Hi everyone,

I've really been thinking about getting rid of my 2010 VW Jetta Wolfsburg and picking up either an R53 or R56 Mini Cooper S.

I've test driven both, and I really love the extra power and fuel economy that the turbo offers, but it looks like the R56 models are much more plagued by timing chain issues. How common are these issues among either model?

Since I'm trying to downsize a bit I will probably go for an older Cooper S, with higher mileage, like 75k-100k. I may even try to pick one up from here that has a few mods already. What things should I look for that are common problems??

I'm also a weekend auto-crosser, and I know that LSD is by far the best thing you can have on a FWD car as far as traction goes (besides good tires). How can I tell if a pre-owned MCS has the factory LSD installed or not if the dealer or owner doesn't know?

 

Welcome to MINI madness!
And welcome fellow autocrosser!

A lot of people would say get a 2006 R53 or JCW. Least problems. However, while the R56 may have had some problems, you can have a dealer check the vin to see what service has been done.

As for LSD - Yes you need it for autoX. Don't know exactly how to check except by jacking up one side of the front of the car and try to turn the front wheel. If it turns it does not have LSD. At least that was the old fashion way to do it. Maybe you can have the vin checked for option. I think there is a thread about reading options from the vin.

 

thanks for the warm welcome, eddie!

what's different about the 06 R53 compared to the 02-05?

i know how much an lsd helps. my previous car was a '02 golf tdi with a peloquin lsd, full suspension, RSB, and other mods... and it did wonderfully at auto-x... I sold it thinking I would need 4 doors now that I have kids and I haven't really used the back seat all that much...

I absolutely love the handling on the mini, especially the quick steering that almost no other car has.

I know that in the trunk of the jetta under the carpet by the spare is a sticker with all of the feature codes and options. i was wondering if there was anything similar on the mini.

 

I have an 05' cabrio and absolutely love it. The cool thing about the 05 and 06 S's (often called the facelift year/models) is they fixed a lot of the common problems associated with previous years. As someone who has owned the pre and post facelift cars I definitely would recommend getting an 05' or 06'. There are also a lot of really nice little features that my 04' didn't have.

 

i really don't see any stylistic differences between 05-06 models and pre-05 models...

can someone tell me if these look like good deals?

http://ama-motors.com/wp/listing/2005-mini-cooper-s
http://www.autotrader.com/cars-for-s...33629665&Log=0

https://www.northamericanmotoring.co...ed-manual.html

Both are similar year and mileage, but the blue one is much closer to me and it looks like has many more options and a few upgrades (HIDs, SC pulley, full exhaust, sunroof, 17" wheels, RSB, oil pressure and temp gauges). The red one is obviously much less expensive.

 

The way I heard it, if you jack up both front wheels and turn one, the other will turn the other way if you don't have an LSD. When I tried it with an LSD equipped MINI, the other wheel didn't turn at all. So your test wouldn't work.

 

Well the red one I posted is already sold. I'm going to check out the blue one today. It looks like the build date is July 04, and I saw that LSD wasn't available until January 05 builds. So it doesn't have a factory LSD.

 

They didn't really make any exterior cosmetic changes... The inside of the headlights are a little different but thats about it exterior wise. They changed the gear ratios in 05' and fixed some of the bugs the earlier ones had. They also changed a little bit of the interior, they added a little hidden shelf under the steering column, gave the door panels pads that more resemble armrests, and a few other stuff. Generally they just have less problems