Extreme noob question here, but I'm in the market for a Mini Cooper S. I've found a pretty nice one in the area. The only thing I'm wondering is if the 2002 S already has the Sport package installed, or if that was still an option.

I want to say it was still an option, because you can add it on the configurator, but I could be wrong. The seller told me it has the sport package because it's an S model.

The car does have the 17" Crown-Spoke wheels, and had runflat tires that were replaced. I'm 90% sure I saw a DSC button, but it does not have stripes on the hood.

The car also has a sunroof, does that mean the Premium package was added, or is it possible only the sunroof was installed?

Also, are there other options that come standard on the S that I should know about? Is there any way to find out which options have already been installed using the VIN # or anything?

Any and all help would be much appreciated! I absolutely can't wait to officially be a part of teh community!

 

New York/ Boston???? So does that make you a Sox or Yankee fan, because you certainly can't be both

Both the S and non S have a sport package option available, but they are not exactly the same as far as options go. Also, any option is available separately, so if you want one or two of the options you don't need the entire package. I believe you can call MINIUSA and with the VIN No., they can tell you what options were included in the car as purchased. Good luck and Welcome to NAM

 

Thank you so much for the informative reply!

LOL, everyone asks me about the Yankees/Sox. I'm not really a fan of baseball to be honest, so I usually mess with people. I just moved to MA though, so I'd have to say Yankees.

 

S is for Supercharged - not sport. And the bonnet stripes aren't much of an indicator, either, ...just "flair." I didn't think of that before -- definitely check with MINIUSA w/ the VIN to make sure.

 

Your S has a Turbo. The S nomenclature goes back to the original Mini Cooper.

If you have the VIN, a dealer or MINI customer service (866-ASK-MINI) might be able to tell you.

 

2002 S models have a supercharger, not a turbocharger.

 

Thanks guys! I was aware of S standing for Supercharger, but wasn't sure if the S models included the sport package as this dealer had told me yesterday. Hopefully I can find more information about the options the car has!

 

I was under the impression the S actually stood for sport model, which would explain why the nomenclature didn't change on the switchover to turbos in 2007.

 

Exactly, but to complicate things for this discussion, the sport model doesn't necessarily have the sport package.

 

I guess that's what I was trying to say. S = supercharged, but is not an indicator of sport anything. Correct me if I'm wrong, but "sports package" and "sports suspension" are also mutually exclusive - you don't necessarily have both. My '04 had a sports suspension that kinda drove me crazy as a daily driver - scraping those funky "speed bumps" things that supposedly you're supposed to do something like...SLOW DOWN??? What crazy person came up w/ THAT idea...???

Yep - i have the turbo (OH HOW I LOVE MY TURBO), but technically it's still supercharged. The only difference is about 10hp more than an MCS, non-turbo... My old MCS ('04) was about 164hp, and my '07 MCS turbo is about 175hp, or therabouts. Husband wouldn't let me get the racing MINI (the 240HP kind, with roll bars, !!! ) so i had to go for next best + "relative" practicality.

 

Precisely!

 

I think you're right X uh oh X.

S could have been simply to designate something more than the "regular" Cooper.

Could mean "Special", "Super" (without necessarily meaning "supercharger")

I had a Peugeot 505S way back when, a BMW 630 CS ("coupe' spezial" I think), etc. etc. etc.

May have been even more confusing to have a Cooper T when they switched to the turbo.

Who knows?

 

x uh oh x, not sure what you mean by:

"Yep - i have the turbo (OH HOW I LOVE MY TURBO), but technically it's still supercharged."

Correct me if I'm wrong, but my understanding of the two terms is this:

A supercharger takes fresh air and forces it into the engine by means of a fan that is driven by the car's engine (via a belt).

A turbocharger takes fresh air and forces it into the engine by means of a turbine... two fans on one axle... the driven fan is driven by engine exhaust gases leaving the engine, and because it's connected by an axle to the other fan, that fan drives fresh air into the engine for better combustion/more power/etc.

I'm no expert, that's just the explanation I've always heard and I don't know enough to know any different.

 

<-- Definitely not a gear-head, so I'm only trying to articulate the way I understood it. The MCS Turbo - to my understanding - was made by Pugeot to be lighter, and to include both the supercharger and the turbo capabilities...HOW that happens...uh...well....

WHen I had my '04 MCS AND my '07 MCS turbo at the same time, I could feel a distinct difference in the rhythm of the engine - both performed well (better than MC normla operations), but the '07 had an extra rhythm that turned out to be the turbo "waiting on it's opportunity for a punch" as the BMW mechanic told me...

(Not sure if this got the thread off track, but sorry if it did!)

 

The 2002 MCS had a sport package and premium package offered.If the MINI has front fog lights then it has the sport package.If the MINI has a sunroof and digital(auto) AC display then it has the premium package.The wheels you mention were probably the S-Lites which look similar to the crown spokes.

 

A turbocharger and supercharger achieve the same effect- forcing more air into the engine. They both fall under the category of forced induction (naturally). The difference is that a turbocharger uses exhaust gases to spin a turbine, while a supercharger runs off a belt connected to the engine. They both have their own advantages and disadvantages.

There are engines that use both, for instance Volkswagen's Twincharger. In this case, the engine has both a supercharger and turbo, two separate units.

 

So do I have both since I have an MCS Turbo?

 

No no. The S just means Sport model. Until 2007, the Cooper S had a supercharger (and MINI was heavily anti-turbocharger). On the 2007+ the Cooper S now has a turbocharger instead. Some folks have put both on an S, but they don't come from the factory that way.... yet.