Been looking for an R53 for some time as I only budgeted so much money for the car itself. I looked at some pretty torn up cars, anytime the price seemed "too good to be true" it was horribly evident when I saw the car in person.

Then everything just kind of fell into place with this R53. I had pulled cash out of the bank already to purchase a different car that turned out to be nothing like described by the seller. While searching craigslist that night a brand new add popped up that seemed too good to be true, but I had to pursue it anyway because of the "what ifs" bouncing around my head. I called and emailed immediately and got no response. Went to sleep and called again as soon as I got up in the morning and a woman answered. She said she just woke up and had a ton of emails and voicemails that she hadn't looked at yet. I told her don't bother, I have cash in hand (Sunday) and will leave immediately to come see the car. She said okay.

I get there and it looks as described, drives great. Her phone is ringing off the hook the whole time I'm there, and it should be for the price she had it listed. Car had a check engine light and needed 2 tires, other than that there wasn't really anything wrong with it. So I bought it.

Turns out the code was for cam position sensor which is easy enough to replace. So I just need to replace that and get 2 tires and I can get it passed inspection and drive!

So what is it? 2004 Cooper S MC40 with a JCW tuning kit and 118k miles for $6k She was the original owner so the car had all the manuals and paperwork. Only bad part is it's missing the MC40 production badge.

 

Welcome and I think you did rather well for $6k!