Hey Jaydavid... Do you have a side shot of your MINI? I want to see it..lol

 

I shure do my phones littered with pictures ill post some on here right now

 

There she is

 

And there she is again

 

That is one AWESOME MINI!! Like your rims also..Very nicely done!!That's 2 thumbs up !! I totally dig it..

 

Thanks my man now only if i could lower it and throw a new cam and head in it and get a nice carbon lip and jcw bumper on the front id be really rolling in style lol.

 

Sweeeet.... If you plan on keeping it what type of mods are you thinking on doing? But seriously dude I dig it!!

 

Well with this new job id probly say

550 cc injectors
Thumper or rmw head
Newman cam
Rmw tune
Milteck exhaust

Possible willwood bbk

Possible jcw front bumper

M7 Carbon lip

Possible coilovers lowered about an inch

I ethier do the 135i or i do the mods probly the mods

 

Would you be happy with bland? You'd have to look at it every day.

 

I ask myself that alot but i wonder if ther tradeoffs are worth it or not

 

Those are some cool mods.. I hope you decide to keep it!! ha ha if you cant tell already.. But I would like to see how this would all come together for you.. The only mod I did on my MINI was exhaust.. Magna flow.. Love the sound..lol..

 

You should buy a cravenspeed 15% pulley and have it put in thts wht i have i also already have an alta intake car sounds 150 percent louder and can hear it blow off when you let off idk how i drove the mini around on stock power before the mod its a day and night diffrence for about 350-400 bucks its amazing

 

You sound like you are trying to talk yourself into liking the BMW, sort of like trying to tell yourself you like a girl just because they should be very likable, but there is just no spark there.

I wouldn't consider buying a car I wasn't nuts about. I love driving too much.

 

I do think I need to do a few more mods..for that price that's money well spent!!

 

Get ten large in the bank, commit to saving 200 a month into you pension, 500 a month into your house fund, then think about a car. If you are quite young, that feeling you get when you have enough money in the bank to not be broke at the end of the month and begging for the next pay period is as good as the one you felt when you first got debt free.

 

Very nice. That's my favorite color too. Mine is hyperblue.

What wheels are those? Those wheels go very well far as taste/style

 

Those are esm 004 Pretty much exact cast replicas of BBS Lm wheels

 

Well said.

OP, you've got a really nice R53. It's a car with character and personality. Hang onto it. You're in California, get in touch with Jan at RMW and he can make it faster for you. When you can afford to have the R53 for your DD and the 1M/135i for your track/GT car, then have both

 

Must admit I did ask myself this question for a very long time ... hard to beat a small 1 series with the N54 engine that can easily make 400whp with a tune a downpipes ... but as may tell i decided to stay with the R53 i currently have.

Reason being that I, like yourself, do not believe in having monthly car payments, and at the same time do not believe in selling something i have put a lot of effort in, especially the MINI. So in my situation i would have kept both cars ... which doesnt really make sense since both cars are "small cars".

In your situation, I would keep the mini and save up your money since its cheaper on insurance, gaz and pretty mch everything else. I you wish to modify it go plz go ahead as you seem to have a very nice plan.
When you have enough money to get a M car then go for it since these will give you a feeling closer to the R53

 

I feel this way. Also, wife is very happy that I finally have thee car that I plan to keep forever. Don't tell her all my planns for modding.

It's easier for me to justify mods that I would never recoup the value of on a trade in, because well... I won't be trading it in.

 

Since you are talking significant chuck of change why don't you just rent a 135i for a day or two and put it through the paces. Then make an educated decision if the 135i will be "happy" replacement for the Mini.

 

Some one in my local club traded there MINI for 135i and had nothing but problems with it. It spent more time being fixed at the dealer than being driven. BMW is more expensive to maintain doing modifications are considerably more expensive and BMW is notorious for voiding your warranty for even the most basic mods.

 

If it was me, I wouldnt even be asking this question.

If you can afford both keep the Mini as a toy or an every day car.

Without a doubt I would take a 135i with the M Sports package over any mini. DCT or manual - its a better car and performance wise, you can also get a lot more out of it.

Mini is a lovely car and hard to let go, but when you drive other cars like a 135i M you will realise what you missing out on.

 

I am the exact same boat. While I love my Mini, it's crossed into the 100k zone (tons of highway miles since the recession.). I'm waiting for the big bill from an SC failure. R56's are just too big and expensive. You can get into an unfeeling, robotic GTI for 25k. I test drove one and was sooo disappointed at the lack of road feel, body roll, and clutch/gearbox (it was like an automatic with an extra pedal.). 135i is on my radar because if I am going to spend over 35-40k on a small coupe I might as well have the best. I've got better things to spend money on than an 1M.

If I could find another R53 with low miles at a decent price I might pick it up.

 

Wow thank all of you for these storys and opinionsthis is exactly what i wanted to hear. I too worry about my mini getting into higher mileage its now at 83k and going up fast i would like to keep it but im afraid its at that spot where everythings going to go wrong very soon. So a younger 135i with some warrnty left seemed like a good idea. Also ive invested about 3,400 dollars into my car so far with everything i plan on doing that could be around 7-8k easy money i wont get back. So i stil consider it. Its almost impossible however to find a 135i within reasonable distance that has a manual tranny that i can test :( ugh.