I've spent 2 years making my '50 into what I could finally call "my car". I persoanlized it to my taste (and budget). She's a September 2002 build as a MY2003. BRG&W, 5spd, HID's, leather, Cold weather, premium, 67K miles. But, I now found an R53 for sale for a great price at a local Beemer dealer. 2005 S, 6 spd, grey, 45K miles for 17, 900. I'm gonna take a look one way or another on Tuesday when I have off but I also want to keep what I feel is "my justacooper". I've gotten to the point where my friends could pick my car from a crowd. I've put 2 years and more money than I should know about into it. Granted, there's people on here who have spent way more but I did what $10 an hour could do. I think I'd miss her but she'd also be happy that she was replaced with a newer one. Most of the stuff I did would come with. The only things I lose are my Hotchkis bar, DDM, and my Borla. The Enkei's, black markers, Whalen, blackout everything would go with me. Oh, dilemma.

 

Tough call, man.

Given all you've done, and how attached you are, I'd keep the one you have. When you can afford a second car, then look for a clean R53.

 

Our MINIs are almost twins. You have a few more mods, but mine is about to turn over 100k miles. I'm also very attached to my Poco, he has been very reliable, and is running great.

My wife and I are thinking of getting a Clubman in the next year or so, and we have pretty much decided it will be her 05 Cabrio that will get traded/sold.

Mark

 

Yes, this is a tough call....I don't know what I'd do!!!

 

R53 hands down.

 

I went from an '03 R50 to an '05 R53 and I don't regret it. Although I do get nostalgic when I see photos of my old Justacooper, I'm happy I was able to make the move when I did. And it's taken 2 years to finally be able to say this '05 is truly mine. It took a lot of mods, and a full interior repaint/seat changes, and some custom stuff before I felt that it wasn't just someone else's car but my baby.

As far as Cooper mods go, I transferred over the 22mm sway bar and everything that would apply before selling the Cooper. I even gave some parts like my Remus Exhaust to a good friend of mine with also a Cooper, so he could enjoy it. In the end, I made some other Cooper owners happy, and I got a Cooper S, that's fast, looks great, and is allll mine. It'll happen to you as well. Guaranteed. '05 is a great year for the R53.

Richard

 

The only thing being, I still owe money on mine. What happens? Could they pay off my loan and give me a small amount as a trade in on top of the loan payoff? If they even give me a small amount as a trade in, the payments would be low enough I could easily swing them.

 

I won't presume to know what your car is worth, but I do know that MINIs hold resale like NOTHING I've ever seen.

I want another already. So just today, I was kicking numbers around. I put $0 down on my MCS, and while I did get a great deal that was substantially below invoice, I was shocked to find that according to Edmunds, even after 9 months of ownership and 8500 miles, my cars trade-in value is worth more than I owe.

I'd bet you get more that a "small amount" back...

 

Sweet! *Hopes for the best tomorrow.*

 

keep your baby.
yup yup.
i wish i still had my first.

 

I lose. It was sold. But, in a way, I'm glad I didn't even bother. The guy on the phone told me the previous owner installed crappy, non-adjustable seats and unless you were this guy's size, you would have a terrible time reaching the pedals.