My Name is Chris and I drive a 62 VW bus..
disclaimer I am not a MINI owner. my daughter is there for I am a MINI mechanic.. lol she currently owns an 05 R50 auto with a missing rear bumper cover thanks to her 3 lane spin on I-75 near our house in a rain storm last Friday.. Luckily she din't get hi by or hit any other cars in 5:00 traffic. Any way with 2 deployed airbags, rear bumper missing, motor mounts needing to be replaced and the front bumper scuffed up some. She is in the market for another MINI. I was informed the R53 automatics are a bit better than the R50 automatics. SO thats what we are shopping for now..A friend of mine told me about the site to search the classifieds. Thanks for having me..

 

Welcome, yes they are the CVT you just need to steer clear, if you teach her to drive a stick that opens up the door as more MINIs pre 2007 were sticks. Automatics were not that popular till the Gen 2 2007+ MINI came out.

Check out the ones here in the classified. .

 

Funny thing is we taught her to drive in a manual.. she just doesn't want to drive a manual.. that is all my wife and I own.. smdh kids these days.. lol

I've head bad things about the gen 2 motors until like 2011 I think it was. I have found 2 gen 1 hardtop S models with an automatic in this with in 400 miles of us.. Might be going to look at one this weekend.

 

2007-2010 MCS and JCW are ok, if all the major services were done, most of the ones one here in the classified were done. 2011+ S/JCW are good from here and other places like cars.com or car guru. Cooper ( non-s) are good but you dont get the extra power in the gen 2.
Good luck,

Gen 3's are really good on the scale, but cost a bit more. Lots of autos in the Gen 3 2014+

 

You do need to be careful when purchasing a Gen 1 R53 since the supercharger may or may not have been serviced at 100k as scheduled and other parts would also be suspect. The SC is a fairly major service procedure (approx. $1,500 at the dealer) but nothing anyone with wrenching abilities can't figure out. However, anything you buy that's 15-odd years old will need some type of repair. As you probably know, dealerships make all their profits from service so think "expensive" and the more you can accomplish in your garage, the better off you'll be. I have a 2004 R53 that I bought with 125k miles. It needed just about everything so in the last six months of ownership I've serviced the supercharger and replaced the SC pulley, serpentine belt, plugs, coil, crankshaft position sensor, front engine main seal, A/C compressor, oil and filter, fuel filter, rear shocks, front hubs/bearings, tires, wheel center badges, coolant, thermostat and housing, various other seals/o-rings, and installed an auto-window device. This doesn't include the full DA polish and detailing I've done myself. It's not my daily driver so I'm able to take my time repairing it. I have approx. $6k in the car including the original purchase price/parts (not including labor since I do my own work) so it's still a super deal especially for a son/daughter. Good luck and welcome to the MINI family!

 

Hi and welcome to NAM!

 

Welcome. Yes the R53 automatic is 100 times more reliable than the CVT auto in the R50.

I wish you wanted a manual as I have 2 perfect R53s right now for sale but both are sticks.