Given the current economic climate, I have pretty much decided to literally keep my rock solid '05 MCS running until "The wheels fall off". I simply love this car and given the precarious state of our national economy, I think more people will hold on to their rides for a longer period of time.

My R53 is fully paid off. With only 48K miles on the clock, this car has plenty of service life ahead of it.

Anyone else holding onto their 1st gen MINI for years and decades to come?

 

Well, that was my plan with my '03 MCS until I rolled it at the Dragon. So, Plan B (for Blue) is to keep my current '05 until forever.

 

I received King Koopa in 2006 with 22k miles and now I have just about 45k and I plan on keeping him forever!

 

Ditto, I'll never be able to get what my 02 is worth to me in the market place so I'm going to keep it running forever and forever.

 

My MINI's days are numbered, just bought snow tires for her.

 

It's the reason I sold my 02 MCS to buy my last of the 1st Gen's JCW.... hopefully forever

 

My first MINI ('03) went to my MINI-loving daughter who is in college, but I do plan to keep my second one ('07), less based on economics, more based on the fact that I think it is, for me, the perfect MINI. I suppose a zero-emission or high-efficiency variant may get my attention, but as it is I am more than happy and want for nothing!! Both MINIs (Coopers) have been superb!!!

 

Given the fact that the trend for MINIs is starting to become more and more truck like....I am going to keep my R53. It will surley become the collectible one!

 

Well, I have 20K on it now, drive 15K a year and hope to be driving for at least another 30 years. 470K miles ...uh ...that's probably not going to work.

Mine's been paid off since the day I got it and I plan to drive it until it is no longer economical to do so or it just becomes too unreliable to use daily.

It is my hope that this occurs many years from now as I cannot see myself driving anything else.

 

I plan on keeping mine, even if I buy another car...which won't happen at least till this one is paid off!

 

the longest I ever had a car was 1, year 3 months and 11 days.....not sure of anything

 

Bought mine in 06 and my kids are already counting on getting it someday, but thats not for many, many years... Only have 5K miles, so many more miles and years to come...

 

Make sure you change the oil annually, it degrades over time not just mileage (MINI will do it for the first 4 years if you're racking less than 10k a year)

I expect to see the 500k mi mark before having to polish her up into a garage museum piece somewhere. The catch is that means I'm already 19% through the service life having used 2 clutches 2 differentials 2 gear boxes 2 passenger side engine mounts 2 belts 2 speedometers 2 front passenger seats 3 Tstats 5 O2 sensors 7 door lock assemblies 8 wipers 10 brake pads 15 tires. Finding parts is gonna be the hard part But alas there is nothing out there that can replace an R53 without masssive comprise on my end.

 

Did I see on an MC2 issue. one or two ago. There is this guy with I believe an '03. He had over 300K miles on it. I want to keep my '06 Cooper, but I would like to find a good 2006 Cooper S before I say I'll keep it forever. I do love my car though. With a passion.

 

I plan on keeping my 2002 MCS forever. I bought it new in August 2002 and only have 12,900 miles on it so there is plenty of life left. My kids wanted to know who gets the Mini once I kick. Told them there was no reason to worry as I intend to be buried in it. Stopped that discussion cold.

 

My 06 is staying!

 

I plan on keeping mine for a looong time as well. It's an '03 with less than 55k. I really love the body style, gas mileage, speed, etc.

 

15 tires? I thought they came in sets of 4 You almost have a brand new car with all those new parts!

I plan on keeping both my R50 (67k) and R53 (25k) until the end of time.

 

Nails, polt holes and wear bars don't

The windshield is original, which for a 92k+ mi MINI is saying something!

 

.

 

Now that I've got the driver's seat tailored to fit me, it's like a pair of custom-made western boots - you keep them until they wear out, and then you have them re-soled and re-lasted again and again.

Nevertheless, I'll only keep it until I expire, which is probably not the same as forever...

 

I'm planning on keeping mine for as long as it is serviceable. I tend to keep the cars I like for a loooooooong time (I've owned my '94 Jeep Cherokee for the past 10 years/105k+ miles).

Hopefully parts won't be an issue later down the road...

Also - I'm hoping to get a job in Europe in the near future, and I'd like to bring my MCS with me when that day comes!

 

Great responses, keep them coming!

I have a feeling most of us will still be talking to each other 20-30 years down the road about our "classics".

 

forever I reckon

109k no worries thus far

(knock wood)

 

Been planning on doing just this since day one. Don't know what it'll end up looking like in the next few years (track-only toy!), but it'll be around.

mb