This is pretty much hypathetical as the wife has already nixed the idea. I have a 2006 MCS that I have had quite a few problems with, most I believe are gone but a squeak from the front strut as well as a funny smell on hard acceleration tell me my problems may not be over. It has just 20k miles. Dark silver. Pretty loaded

My buddy has a late 2007 or possibly early 2008 MCS and has to trade it in, baby just arrived (number 2) he definitely had the engine rattle problem as I first heard it and told him to come here. It has since been solved (but!!! it is just now getting cold again so who knows) it has probably 1/2 the miles of mine and is dark blue. Again, pretty loaded, very similar equipment to mine.

I can "trade" mine in at his dealer and give him the difference between what they offered him and what they give on mine, They have lowballed him to death, My thinking is that it would be approx 2000-2500 pounds extra for me to swap out, For examples sake say 4k to 5k USD.

Does this make any sence? Longer warrantee as mine runs til april. Lower emissions and in UK that means lower tax and more MPG, Gas is 13 dollars a gallon here.

Any comments?

Many thanks. Peter

 

You have plenty of warranty left on your car, so I'd keep hounding the dealer about any remaining issues. My personal preference would be to keep the '06, as I don't really care for the second-generation Minis.

 

That is what i feel the majority of answers will be. I have until april 2009 for the warrantee, its just that this car continues to give large problems.

thanks for the comment. Peter

 

if you're having that many problems i think it might be worth it... or
give another dealer/shop a try to find the problem(s).

im not a fan of the R56's styling so i would probably look elsewhere if
i was in your shoes.

 

From a purely practical standpoint, it seems benificial to exchange your current MINI for the newer one. Based on your input, it will exceed the old on all fronts.

 

Peter, I assume you live in the UK. I think your problems with the car are mostly due to a bad "Garage" that seems to have difficulty fixing the car properly every time you take it in.

The second gen MINIs have had their share of issues and believe it or not, the 2005 and 2006 R53s have better reliability than the 2007s. In all fairness, I also own a 2008 Clubman S and the car has been absolutely flawless.

If possible, I would bring the car to a different garage. My understanding is that the MINI factory warranty in the UK is only 2 years (Vs 4 years/50K miles for US bound cars), so you better jump on a different place and see if they can take better care of you and your car.

My 2005 R53 S manual has been also flawless. I have 48,300 trouble free miles. The car is solid. My "garage" has been fantastic and I attribute this good relationship to the overall quality and reliability of my R53.

In these hard economic times, it is a good idea to think "Long and hard" about trading or changing vehicles, specially a car that still has some warranty left on it.

Best of luck.

 

That is debatable. The newer cars are more "refined" in many fronts but not necessarily better in others. I think the design, looks, driving feel and persona of the 1st gen MINI has been watered down a bit in the new cars to make them more palatable to the general car buying public.

Don't get me wrong, I love the new MINIs, but the R53 is a special animal.

 

I know that...

I personally do not care much for the R56. But from what pmustang said before about his R53, the R56 should be free from rattles, suspension sqeeks, have better mpg, lower emissions, no boiling coolent smells, plenty of warranty, etc.

 

In the UK, the second gen MINIs pay less road tax than the 1st gen cars. Better fuel economy and less emissions are real treats in the new cars.

But before considering that option, I would try a different garage. A bad owner-dealer relationship has ruined more than one car ownership If your dealer can't support the product they sell, no matter how much you love the car you will end up dumping it.

 

others have said - it's in warranty, make them sort it out - oh and I love that color! I have a red+white but I look at those Dark Silvers with envy...

Mine's an 06 also and think it's just perfect..

 

nabeshin- i posted before, but please give your girl some tylenol or advil.

 

Damn 13 dollars a gallon?! and I complain about $4

 

Definitely, just keep the MCS 2006. Mine is 2006 S, Dark Silver too. I know there's some issues with 1st gen, but personally, I can't with the 2nd gen. It's a great car, but!!! Lets see what BMW do for the 3rd gen! So, you could keep 1st and wait for the next gen!

 

I would trade it, just for MPG alone

 

It depends if you like the R56 or not, a lot of people around here don't. I prefer the R56, so we did trade our R53 for an R56. The extra warranty, included service and MPG were part of the rationalisation, but it was mainly because I prefer the R56.

