life have paid a price. Just want to be aware of what to watch for. Thanks

Tom

 

Sweet ride! I would get 16" Rota wheels for it. Sporty but no harsh ride that you would get with 17s. Should be no issues with the engine on this model year.

Sent from my iPhone using NAMotoring

 

You have a 2011 Clubman like mine. The color believe it or not is called "Sparkling Silver" , 2011 was the last year of this color.

I have 16 inch rota on mine and swapped the non S grille to an S model grille. I recommend no larger than 16 inch wheels due to the increased weight and loss of performance with larger wheels, especially since you have a non S model , mine has an auto magic and I tried running 17 inch Mini lites which are really not light at all and sold them. The 16 inch Rota performs well and looks great. If you check out my gallery, you will see both sets of wheels on the car.

So far I have over 50000 miles and the car has been very reliable. Only a few electrical issue i.e. computer . I have average approx 35 MPG on 89 oct gas.

 

Nice clubman. Things to look for, none that I can think of, just change the oil every 5,000 miles or so with a high quality synthetic, I use Mobil 1 0w40. This is an easy car to do the oil change on. I'd also change or have the tranny fluid changed every 30,000 miles or so.

 

Nice Clubman! It looks just like mine, but my roof is the same color as the body. Mileage is almost the same as mine (25.5k), but mine is an '09 and sits at the train station most days.

In terms of what to look out for: keep an eye on the thermostat housing and water pump. They are both made of plastic, but the water pump has an updated model that is made of aluminum ( can't remember which year they changed to aluminum). Since our cars don't have an engine temp gauge, keep an eye on the coolant expansion tank and only use 50/50 mixture of BMW coolant mixed with distiller water.

One more thing I remembered is the sun visors are really cheap and break very easily. I broke mine from using the mirror one day, but it was covered under warranty.

Other than that enjoy your MINI!

 

Nice Sparkling Silver , even has the Aero Sport kit. Also called Hypersport. That's rare to see on the Clubman.

 

That's interesting, what is the Aero Sport Kit?

Fun car so far, last week end we took it over the Sierra's to Reno for the weekend did great climbing, left in cruse just to se how it would 25ft above seal level to 7200 ft above at Donner Pass in 70 miles maintained 72 mph and didn't shift to much, never went above 3500 rpm. 34.62 mpg although computer showed 28.9 337.7 miles 9.75 gallons of gas. Fun trip. Wife is going have to change the way she packs if we ever are going to take it on long trip to Boise Idaho for a week or up to Post Falls Idaho and the Seattle area. She has to remember this in not her old Ford Expedition with a gazillion cubic feet of cargo area. about 1400s mile until first service since we bought it. Still learning it's quirks and tricks. I found it very pleasant to drive in the mountains doesn't seem to lack power, didn't try to keep up with traffic but could have if I wanted to push it and do my own shifting. Think we could get better mileage after getting over the Sierras and past Reno as it would be pretty flat roads the rest of the way to Boise 70-75mph most of the way.

 

Here it is the in the Hardtop R56 MINI Cooper S version. Its the front bumper, rear bumper and Side skirts. Only offered from factory for a couple years.

Hypersport Body Kit Or Aero kit

https://www.northamericanmotoring.co...-body-kit.html



VS

Stock



Thanks

 

Thanks, that's cool no wonder it looks so good. I will have go back and look at the list of stuff on the car I downloaded from the VIN look up. It is mostly German so will have to translate. Now I think I want to paint the arches. Lucky I still have body shop contacts from when I was working. I do think it would look better painted. The list Tint, Tires/wheels and painted arches. Wish I didn't have to have front plate even had to sign a form stating I knew of the front plate requirement to protect the dealer. Don't want to do the body work to fill the holes and paint it, maybe if someone damaged it in a parking lot then I would not replace it. I also think with painted arches it would make the the wheel/tires package I want to get look better.

 

I have decide to order the part and paint them myself. I am going to have either the dealer or a nearby body remove the old and install the new painted arches and rocker piece. Need to find the rocker piece the arches I have found.

This being my wife car I can have it laid up for 3 or 4 day what the trim is painted, nor will she want to run around with trim off the car while I paint it. My work shop is heated and has a exhaust mounted in one end that will remove dust and fumes real well.

Before I retired I worked for the California Highway Patrol for 38 years as civilian employee. The last 22 years I worked at the facility where the cars were equipped. I have removed plastic trim form thousands of Vehicles and have broken my share so I know how to do it. When I worked in the Special Projects section (undercover and other special vehicles) I had to equip 4 Volvo's as black and white Patrol cars for testing. It was the most challenging and difficult assignment I had. 3 of us had 12 cars to equip. We were each give 2 stall worth of room to work in. One stall had the car the other had all the stuff we took off to get the CHP emergency equipment in and we had it all back. It took a month to do the first vehicle and about 3 week for each of others. The didn't work to well as I remember because of the size and the amount of equipment install and the stuff the officers carried. If I had use of a life I might try it but on the floor of my garage at may age no, I have done it to many time and my body says no.

 

"Need to find the rocker piece the arches I have found."

Whats part are you looking for ?

 

Need the black Rocker Panel trim piece. It is different on Aero Sport Kit than on the Justa I think you have the front and rear Arches unless that are different with the kit. On the Aero kit the rocker panel trim piece goes all the way to and below the wheel arch. I will take a picture when my wife get back with Lulu and post it.

 

#5 and #7 is the textured lower section of the rocker on the aero kit. 51772756825 & 51772756826

http://www.ecstuning.com/Search/SiteSearch/51772756825/

&

http://www.ecstuning.com/Search/SiteSearch/51772756826/



Thanks