Hey guys,

My dealership just got in an '04 R53. The price is right, and it's my favorite first gen color, Dark Silver. My only concern is that it's got 110,000KM or about 65,000 miles (I think.) It has one local owner and appears to be in good shape.

I'm probably going to keep/tune the R50, to be honest, but I may go to an R53 in the future, and I was wondering if a higher mileage example is a poor candidate for a pulley, exhaust, intake, and tune.

Any general consensus on this?

 

This is actually low mileage for a 2004.

There is no rule for mileage on modding IMO. It all depends on condition of the MINI.
How well it was maintained and serviced.

 

Thanks! My '06 only has about 36k miles so my perspective is skewed I suppose

 

That's the perfect milage to start modding! I started modding mine at about 30,000 miles and have continued to do things since. Currently over 295,000 miles, and I know I'm not done yet.

Nik

 

Wow, 295k!! You must take good care of her!

I'm going to test drive the '04. Then I'll decide if I want to buy/mod an R53 or just save up for that M3.

 

I bought my 04 R53 in 2010 with 75k miles bone stock and have done a number if mods. Its not a daily driver and those 10k where lots if autocross and trackday miles with no issues so far!

 

How good is the service history? Any history of parts replaced or weird faults? Let those things guide you.

 

The milage isn't the issue, it's the condition of everything, if you do decide to get it, just drive it for 5,000 or so and make sure everything is in good working order, if so....go crazy.

Don't forget, a lot of people don't even start modding 'till after 50,000 stricktly because of warranty.

My first power mod was @ 68k & my last was @ 200k, and I'm still doing things @ 208k.

 

Get a PPI (Pre-purchase inspection) which would include a compression and leak-down test. Kinda like an EKG for cars.

 

Most folks waited till 50k+ to start modding, so car is just a baby...barely broken in!!
Still , some 100,000 mile cars can be in better shape than some 30,000 mile cars...so a good ppi, and imo a compression check to ensure the cylinders and valves are healthy....depending on the $$$ of money you will invest in mods, but the basic pulleys, exhaust, swaybar, you are likly safe no extra $$ spent.

 

As others have said, Mileage is just a number. It more has to do with how well it was maintained and serviced. I for example have 94k miles on my MINI, and I still might consider getting a 15% pulley providing the supercharger is in good condition (which you can only know by literally removing it and inspecting the inside)

I plan on this year getting a CAI, a different exhaust, and just maybe adding a LSD if I feel up to it.

With 65k miles on that MINI though, it's practically broken in.

 

exactly! they wait until after the warranty coverage ends. I did.

 

Wow! I'm impressed to hire of some high mileage Minis still going strong!

I purchased an 02 MCS with a rod knock at 139,000 miles. The car is in good shape overall and has a good history. However I do see that it has a few of the typical oil leaks. So double check for those and any coolant leaks.

 

This was my thought, how was the track record of those 65k's? As long as the vehicle has been maintained, miles it's just a number. If you think it's worth it, then go for it.

 

Thanks for the input everyone!

I ended up cancelling the test drive as I'm still really on the fence about keeping the R50 and I didn't want to waste the sales department's time on a rare sunny Saturday morning. If one comes along that has some of the other options that are important to me (leather/leatherette, 3 spoke steering wheel.) I won't be too worried about 60K+ as long as it's been well taken care of.

 

One suggestion....
Low miles is NICE, BUT...
I would rather have a higher mile, adult driven modded/lightly modded r53, than a very low mile car with a bunch of track time, and nothing but HARD weekend trips....so look closely....then again,,there are tons of high mile r53's there were driven so hard for so long they are junkyard bound shortly...
A few years ago there were tons of very low mile r53's that were apparently folks 2nd and 3rd cars used mostly on weekends, etc...many were good deals, but most folks with the $$ to have an extra car seems to have moved on to newer stuff...so the numbers of low mile "cream Puff" r53 that pop up seems to be getting kinda thin...so keep an eye open!!

 

10 years and 155,000 miles! Im still modding my Mini S! Most of the time it works out in your benefit to replace things that you were planning to do already with a higher mileage Mini

 

I would mod a car independently of miles ... if miles are too high to your liking then you can start by modding things in a way that you replace all worn out parts.

But i wouldnt worry about modding a car unless it was driven hard all the time and wasnt maintained properly

 

I was driving about 30K miles a year when I first got my '05 S. It had over 70K miles before I pulleyed it. Still running strong at 128K.

 

65,000 miles isn't really that much if the oil and other fluids were changed on a regular basis. And if full synthetics were used, 65,000 is really nothing.

 

My rule, If it still starts and runs MOD the HELL out of it.

 

amen bro! exactly. hit it!