Made the mistake Friday while bored at my desk. Added up all the money I have spent on aftermarket parts, wheels, tires and tuning. Stupid number. O well it's a fun hobby. Just crazy.

 

Never math the car

 

[QUOTE=cjv2;4676327]Never math the car [/QUOTE

i will keep that in mind in the future.

 

With my former R55s, after the last time she left me stranded, I too sat down with receipts and calculator, 3 years and 10k later, I decided that it wasn’t worth dumping anymore money or time into. The fun didn’t equal the headache and/or “what’s going to break next” attitude.

 

I feel your frustration. My Mini is a hobby car and is only really driven to auto cross events. The money I have put in is ridiculous but once you get that competitive bug decision making becomes a bit irrational. The car is a hoot and much quicker than stock. I have done every bit of the work myself. Just wish the 17 year old that lives in my house had some interest.

 

So i daily her mostly, but there are trips to the dragon where 1000 + miles in a weekend isn't unheard of 😁😉. I was almost at buy a Civic and forget it moment. Wife told me to find the mini i wanted, but within reason. 6 months, can't tell you how many wasted hours talking to people, one wasted trip to North Carolina on New Years Day, i finally found the current R53 i have. Yes i have replaced a few things like gaskets, 2 headers (dont buy ebay junk, pay once cry once) and a few sensors, but im 18 months in, 20k miles, and under 2k spent (that's not including the purchase price) and im not leaking oil and i can just get in and drive her. MOTD was a couple weeks ago, fresh oil before i left, 1600 miles drove that week plus another 200 since i have been back, and havent burn or lost any oil. For what it's worth, Mini/BMW really did a number on the GEN 2's. I feel that my 05 R53 has a better fit and finish than my 09 R55S did, there arent as many creaks and rattles. Dash board rattle in the R55s woulod drive my wife nuts, R53 just doesnt have that problem. When i first got the R55s, some of the first bills where from an Indy mechanic, but as i got more comfortable with the forum and youtube, i took on more of that stuff after the clutch replacement. R53 has been all me since day 1 and im trying to keep it that way, body will eventually tell me no, but till then, turning wrenches, busting knuckles, and inventing new 4 letters words the way to go.

Now for the other part, i too, have a lazy a$$, non driving 17 year old, will be 18 in June, daughter. Her mom, ex wife, and her said they have this whole driver licenses thing handled. So she gets her temps, in KY, not ohio where i live. Then proceeds to use dad, my wife, and her friends as a tax cab for the next 2 years with only driving maybe 10 hours. I can force her to do what she doesnt want to do, and ex wife finally signed her up for classes, 2 days before she turns 18. So my current wife and i hit the big ole f it button and decided that we are moving to Florida end of this year. She wants to live with mom, welp i dont want to be in Ohio anymore. Daughter loves going on drives with me, but no interest in driving or working on car. I'll always will have a bed ready for her, food for her belly, advice that she wont take, and soon a spot close enough to the beach.

 

So um, I actually do math the car by way of an app where all gas and service goes in, transaction by transaction.

All I'll say is that in just under 3 years of owning the F56S I have put a little more than 2x as much into parts and service than I have in gas. And that doesn't include insurance. And I do probably 85%-90% of my own service hands-on.

I expect the multiple to drop to below 2x if I can stop tweaking things, but the reality is I'm probably going to keep tweaking things until I'm satisfied that I'm not going to have to do "unnecessary" large-dollar-hit fixes for design holes/etc., and such that I'm not annoyed by some element of the car (I don't tend to get annoyed by a lot, but when I am annoyed, it sticks until I deal with it). For example, the underpowered sound system is something I'm going to throw some $$ at just so that I can stop thinking about how annoyed I am by it.

And I'm not even doing the fun stuff you guys are. Fanciest customization I've done is to replace my lug bolts with studs/nuts and put on a red grill surround cover.

 

you talkin' about money ? my '15 F-56 retailed at $29.6 with JCW Tune Kit, ,optioned THEN perf. parted, lowered, sent to Renn Haus in Sarasota for JCW brakes & Hot-Tuned = $50+K It goes from 40-120 like a top-fuel dragster & buries the speedo, don't talk to me about money. I bought it for$16.6 in '20 with 40.5 mi. on odometer & spent some jack gettin' it right. I've got $20K in car. I'm happy 'cause I stole it. the Used Dealership had NO IDEA it was HOT.

 

Purchase price not in my math. Payed cash for both of them, the clubman was kind of out of necessity due to mustang getting totaled out and the R53 was kind of free if you subtract what I sold parts and the clubman for, you know guy math (clubman + aftermarket parts) = 1 wasted trip to North Carolina and a R53. 😂

 

yup sounds good!

 

Wait, what is this stuff you call "money," exactly???