Hi everyone,

Been lurking for awhile, checking out info about my car and repair tips. Thought I'd say hi and hang out considering I may be needing all of your collective genius, considering I'm getting more and more deep into this wonderful car.

I got my 2006 R53 in early 2017 at about 72k miles on the odo from my local Carmax. I finally got my break and got a good career job. It's the first car I've every bought and cared for with my own finances (I was 28 at the time). It's an auto with the 6-speed agitronic paddles. Came with the nav package, leather seats, 17in alloys, Xenon headlamps, heated seats, Harmon Kardon sound (I think this is the Chili Pack right?). It must have cost alot when the original owner bought it! I definitely like the tach and speedo together vs the center dial thing.

I could go on about how much I love this car and why, but you all know the deal I love that my daily drive to and from work is always fun.

The car was very well maintained and taken care of by the original owner, I felt like I got a gem. Luckily, the thermostat housing and oil pressure switch blew within the first 30 days of buying. Carmax honored their warranty, replaced the parts and also got a valve cover gasket replacement out of it as well. After that I learned to do the standard things like oil changing spark plugs. I had never worked on a car before, but I knew my way around tools well enough. I blew 2 stock coolant tanks within a year, so I switched to the aluminum tank. Never had a problem ever again. Surely, the first major issue came up, the belt tensioner was busted around 100k. I felt really intimidated about repairing it. It seemed very daunting at the time, the thought of taking off engine mounts and supporting it with a jack seemed far beyond me. God bless Mod MINI for his videos to see me through it, or else I may have regretted buying this car. Shortly after that the crankshaft pulley went, then the alternator but I was more confident in my hands this time and came out on top to keep her running to now @ 128k miles. I even just replaced the coil pack, AT fluid change, coolant change and replaced the lower engine mount rubbers! I got nice list of stuff to get her 100% Now, I love working on this car, and I hope I can keep her alive for as long as possible!

I've really fallen for this car, and definitely hope to keep it around for as long as I can. I feel like it's definitely been worth the frustration and learning pains. This car is just the best car to have, when you on a nice winding road, or doing the daily drive. I literally make up excuses to drive to the shops sometimes, because I wanna drive it. My girlfriend loves how it looks and also has a blasting riding shotgun with me down the twisties when we go to the observatory in the mountains.

Thanks for reading my story everyone! Sorry for the sad state of the stripes, gettin that fixed pretty soon.