My 2005 R53 S is pushing 90K miles and the car has been kept and maintained obsessively. Just had a new Valeo single mass flywheel conversion clutch kit put in last week.To me MINI did the 1st generation cars well.... Too damn well. Like the sequel of a successful movie, often it is difficult to replicate the success and "magic" of the original release.I know that I will have to give up my R53 at some point but the car just looks, drives and feels right. The way a MINI should.I also own a 2008 R55 Clubman S and like the car very much. But I still prefer my R53 S by a long mile. I am also very, very dissapointed in the long term design defects and reliability issues of the PSA Prince engine. I can hope and pray that the next generation MINI will have a better designed powerplant but I am not holding my breath. I personally have lost a little faith in the QC and design direction of MINI. The MINI of 2012 is not the fabulous and well focused start operation of 10 years ago.I have owned nothing but MINIs in the past 10 years (2002 MC CVT, 2004 MCS, 2005 MCS, 2008 R55 S) and while I would love to get another one, I am very down on this brand at the moment. My next will likely be a new F30 BMW 3-series or an off lease 2009-2011 E90 335d diesel, which to me, is the best BMW the company has produced in the last decade.

 

Yea, to me it looks worse in person. However, cut off that roof and you have a fantastic looking roadster!

 

Without that silly looking roof is a totally different story. I just think MINI set out to make the car into something that is not, but hey, what do I know?