My son and I did a road trip this past weekend to look at colleges. Since it was just the two of us, down went the rear seats, and in went the spare wheel with a runflat, and off we went Wednesday evening. Left the 07 Acura TL Type S MT home in favor of the Coop . By the time we returned on Saturday, we had clocked 1460 miles, and had travelled as far North as Chico, CA, averaging 370 miles a day of driving.

Here is what is impressive - neither of us had any fatigue putting in these long days, on less than perfect California freeways and highways. The seats are amazingly comfortable and so supportive for long days of driving. The car averaged 28.6 miles per gallon (computer stated 29.8) at speeds of 65 - 85 MPH, with occassional pops to higher speeds. Developed a few additional rattles along the way - the most recent being the panel by the sunroof switch. It may be time to remove all the interior panels and fix the rattles!

In Sonoma, we were sitting outside a coffe shop, and the car was being looked over by a couple, who said they wanted one in the worst way but were concerned about how the car would "look" after a few years of driving. They would not believe our S was 6 years old, and checked out the interior, motor etc. They left committed to owning a used 2004 they had looked at in SFO earlier that week.

Popped a wheel weight somewhere outside Vallejo, so we "shimmied" into Chico around 8 PM. The guys at Americas Tire on Notre Dame Ave in Chico were fantastic - all 4 wheels balanced and out in 25 minutes on Saturday AM, prior to our trip home. Thanks Matt!

One of the most beautiful sights was driving into the sunrise on Hwy 152 between Gilroy and The 5 freeway. At one point we pulled over, sat for 10 minutes so we could really enjoy it.

So, our 6 year old S, continues to impress. This year she goes to college with my son.

Regards

Viraf

 

Excellent road trip! I agree: 5 year old MCS, and I still love it.

dan

 

how many miles on the old girl?

 

Sounds like you had a lot of fun. Different story for me; but i worked at a MINI dealership 5 years ago and loved driving the cars around the lot then. Just bought my MCS in January and LOVE driving it around even more!

 

The old girl just turned 56.5K

 

Great story!

Still grinning when I drive mine, just over 5 years now!

Nik

 

Nik - That is some serious miles! Anything I need to be aware of mechanically as the miles get higher? I have a warranty to 75K, but am a bit concerned after that point.

Thanks

Viraf

 

I like hearing stories like this.

It's been only 5.5 years for me, just turned over to 40,000 today.

 

Nah! Its been great. I've been doing some prevenative maintence lately, but have really only have two things go bad on me. Both inner front axel boots have now split. (maybe because of the high milage, or perhaps because it lowered ).

I'm still on my original clutch and supercharger... (I do have a new SC waiting to go on when it does fail).

Nik

 

We have a '03 MCS with about 38K miles on it- it's my wife's car but she lets me drive it whenever I want ( ) and we still love it. Been very reliable (which did worry me at first- a British car with the dealer 3 hours away). Still looks new and turns heads after all this time. We usually get bored and want something new after a couple years but this one may be a keeper...

 

TIP: CRC those boots when you change the oil or whenever you are under the car. My father did it on his honda, then gave it to me, and I continued to CRC the boots. They were in perfect condition when I sold it. It had 240,000 miles on it.

 

What is CRC?

 

why silly - that's a cyclic redundancy check!

 

CRC = WD40

 

Our 03 is just past 83k miles now and still purring... definitely still turning heads.

We absolutely love the car still.

Kev

 

should we start a high mileage thread? folks seem to be curious regarding impending failure, and what might go wrong. How many R53s are at 100k miles out there?

94k on my '04

maintenance thus far:

Mileage / Repair
22k Windshield
28k Engine dampener replaced due to fluid leak (the big fancy one on the pulley end)
33k Power steering cooling fan, rear break rotors and pads
51k Radiator replaced due to pinhole leak at left edge
59k Front brake rotors and pads
79k Rear brake rotors and pads
85k Lower control arm bushings, lower motor torque mount, RH motor mount
92k Left front wheel bearing, supercharger belt

The car's performance and mileage have not dropped off, and a compression check indicates no deterioration of valves or rings either. I am grateful and impressed by the reliability.

