Hey guys,

First post in NAM. Just sold my 05 STi that was fully prepped for STU. Sold it so the wife could stay home and finish her masters. Looking to get an 02-06 Mini Cooper to drive in HS. Anything to lookout for while shopping? Any options to look for or pass on (besides the obvious sunroof ) Site looks great, look forward to wasting as much time here as I did on NASIOC for the last 5 years

 

Welcome to NAM!

Keep the premium/convenience stuff to a minimum if you can. Extra weight. Exception being the multi function steering wheel.

I'd look for an 05-06, all the bugs ironed out, and the manual tranny has better gearing.

 

Did any of the N/A cars come with LSD? I found an 05 with 40,000 miles, 6spd, leathette and nothing else. It's a stripped model. The dealer is asking 14,900. I want to try and get them 1000 less. What do you think?

 

LSD is an option only the manual tranny's. I've got it, and love it.

What that dealer is asking is a pretty fair price. I'd go for it. Lots of the other mods you can do yourself.

 

I didnt think the MC had the 6 speed. but then again i do have the 03 MCS and havent been keeping up on the MC side of things

 

From what I can tell the MC didn't come with a LSD with either transmission. The MCS has a LSD. Looks like the MC came with 5spd or CVT.

 

The go for an MCS and run in GS. Lot more fun.

 

I saya GS Cooper S is the same amount of fun as an HS Cooper, but costs more.

 

I'm looking to buy an inexpensive car, less than $15,000. I just came from an STi which was well prepped and fun to drive, but an HS Cooper would spank it on a tight course, and cost half as much and parts are much cheaper. I was also running STU in a very heavy car, turn early let her slide, apply throttle and repeat. Losts of fun, I won my region and the state championships but still no match for an HS Mini or a Miata. Couldn't bring myself to buy a Miata, it appears I'm straight. Miatas look like such a chick car. Not Beetle for he either, chick car and unreliable, . Mini's drive like go carts, are inexpensive and get 30+ mpg. Sounds like a winner to me. I think the BMW snobs will even let you play on their track days too. I plan to drive the living crap out of it for 2-3 years and sell it when the 09 STI comes out with paddle shifters. Who knows, maybe I'll keep it to play with.

 

Check out your local SCCA. Most fun you can have with your pants on.

 

I know, I was the Buccaneer Region STU points champion last year. Couldn't afford to go to Nationals, but would liked to have gone. I've mentioned in my other posts that I autocross. I'm looking for specifics as what option packages on a base Mini that would help in autocross. I'm not interested in a MCS, not because it isn't a cool car, but I am looking at a specific budget and because no MCS run in my region and we have a few MC's and NA Subarus that run HS. It isn't any fun to race with yourself, even if the car is faster.

 

A lot of what to look for depends upon how much modding you are going to do (even when staying in stock class). Are you going to buy new wheels? If so, the wheels on the car don't matter. If not, the 15" "holies" wheels are the lightest stock wheels. That would mean a non sports package equipped car. But you won't be missing much without the sports package. Especially since you can get individual pieces of the sports package by themselves.

So, 15" holies or 16" 5-star wheels are available as stock.

Are you going to mess with the swaybars? The "optimal" arrangement for stock is the sports suspension plus rear swaybar and the sports suspension (smaller) front swaybar. Changing the rear bar is easier than changing the front bar. So, I'd say look for a sports suspension (not plus) equipped car and change the rear bar to the spors suspension plus bar yourself. At least I think that's still legal for stock class. There's even the possibility of bringing over from Europe the MINI One front swaybar, which is the smallest available front swaybar.

The sports seats will have a little better side bolstering than the stock seats. Sports seats are not part of a package on the Cooper, they had to have been added in individually.

There's no LSD available for the Cooper, so that doesn't matter.

The transmission in the 02-04 Cooper feels better than the one in the 05-06, but the one in the 05-06 is more durable.

In all, I don't think there is anything special to really look for.

If it were me... my dream autocross Cooper would have no sunroof, 15" holies, and sport seats.

Then, I'd get in touch with Helix Minisports and have them help piece together the stock legal parts that will make it even faster:
http://www.helix13.com/mini/products/packages

But, in reality, you'll probably wind up having to take what you can get.

 

Hey silver arrow, Snid (Jason) has spanked a whole bunch of MINI cooper S's on various tracks in the Northeast in his time and will be a very valuable resource to you. I tried to talk him into a cooper S like mine and he didn't bite. His track times using other peoples S models aren't radically different from his own (with over 111,000 miles on it!). The mod behind the wheel is the most important one!

 

Looks like we might be headed to the same goal. It could make for a fun HS class. I am JMS Landshark in case you can't tell. I will probably still run the roadster in SM2 mostly. I want to finish building the turbo M Roadster for a sreious SM2 car.

I want a MC for a daily car and run some HS for the fun of it. I'm not planning on prepping the car for nationals.

 

Sports seats were part of the Sports package. They are listed in the package and when ordered on an MCS, it had the sports seats already and if ordered with the MC then you get the extra side padding.

Which upholstery doesn't matter.

Get less heavy stuff- no sunroof and no extra stereo upgrades- harmon kardon or aftermarket.

No matter which wheels you get the best wheels are the 15x5.5" stock holey rims. If you need to just buy them used- usually cheap- comes in silver or white.

You can do any cat back exhaust- Miltek or Helix exhausts for MC are good.
Drop in air filter- use a clean one for autocross- maybe green filter.

Front camber is only -0.5 degrees and non adjustable. Rear camber is not adjustable in early models 2002-2004 but in 2005 there was added a small adjuster nut at the bottom of the lower rear control arm to give plus or minus 1/2 degree in the rear camber. Make rear camber about -1.0 degrees. Front toe 1/16" out and rear toe 1/16" in.

If you get an MC with CVT you can use the sports mode or do manual shifts. You'd need to learn how to drive CVT. It's fun. Doesn't always do that well on reliability and sometimes poor mpg.

Safer is manual transmission. Midlands 5 speed was for early models and is not durable- many problems- search the forums. When it works it's good.
Better is the getrag 5 speed in later years- 2005-2006. High mileage 2005 would be the best compromise for price and good reliable design. Later years were less problem prone. LSD from factory only for manual transmission MCS in later years.

If you buy an MC the tires that come with the car can be for daily use. Then use the 15" holey rims with Kumho V710 205/50-15 tires for autocross only.
Good setup for H-stock. Get on the power early (throttle by wire) and don't use the brakes much. You'll use only 1st and 2nd gears and depending on the course might use 3rd because gearing is lower than in my 2003 MCS (very tall gears- I use 1st only sometimes).

Make sure everything else is stock-
Airbox
Shift *****
exterior trim- sideskirts

Later you can add Koni shocks

 

That would be sweet, 2 Mini's kicking Shawn in the nuts every week If you are looking to buy right away, I found a silver 05 MC in Jax with 5sp and no sunroof. I'm 6 months from buying due to my upcoming deployment.

 

Thanks for the input all. I'm going to start searching before I get back and should be able to pick one up with cash saved on deployment. Tax free rocks and no car payment is even better.

 

Shawn put external reservior double adjustable coilovers on and some other goodies. He is off to FSP.

Yes, I am looking for a car to buy now. The sooner, the better. I am shopping around trying to keep a small budget though. I am paying off the roadster here soon, and have to buy a little something for the girlfriend as soon as I can get up the money.