It has taken us since January 7 of 2007 to reach 200,000 miles. It's been a great run so far. I'm not sure what the future will bring. I had intended to bring my love affair with my 2006 Cooper to an end at around 150,000 miles but once 200K seemed easily doable I had to keep motoring. We're still on our original clutch and AC which makes me a bit uncertain with another SoCal summer on the way. No matter what, The Titan has been a marvelous car I always enjoy driving.

By the way, there is no way I would be so willing to "keep on keeping on" with The Titan without Danny at Minicorsa in North Hollywood. I've only owned BMW products for the last 15 years but Danny makes it a certainty that I will continue to buy only BMW cars. He is wizard. Jobs are done right and on time. I love a shop that encourages appointments and it's always great to see Danny and talk a little BS. He's a great mechanic and friend to me and my Mini.

For those who might wonder, here's some of what's been done and what hasn't:

DONE:

Front struts & bearings
Control arm bushings
Engine mounts (one in warranty and one out of warranty)
Power steering return line
Oil pan gasket (under warranty, kinda...)
Thermostat housing (warranty)
AC recharge at 170K
A total of 4 batteries (those suckers don't last long, especially the non-BMW, OEM BS battery the dealer installed under warranty that exploded)
Tires...I really like Falken G9 Pro. They wear perfectly even on my car

NOT DONE:

Clutch
AC Compressor
Wheel bearings

 

That's all? Impressive.

 

Awesome, Happy Odomerversary (or whatever the right name for this is!)

Mines about to hit 160k, so this gives me some hope for the future! You are right, driving these older Minis always put a smile on your face!

Heres to many more miles!

 

Congrats man!! Only 800k to go right?

 

Other than boring stuff like brakes, windshield wipers & oil changes.

The Titan finally burns some oil after all these miles....I go for oil changes at 7,500 miles and it's now about a quarter quart low by the time I take it in.

I keep a quart of 5/30 synthetic on hand but it takes me a long time to use it.

Oh, I forgot three other items:

The oil pressure sending switch went somewhere around 150K (the low oil pressure light scared the heck out of me).

Boot struts about 6 months ago. The bonnet struts don't much like the cold weather so they're next.

Headlight bulbs...those suckers are expensive!

 

I will prepare a similar list for my 2004 MCS with 156K and then you will see how lucky you have been.

 

I'm Unlucky with Love but Lucky with Cars...

I do feel lucky, tho. I was careful to wait until the last possible minute to buy my Mini. It's a November 2006 build. I wanted to give those folks at BMW every chance to work out bugs. It seems like every year they got a little better (gen 1, anyway).

Anyway, I'd love to see your list.

What I am really interested in seeing are the lists of the 2nd and 3rd gen cars who are racking up the miles.

I have considered buying a late 2nd gen S but the stories about those engines are really discouraging.

The 3rd gen Minis just don't do it for me.

 

 

Nice! I've got close to 170,000 on my 03' R53...........still on original supercharger, still on original power steering pump, still on original crank pulley, original coil and plug wires, fuel pump, etc, .....but I've gone through the suspension, clutch, ball joints, engine mounts....and all of the standard service stuff like brakes, spark plugs, etc, etc. I change the oil at 5,000 miles with fully synthetic, and it might burn 1/4 quart of oil between oil changes...if that much.

If taken care of, these little cars last a long time.

 

That's a very short list! I don't know if you're lucky, gentle on cars, and/or Mini had things figured out by the time they got to the end of the R53 run, but lucky you! I've probably spent more just having oil pan gaskets and valve cover gaskets replaced on my 2004 than you've spent on that whole list!

 

Lucky? For sure...

Gentle on cars? That would be the first time anyone ever described me that way...

I think Mini did figure a few things out between 04-06. Unfortunately, a lot of folks who owned new Minis of that era sold them once warranty and free scheduled maintenance expired. A good percentage of the "new" owners had never owned (or experienced the cost) of BMW products in terms of maintenance and repair. It's funny, Danny at Minicorsa never acts surprised by how reliable my Mini has been and for how many miles. He always says, "Forget about mileage. Tell me how a car has been cared for. These 1st gen cars can last a long time if they're taken care of."

 

 

I think it's unreasonable to expect any 13-17 year old car to be on the road that long and not have some issues with parts....no matter what the mileage is. For having 160,xxx miles on my 16 year old mini, I can honesty say that it's one of the most reliable vehicles I've ever owned. I know people with truck that are only 2-3 year old that have been in the shop 6+ times.......for major motor, transmission, emission etc, etc issues. If I have to replace a power steering pump, or a clutch, or some LCA bushings, or a fuel pump over a 16 year time span...I'm pretty darn happy (I'm still on my oem PS pump, and fuel pump).

 

It's my daily driver too. Currently, mine is at 210K miles.

 

 

It's not the miles....it's the age. 13 years is a long time. Lots of stops and starts. I think you would be hard pressed to find a 13 year of vehicle out there that didn't need at least some hard parts (alternator, water pump, clutch, etc). I'd say that overall, these little cars are pretty stout....especially when you figure in the amount of people who run the hell out of them on the track, and still don't have many issues.

 

 

What are these "prone to fail on every MINI" ...."design flaw" ....type parts you are talking about?

 

 

Maybe not every single mini suffers, but the mushrooming tower struts could be better, and its probably not ideal that they have had to design a cooling fan into the power steering system, that smacks of a decision made late in the design cycle to head of trouble due to the packaging constraints that a small engine bay creates. Their complexity is probably a reason why turbos are more common than superchargers too, although I appreciate the driving characteristics would be a little different.

 

Yep....been on here a long time. And honestly, the strut tower issue is the only thing I would really call "common"....maybe the engine mount deal on some years.

​​​​​​I've got an 05' Audi A4 2.0 turbo quatro with 170,000 miles on it......now that thing has some design issues.....but my almost 170,xxx mile mini has been a dream compared to that car.

How about my 05' F250 with a 6.0 powerstroke diesel in it.....talk about design flaws. Head issues, head gasket issues, turbo issues, vgt issues, oil cooler issues, EGR cooler issues, oil pump issues, stand pipes, dummy plugs, oil rail seal issues, etc, etc......now those are design flaws that have all been well documented on every 6.0 powerstroke ever made.

You need to get out and start comparing our MINIs to other vehicles....when you do you will see that they are really quite reliable cars.

 

 

I'm still on my original crank pulley....but I know some people who have had issues. Not sure it's a huge problem, but some fail early. It would be interesting to know if the ones failing early are on cars that have been tracked a lot.

So you have strut towers (simple fix), and crank pulley issues (more involved...but not to difficult) on some cars, maybe motor mount issues on select cars/years......sure, the auto trans stinks....

Not sure I would call the car full of design flaws just by looking at those items. I've only had personal experience with my mini....an 03' JCW with almost 170,000 miles on it. Who knows, maybe I got lucky....but none of these common design flaws parts have effected my car....except strut towers.

​​​​​ Everything else I have replaced has just been from standard wear and tear. And from the sounds of things, there are several 200k+ R53's out there....so they can't be all that bad.

 

I consider that karma (carma?) for buying a 2 pedal mini in the first place.