Throwing out a hello from a new member. I've picked up a black/yellow 2004 R50 base coupe and have already used many of the good member's posts here to work on the various issues a 14-year old car brings with it. I appreciate the family atmosphere and the fellowship here and will be sending questions along the way as my teen and I tackle the major stuff. The real "little old lady" who owned her apparently didn't bathe this poor girl for the last 3 or 4 years of ownership; SEVERAL baths, an interior disinfecting that took a full day and a clay-barring later, she is showing life.

The good : 85,000 mile original owner car, yellow/black with a lot of options - 5spd, heated seats, Xenon, front/rear fogs, ASC, NAV, S gauge pack and 16" wheels. New motor 10K ago (old one ate a valve) along with clutch/TO bearing, PS pump and fan. Full records of all maintenance since new. No shock tower mushrooms or other apparent suspension problems.

The bad : I've already stripped both doors and replaced window regulators, motors and door lock actuators - only to find the right window switch is intermittent and will likely require the entire toggle bar replacement. The passenger side CV axle is clicking hard on slow turns, despite being replaced 3 years ago. The "leatherette" seats are hard after 14 years of sun and the driver's is cracked badly on the left upper bolster as well as the center of the bottom cushion and needs a headliner. The factory HK stereo amp is dead (seems like a common issue) so no tunes yet. My run-flats are as bald as Fire Marshall Bill; she needs brakes all the way around and probably and is running on the original shocks/struts. I pulled a CE code last week probably because the car hasn't been driven like it should in years - I've heard the ECU can react to this.

This is a really fun car and I'm looking forward to teaching the chap how to drive a stick.

Any base R50 folks out there please feel free to offer advice and send tips my way. Be seeing y'all~!

Axel

 

Congrats and good luck with it! The car is definitely fun. For sure it fits that old saying - "It's more fun to drive a slow car fast than a fast car slow." Terrific sense of speed - always feels like it's going faster than it really is.

I owned a 2003 R50 from 2013 until last week when I sold it to buy an 2015 F56. My daughter owned the '03 from 2008 to 2013 when I bought it from her. The only problem she had was a leaking radiator at about 60K miles. It had 84,000 miles when I got it, and that's when everything started going wrong. Mine burned a valve as well, and I ended up getting a remanufactured cylinder head with new valves. Also biting the dust were the clutch, exhaust, water pump, wheel bearings, rear hatch hinges, front control arm bushings, steering rack, belt tensioner, even rusted e-brake cables. Most of that stuff happened between 90,000 and 105,000 miles. The last 10K miles I drove it were trouble-free and wow, the car was really fun during that time.

There were still a couple minor issues that didn't detract from the fun: the power windows sometimes shudder when raising, though they do work; and the third brake light at the top of the hatch started leaking again - I had already replaced it once. The gasket and light assembly is one piece and costs about $65; and mine had the dreaded rust starting at the bottom of the driver door.

The 2003 R50 and 2015 F56 look alike on the outside, but they are totally different driving experiences. The R50 is pure and raw. Lighter, smaller, noisier, always high rpms. The F56 is more refined, more comfortable, quieter, less busy rpms. The electric steering is still quick in F56, but the feel is more numb than the feedback you feel with the R50. The F56 has significantly more power than the R50, yet the R50 feels like it's going a lot faster.

Hope your car has already gone through most of its problems and ends up being trouble-free for you.

 

Congrats, mine has just about 185,000 miles, just received an advertisment from Carfax it said it has a trade in value of $285.00, ( My car mats are worth that ) have taken well care of it, and spent alot on service over the years but it is my favorite car will not trade unless it or I pass away. Let me know if I can help

 

Congrats on getting 185K miles out of yours! That's an achievement. Mine had 115K miles when I let it go. The MINI dealership offered $800 on trade. Kelley Blue Book said the trade value was between $800 and $1200. The dealership claimed they would have just auctioned the car had I traded it to them. KBB said the private party value was between $1600 and $3000. I put mine on Craigslist for $2000 and got over a dozen replies within 2 hours of posting. Sold it in less than a day. It seemed the interest was partly due to the availability of a $2000 car in good running condition, but mostly because the Mini is just a sought-after car.

How long have your owned yours, and what has been replaced? Is the bottom of your driver door rusting? Any other problems that will eventually need fixing?

 

Hi and welcome to NAM!
Congrats on your Mini purchase!
Any pictures?