Hello,
New member here from New England looking to learn more about Mini's and which platform(s) are the best for a build.
I have experience with VW's (80's/90's), Subaru's (2000's) and have reached a stage in life where fun, dedicated project cars can be a focus again.

Step 1: Determining which option is best - buying a cheap, older platform and putting $15-20k into building it, or start with a $20k+ newer model and put $10-15k into it?

I'll be exploring the threads for ideas.

Thanks for having me!

 

Hello,

R53 has a bunch of options. 2005-2006 maybe best years.
F56 Cooper S is growing in the mods list. - you can get more power out of these engines per dollar.
Good luck.

 

Thanks for the reply, I appreciate it.

From my research, consensus seems to be that 2014 and newer has most of the terminal bugs worked out. If I stick with this year range, it sounds relatively safe.
My major concern at the moment is the fact that I'm not sure what may be a complete non-starter issue for these cars aside from rust. Being in the Northeast, rust is a major problem.
If I find a rust free example of any year, I want to ensure I'm not overlooking something major. For example, a full engine and/or tranny swap isn't the end of the world but if it's going to be a $5k+ chunk up front because I didn't realize there's a terminal issue lurking in there, I'd prefer to avoid that.
I've seen some 2009 Clubman JCW's that seemed priced suspiciously low. I'm intrigued, but again worried if there's an unknown-to-me issue I need to be aware of. If I understand correctly, the 2007-2013 time period may not be the best platform to work with.

The search is half the fun! Looking forward to finding something in the near future.

 

Welcome.

Early 2014 had some bugs on the Gen 3 as thats the start year, not many. 2015+ looks to be the better,. 2020 got some refreshes and then in 2022 again.

Older can be good if you get it with super lower miles like under 50K, i would try to get one with even less. The problem is most people did not take care of them as the Gen 2 MINI was more of a mainstream car. Gen 1 MINIs everyone made them their first child. lol It was new and not an A-B car.

Good luck

 

Since you're "local" this might be of interest. I'm going to put my 2011 Hardtop S with 6 speed manual up for sale soon (when the weather gives me a chance to clean it well). This is the updated 2nd generation R56 model. It has the N18 engine. It is unmodified and has about 73500 miles on it.

The cheap 2009 Clubman's you're seeing have the much maligned N12 and N14 engines in them.

It will be worthwhile to learn the model designations and years vehicles were available, eg the 1st generation Hardtops R50/R53 stopped in 2006 but the convertible (R52) carried on until 2008. The third generation Hardtop debuted in 2014 but second generation convertibles, roadsters and clubman's (I think) carried on until 2015. Mini got carried away with second generation cars; hardtop, convertible, roadster, coupe, clubman, Countryman and Paceman. Then "justa", "S" and "JCW" versions of each too.

I'm selling because I've gone with an electric F56 hardtop and while it would be nice to keep a manual transmission car, I can't really justify it.

cheers
MacMini34

 

Welcome aboard