6 or 7 years ago I was shopping (new) for a Mini Cooper S. I was a 22 year old bachelor with $5k downpayment in-hand, a steady $40k/yr job, and excellent credit. I knew I wanted to custom order a Cooper S with nothing but the H/K stereo; specifically, I did NOT want the sunroof. Despite my product knowledge and the cash burning a hole in my pocket, I was brushed off as the saleman with a huge grin on his face, greeted Daddy, who was buying a car for his 16y/o daughter. After two visits to the dealer without success at getting a salesperson to sit down with me and take me seriously, I went and bought a used '01 BMW Z3 3.0. Can you tell I'm a little bitter?

Anyway, I walked away from the Mini dealership, but I won't say I never looked back. I've been thinking about trying to find the car I wanted a half-decade ago on the used market. I don't car that much about the other options, but I still really DON'T want any form of sunroof.

So my question to you is, how hard is it to find a sunroof-less 1st-gen Mini?

Mac

 

I wish I could provide a useful reply

but I guess you can fill in this blank after you try for a while.

My guess is plenty of MINI were w/out the sunroof esp those bought by folks planning to track 'em as the sr was seen as up-high weight addition

 

I bought one last month online here at NAM marketplace. It was a perfect fit for me. No sunroof (hate them) white roof (cool) and just sport and winter package for options. All the aftermarket mods are for performace, no fluff is how I like things.

 

The Captain is correct. In the early years, there was a lot of debate about the weight of the sunroof (you can dig those debates up right here on NAM). There were a lot of people not wanting the weight, so I would suppose that there were many early 1st gen cars without the sunroof.

 

I picked up one on this forum about two weeks ago, have you looked through the marketplace section yet?

 

Can't speak about the availability of a first gen without a sunroof...I have always wanted the ultimate sunroof (convertible).

I just wanted to commiserate with you about the lack of being taken seriously by the salesmen (MAs in MINI speak which I think you should get used to). I had been visiting the MINI showrooms since 2003 or 2004 and never once was asked if I even wanted to take a test drive! My husband finally got sick of me wining about MINIs so we called up the dealership and made an appointment. That is, apparently, the magic trick. There wasnt anything they wouldnt do for us (other than get an Oxygen Blue convertible) after that. Since they didnt have a color I loved, we started looking at used and found my perfect little girl, Smurfette. Oh, and I talk about MINIs WAY more now so that kind of backfired for my husband (he thought after I test drove, I would 'get over it'.)


Now what are you doing here reading this, you should be searching for your perfect MINI!

 

I know that one exists because I used to own it several years ago.

It was a May '02 build.

It was a lean, mean go fast machine (at least until it got the EPA flash).

'02 MCS EB/W, 6 speed, R84s (X-Lites), no sunroof, no cruise, no cold weather, no premium, no MFSW, manual heat and air.

It rode like a skateboard but was very nimble.

I did add a Remus exhaust which I would like to have back and a Whalen (which I did keep, but subsequently sold and then bought another for the '06).

Here's a pic with me Dad behind the wheel:



....Les

 

They are out there, but you will have to be vigilant in your search for one.

I consider mine a stripper as I took it easy on the option sheet. Xenon, fogs, CWP, MFW & an LSD. Couldn't be happier with my low calorie MINI.

 

I picked up a used 03 with sport package but no sunroof a few years ago in the local classifieds.

Like you I do not like sunroofs, and did not like the look of the minis, or the fact that it had no full closing shade or the weight.

Found one with a white roof and no sunroof, couldn't be happier!

 

I didn't know they called them "strippers" i guess i'll have to give her a stripper name.

Picked mine up at carmax last week!

 

the strippers are out there -- I own one.

nothing, repeat nothing but the base MCS...

which helped me get the car down to 2,350 lbs for autocross competition.

 

My MCS may be heavier with a "muffin top", but I bet more dollar bills have been stuck in her over the years than most other stripper MINI's.

 

There are quite a few GPs in the Marketplace here...none have a sunroof.

 

I guess I lucked out and found mine within 2 weeks of looking.
It was even the right color, and the only 2 options where heated seats and the chrono pack. Im still not to crazy about the chrono pack, but the list of stock parts is getting shorter than the list of aftermarket ones.

This is an old pic, almost stock.

 

Mine is pretty stripped: HK, Chrome Trim, Multifunction steering wheel, S-lites (S-heavies really...).

When I got the car I actually thought the chrome trim was standard. I think it was 500 dollar option at the time of build (I got it used).

 

I looked on Cars.com and Autotrader for about a week and came across many of them! Picked up an 03" with 100K miles, runs great!

 

They're not all that hard to find. I routinely see them on Autotrader and Cars.com.

Way back in December '03 I came very close to buying an MCS that was Indi Blue with black and the only option was MFSW (if I remember correctly).

 

My dad and I both bought 2006 models without a sunroof. In fact, I ca't think of a single option that my dad got except the anthracite headliner, definitely a stripper!

 

it wasn't that hard. i'm glad my camden mcs doesn't hav a sunroof

 

Rather than a recount of '02's without sunroof the real point of this thread was that the OP couldn't get any salesperson to wait on him. I sold cars for 10 years and I don't think I ever would have turned a blind eye to a buyer with cash in hand nor would I have kept my job if a sales mgr caught such an action. I was never in a MINI store in those 02 days, maybe things were so hot that you had to take a # to be waited on, a salesman's dream but not often seen. I don't think you would be ignored today, even the snootiest MB, Lexus, BMW or Lamborghini dealership welcomes you like a long lost friend. Times change!

 

Well, we can't do anything about a nearly decade old bad experience. But the OP did specifically ask the question about the availability of cars without sunroofs. That's something we can address.

 

I picked up my 02 MCS off of NAM last year. Had to take a 2hour train ride to get her, but definitely becoming a 'stripper' in the future. But I do miss sunroofs tho.

 

I have to respectfully disagree with the several who have mentioned that I shouldn't have a hard time finding a car without a sunroof. Since posting this 2 days ago on Tuesday, I've probably spent minimum 10 hours looking at autotrader, cars.com, craigslist, and forum classified sections. Yeah, they are out there, they aren't so rare that I'd only come across one a month, but at most I'd say 10% of R53's are sunroof-less. It is MUCH more common to find "fully loaded" cars, they are everywhere.

This was the car that invented the premium small car segment where small didn't have to mean cheap and bare-bones, and option packages were plentiful and often ordered. That's why when I was shopping new many years ago I would have had to custom order to get anything close to what I wanted - every car on the lot was loaded to the gills with options, b/c that's what was selling.

 

When I bought mine there were none on the lot. I was told that MINI's the dealer did order had a lot of stuff on them. Extra proffit for the dealer. I ordered mine with just what was important to me & that saved me a lot of money.

 

An R53 without a sunroof is fairly rare from what I've seen. I've been to quite a few club events over the years where I had the only R53 without a sunroof. R50's without sunroofs are not nearly as rare as the R53's it seems.