I'm in want of a car that can serve as a weekend sort of car, I don't drive for a commute so it doesn't need to be a "Daily" driver.

I want to be able to do small upgrades here and there to make it quicker and turn better. I love the Gen1's for the ease of the supercharger upgrades, which provides superb bang for the buck. My question is though...

Which Cooper S gen would you go with to have as a decently reliable car that you can tune and have fun with? I'm not looking to make stupid amounts of power, I'd be happy in the 230-250 range.

How reliable is a Gen2 cooper s with a turbo tune?

 

You should be looking for an 05-06 R53 MCS. Lots of parts available & has proven to be reliable. Many folks love their turbo MINIs, but for my money the engines in those are time bombs. Just my .02.