I recently moved to downtown Chicago and needed something smaller than my truck. I have loved R53's since 2005 when I drove my cousin's. With that being said, I just picked up a near mint Chili Red 2006 Mini Cooper S from a local Mini dealer with only 45k miles on her! She is currently bone stock but I don't imagine that will last very long! She has already had almost all problem areas (coolant tank ect.) taken care of.

Future plans/mods:
OEM Aux Input kit going in this weekend with phone mount
1. Tie/rods, ball joints, bushings will need replacement soon so at that time i will also do other suspension upgrades (sway bars, spring or coilovers, adjustable control arms, etc)
2. Intake
3. Exhaust
4. Pulley kit (15 or 16%)
5. Wheels/tires
7. Tune
8. Boost gauge

As far as specific companies/parts, I am still looking into that. I know WMW has their street package that includes almost all of the performance parts I plan on doing but I am not sold on their exhaust yet (I love the Ireland Racing, Invidia (is it still made?), and Milltek exhausts).

But enough with the details, here she is!





This is the day she came home!











Sorry for the dirty floor mats! It snowed like crazy the day before I picked her up








This was her at the dealership with my old truck i traded in for her! Ole' Black Betty was a 205k mile young 2002 F250 7.3L Powerstroke

 

Looks good. I'm a couple of hours south of you and recently joined the MINI family also. I bought an R53 from another member of the forum.

 

Welcome to NAM! Those are some low miles! Great find. Looks to be in very good condition. Be sure to check out our catalog HERE to see what parts we offer for your MINI as well. For bushings, go with Powerflex HERE. They're a great upgrade replacement bushing that is ultimately more cost effective than your OEM replacement parts. Plus, you get better handling and improved performance from your MINI. If you ever need anything or have any questions please don't hesitate to let me know.

 

Thanks for the welcome! i plan on going with the powerflex bushings after talking to my buddy who is a head Mini tech at a dealer not too far from me. My goal is to keep it looking like it could have came from Mini. The car wont be tracked and will be a DD so reliability is my biggest concern. That is why I want to do bolt on/simple performance to wake it up a bit but not compromise the great mpg too much since I drive 50+ miles a day for work. When I get ready to start making changes I will definitely check out your site.

 

Looks awesome! Those R85's are glistening. I'm jealous of the condition of your seats, my R53 only has another 35k miles on yours and the leather is all stretched out...

 

yeah i got super lucky! the PO was a middle age lady and she must have weighed 10 lbs because there is no sagging in the seats at all! the only interior blemish is a scratch on the dash just above the glove box and a repaired tear in the driver seat. But if by some miracle someone has/can get a set of ultra rare euro option Sparcco JCW seats for me I would be more than happy to sell mine cheap! haha

 

It is near perfect. Someone took really good care of this car. Sweeeeeet find!

 

yeah the PO was a middle age women who babied it as a nice weather weekend toy. I actually found it by accident when I went to the dealer to look at a cheaper one with more miles but it was sold the day before I got there. Since my search criteria prevented it from coming up while looking I never saw it online. When I went to the dealer they told me about this one and said they were planning on bringing it to auction if no one bought it. I told them how I didnt want to spend that much since I still owed on my truck and knew I would still need to pay off a good chunk of the truck that they wouldnt cover and they ended up dropping the price 2k and taking my truck so my payments would be the same as what I was currently paying for the truck alone. when i brought it to my buddy's friend that is the head mini tech at a different dealer he agreed that I pretty much stole the thing. With my recent **** luck with used cars (blown trans from radiator defect 4Runner to blown engine from a shop ****ing up an oil change Jeep to the F250 which was a money pit since the day I bought it) i was beginning to think that deals like this only happen to other people! After 2 weeks of driving, almost 600 miles already and a check up from the Mini tech today which said nothing hidden has shown itself yet makes me believe i may have found a deal like others talk about finally! knock on wood!

 

Sometimes it takes a while to run into an excellent deal like that. They are really not easy to find. You did it by walking in at just the right moment. Karma? (I like to spell it Carma, in this case). Maybe. It's a great looking, nearly new Mini that many of us Mini fanatics would love to have.

Take good care of it... cause they don't make 'em like that anymore.

 

Welcome,

Nice R53 , looks like they othered the anthicte interior trim, very nice . The Chili red and white top is a classic combo, glad they went with the xenon lights factory, love mine on my R52 MCC.

We carry milltek here: Great sound and comes in resonated and non resonated, the non res is a little bit louder, and its free ship.

http://www.ecstuning.com/News/MINI_R53_Copper_S_JCW_Milltek_Performance_Exhaust_ Systems_2002_2003_2004_2005_2006/








Aux input install help here:
https://www.northamericanmotoring.co...ed-pics-9.html





front suspension here :

https://www.northamericanmotoring.co...ll-joints.html





Intake R53 : I like the stock JCW intake system. But that might be just me.

Do you like stock JCW
13720391513 or aftermarket ( AFE , Megan Racing w/ K&N filter ) , K&N typhoon .

https://www.ecstuning.com/Mini-2006-...Engine/Intake/

JCW



AFE




K&N




Boost guage : P3 cars has the Boost version and then the whole VIDI version , which includes boost and more.

https://www.northamericanmotoring.co...ge-option.html





Wheels : NM Eng. has some very nice ones. Unless you like the OEM styles.

https://www.northamericanmotoring.co...ng-wheels.html



Or

OEM wheels here, I like the R112 and the r113 that I have. They are R codes for the styles.

https://www.ecstuning.com/Mini-2005-Cooper-R53-S-Coupe-L4_1.6L_W11B16A/Wheels/OEM_Alloys/


Let me know if you need anything else.

 

It's gonna be fun to see where you go with this Mini. Lot's of excellent mod choices.

 

Welcome to NAM! Great looking R53 ya got there!

Hope to see around here. Have fun with the mods.. it's a ton of fun.

 

Thanks for info! I like to keep it looking like it could have come from the factory but I just cant bring myself to spend 230 more for the JCW over the DDM intake for no extra performance and quieter sound. I love the P3 but again, I cant see myself spending that much on a boost gauge (even though it is sexy!). But I want to have a boost gauge before I do a pulley. I have never heard of those wheels but I will look into those because I really like the ones that are similar to the R112s!

After looking through your website I have already book marked it for when I start upgrading!

 

You are welcome. NM Eng. Is known in the MINI world for wheels, the 18" RSe12 do have a R112 wheel design to them.

Let me know if you need anything else. The P3guages in the VIDI will give you more read outs and reads and clears codes also.