 

Cyclic Redundancy Check for we computer geeks. :-)

Nice story! I wish I could keep the mileage down on my MCS (2005) but that'll never be with a 100 mile per day commute. 64,500 miles and still grinning from ear to ear when I drive. :-)

 

If I remember correctly, there is already a High mileage thread/club... I just hit 104,000 miles in my '03. Still runs great!

Love it to death, and now that we've got a baby on the way, I'm trying my hardest to convince the wife that a newborn will be ok. I need to re-read some of these baby threads and memorize them so I have proof that it'll all be good.

 

OK, can't really say mileages with any accuracy without going through receipts so off the top of my head

2003 83k miles -

Needs it's 3rd windshield currently - but IF inspection lets it go we may hold off (the semi-circular crack is just above the passenger side wiper blade)

Under warranty - they replaced the nav computer, cat-con and something else I'm forgetting now (it was some years ago).

Not under warranty - we're on our second set of rotors, 3rd set of brake pads (all around - fronts were usually about ready to replace when the rears popped the sensors).

We've used up our second set of runflats AND are on the normal street tread portion of our Blizzaks - we'll probably run the Blizzaks all the way down and get 2 new sets (runflats again for summer and Blizzaks again for winter).

We made the mistake of having it state inspected at the dealer last year and they replaced an exhaust bracket, cooling fan (which hadn't failed, but they claimed was intermittently failing) and something else that I forget.

And our Nav system is acting wonky - but we're hoping it just needs a DVD cleaning or new DVD.

Performance, mileage, and smiles/mile still VERY high.

Kev

 

I passed my early '03 Cooper off to my college-age daughter last year. She is the only other MINI-ac in the family, so she's motoring proud. It looks like crap...she doesn't pamper it like I did...but even in this condition it is impressive and spunky as ever. Clutch was replaced (often wondered if blipping the throttle when launching on Coopers may have led to excessive wear) and had some major power steering work done (hole in boot let all the power steering fluid drain out rather than containing it), but other than that it runs great. I will say, even with these issues, working with my local MINI dealer (Moritz) has been a delight...far beyond any kind of service I've ever received.

I'm enjoying the next gen Cooper now (more low-end torque, 6th gear, and the rest) but, since I'm out of kids who need cars, I hope to keep this one a good long time. It may wind up looking as gnarly as my daughter's, but it'll still be all MINI and that's enough to keep this love affair going!!!

 

I have a 2002 MCS with about 57,000 miles. I do a lot of looking and cleaning and hoping. Change the oil every 6,000 miles. It's chipped with a 15% pulley. There's a strange vibrating noise when the car is cold. Comes from beneath the car on the passenger's side, but I can't seem to locate it. I'm working on my second skid plate and 3rd set of tires -- I live on a dirt road. Keeping my fingers crossed and wish there were someone around here I could talk to, but I'm doing OK. Love the car.

 

I see I posted on this thread some time ago... my '05 is now at 87,700+ miles. I just gave her a bath today before going to the supermarket and she's still a head turner for others and a smile maker for me. Still on my honeymoon with my wife (wed in 2003) and my MINI (matched in 2005).

 

We're at 99k miles now and counting...

 

Ill be in a lot of these threads soon lol. Already at 12K on my 09 since Oct lol

Speaking of which, I need to do another oil change..

 

I totally agree with your comments.

Save some niggling and well documented issues with some components giving up the ghost relatively early, these cars are generally rock solid and if well maintained should last like any other German car.

I have a 4 year old MCS with 55K+ miles bought brand new. I love the car and the more miles you put in it the better it gets...Like fine wine!

Since I added Powerflex Polyurethane bushings, the car handles like a dream