My milage has increased 34% with the swap, going from 20.6 to 27.6 (24.7 to 33.1 in imperial gallons).

 

I LOVE the color and prefer S/C over Turbo but some smart folks up top here know the situation, less emissions means much lower road tax and better petrol mileage is a huge plus. I do know and have mentioned he had the engine noise problem, that would put me over the edge if it happened again, Has that been figured out yet with the later cars? The diesel like engine rattle?

His is dark blue which I like but not like I love the dark silver.

Nightmare decision.

Thanks all. Peter

 

I'm a bit biased as I'm an R53 owner. But if you go for the R56, you'll pay lower taxes, get better fuel mileage, and be in a newer vehicle (under warranty). This may work out to be cheaper on the long run.

But - aside from not warming up to the aesthetics of the R56, the engine rattle has seriously scared me off from making the switch. I think I'll be keeping my R53 for quite some time.

 

She's still cute though, can't argue with that.

 

I will say this... I am pretty happy with my Clubman S auto, but I will wait for the third gen MINI. I think MINI needs to "reconnect" with what made the R53 such a successful model come 2012, when the 3rd gen is set to debut.

Supercharged cars in this category and price point are virtually non-existent in the American market. The only other S/C car in the MINI's price range, the Chevy Cobalt SS coupe switched from S/C to Turbo for the 2008 model year.

I think S/C cars have a place in the performance spectrum. Witness some of the high end machinery like the new Jaguar sedan is S/C not turbo.

 

Peter, my suggestion is for you to test drive and spend quality time aboard a new R56. See if you like the car but I suspect you will end up keeping the R53.

The R56 is a very good car. But I think BMW took away some of the character of the car in the name of refinement and market appeal. Nothing wrong with that but both generations are totally different animals in my book.

To me the whole premise of the R56 was to address the "faults" of the R53 in the eyes of the general buying public. To me those "faults" is what makes the R53 such an appealing machine to drive and own.

For most Americans, the tuning and driving demeanor of the R53 was the anti-thesis of what they like on a daily driver. And this is why I like it in the first place.

 

This is a tough question as its hard to feel good about a car, no matter how much you like it, if it has issues. Personally, I'd give it more time, especially since you have warranty left. Maybe you can get it all sorted out. If not ...and you run out of patience, think about selling /trading then.

Like others here, I am a big R53 fan, but don't much care for the R56. If my car was to give me enough trouble to make me need to get rid of it, I'd search for a low mileage '06 ...and if I could not find one I'd start looking at other cars ...I'm sad to say.

 

Well, the price of the upgrade kind of made up my mind, He had 2 dealers refuse to take the car in on trade!!!! this is an 8k mile perfect dark blue S with sunroof and a liberal options list. They said they didn't want to take in any cars!!!
He wants 15k pounds for the car (remember I am the UK) I thought market was about 16.5-17k pounds but found many cars at the same price as his, the first one I found had double the mileage but was exactly the same even the color and 15k asking. Thus the deal didn't look as promising,

I also prefer the earlier cars looks and interior.

Thanks everyone for your suggestions. Peter

 

$13/gal

At that rate, I might consider a Prius!!

 

Peter is in the UK.... In Europe there are far better choices in diesel cars than Hybrids with much better mileage and superior emissions to boot

An R56 MINI Cooper D can deliver between 65-70 MPG. That kills the Prius' best highway MPG estimates by far.

 

My dad has a Prius, not a bad car, strangely though its quite hard to get into the car as the roofline is quite low. I am 40 and my dad 67, both under 5 foot 11 (me) and 5 foot 7 (him) the seats are quite high and the roofline low, its just a strange thing on what I found to be an otherwise really nice car, Oh and the ride is bumpy as all heck in the back, must be the low rolling resistance tyres.

As for the D mini, I have a D mondeo, 4 door ford family car that gets 35mpg-45mpg and I love it, but I don't like D cars enough to have one in a mini, plus the autoshut off that they have (like the prius) would drive me over the edge.

I just wish I could trust the car again, it has given me so many problems that I don't feel 100% comfortable with it.

peter