I've already spent far too much time lurking here. Now that I'm officially going to be a Mini owner I should probably introduce myself as I can see myself wasting lots of time on NAM.

Bit of history:
Bought my first car (my own) in 2007, a 1997 Volkswagen Golf GTI VR6. This is the car that got me into wrenching and other fun cars. After 2 years of ownership the differential exploded on the freeway during a road trip and rather than paying a local shop to do it I towed the car home and taught myself to fix it over the summer. This was the job that gave me the confidence to tackle any project.

I bought my second car, a 1990 300ZX Twin Turbo in the fall of 2008. I wanted a second car that would be my 'fun' car and also be a spare for when maintenance or repair issues popped up. This car was my DD during the summer of 2009 when my transmission exploded in the GTI. Last year I rebuilt the motor in the 300ZX with forged pistons and bigger turbos, and this fall I dynoed at 350whp at just 15psi with my own tune. This winter's mods should push me well past 400rwhp.

I recently accepted a new position about 400 miles from where I currently live, and my commute will increase from about 3 miles each way to approximately 30. Starting a new job is exciting, but now that my GTI is showing many signs of age...most specifically rust, I decided it was time for a newer more 'reliable' car to get me to work. I didn't test drive a whole lot, really just an Acura CL32 Type S and a 2001 Civic SI, and neither we're all that enjoyable. I was looking for anything fun with 4 seats. I had been looking at Mini's before I bought my 300zx, but they were out of my price range back then. I test drove my first one (2005 MCS) about 2 weeks ago and absolutely loved it. I pretty much knew right away it was what I wanted. Last week I found a 2005 Liquid Yellow MCS with 43000 miles that I'll be picking up on Friday! One owner, exterior is in great shape, no door sill rust.

I've been reading as much as I can in the forums trying to decide what preventative maintenance to take care of first, and what to put off until the spring. There are quite a few issues it seems that pop up in these cars, but it looks like most can be prevented (aluminum expansion tank, SC oil changes, etc) and I'm pretty handy so I have a feeling it will be pretty similar to my GTI. I'd like to get 50-60k trouble free miles out of it if I can.

Have I mentioned how excited I am? I figure I'll drive it for the winter as it is, and next spring when I install the SC oil change kit I'll put a 15% pulley on and have way too much fun driving it.

 

Sounds great, and welcome!

 

Congrats! You know what to look out for: mushrooming, harmonic damper, thermostat, 1st stage fan resistor, PS fan, stuck seat recline mechanism, leaking motormounts, belt tensioner damper....all minor stuff if you tackle them 1 by 1.