I just wanted to say hello and introduce myself. I am a 1st time Mini owner and just got my car on the 22nd of Feb! I'm SOO jazzed about this car! It's black / black w/ black wheels. 2003 MCS with just 60K on the clock and a few nice upgrades. From what I can see so far, it's got a cold air intake and a Borla exhaust system. Drilled / Slotted rotors. It's got an aluminum coolant tank and a few other things under the hood that I have yet to identify (I'll ask in the forums and supply pics.) So the mods are mild as far as I can tell, but it's FUN to drive!

I hope to learn lots while I'm here and eventually contribute a bit to the conversation.

Motor on!
Tony

 

Hello and welcome Tony. Looks like someone has already includes some nice mods.

Post up some pics. That's pretty low miles for a 2003.

 

Welcome to NAM, Tony! Congratulations on your purchase of your R53 and welcome to the MINI community! Looks like it has been taken care of well. Did you purchase it from the original owner? Borla exhaust is very nice. Looking forward to those pictures.

 

Post up some pictures from northern Nevada... excellent Mini country up there! Black/Black with black wheels sounds good... definitely post up some pictures of this beast. Welcome to the site!! Borla makes some great sounding exhausts, so you got an added bonus on this buy.

 

Here are a few pics as requested. I think I'm going to have to at least change out the grill. I'd like to also do the smoked side markers and tail lights, but I'm having a tough time finding some good smoked tails for an R53. Everything I'm seeing either has reverse lights (I have the low center reverse light) in the tail lights or has a big molded hump in the middle (a bit grotesque for me.) I just want some clean / understated darker tail lights with black surrounds. Any advice? Eventually headlights with black surrounds and buckets too. I want to go full Darth Vader on this and I have pretty good start.

1st time MINI owner and I'm HOOKED! I'm inventing excuses to run errands and drive it. And YES, the Borla Exhaust was a good add. They seem to be expensive and the sound is great. Not obnoxious, but quite a bit better than stock. This is the only mini I've ever driven, so I don't have a basis for comparison with regard to power.

 

Darth is looking good!! Not sold on smoked tails... only because you definitely want someone behind you to see that you're braking and slowing during daylight hours. They don't make these R53S anymore and you certainly don't want someone not seeing those brake lights and smacking your awesome Mini. If you do smoke em, make sure you can install a super bright wake up light back there to warn other drivers when you are slowing or stopping. I see a lot of "drivers" not paying complete attention to their driving along with the bad results.

Great looking black/black Mini. Nice find. They are super fun to drive.

You can always drop in on a Mini dealership to test out how other Minis actually compare to your's. There are significant differences in performance and sound. It'll really show you how good your R53S really is when compared to the other 2 generations. You'll appreciate Darth even more! Enjoy!

 

Wow that's a super clean black on black MCS. Congrats

 

That is a very sweet ride! Love the all black look.

 

Looks great, Tony. It looks to be in very good condition. For the smoked look, I'd suggest looking for tint. This way, you can remove it in the future if you want. Tint is usually easy to find and some companies make them so that they're already cut to fit your current taillights. A lot of people will also plastidip their chrome bits on the taillights and headlights as a good cheap alternative as well. For the grille, you could always upgrade to the aero grille - lower section http://www.pelicanparts.com/cgi-bin/...-0-140-255-BOE upper section http://www.pelicanparts.com/cgi-bin/...-0-140-259-BOE.

If you ever need anything just let me know and enjoy!