I am a newbie still working on my search skills so be gentle if this has been answered since this is my first thread besides my first gear intro...

That being said, I did a search and couldn't find an exact match for my situation. My friend (who I almost always trust with automotive suggestions) made a good point last night and I thought I'd get everyone's opinions.

I recently bought an 06 R53 with only 45k miles from a local mini dealer and after doing some digging I found that the previous owner was a middle age women (confirmed) who used the car primarily as a nice weather weekend toy (according to dealer but based on condition and miles I assume true). While talking to my buddy he said that since the stock ECU is "self-learning" I should do a reset so it can learn my driving style/preferences. He also said since I don't know what quality of gas was previously put in or how long it would go without fresh gas it might not be used to the fresh v-power gas that I like to use and might not be running at optimal performance since it might be used to stale/cheap gas and babied driving.

Does anyone have experience with this that could confirm if a reset would be beneficial for me? I havent heard any real negative drawbacks of doing an ECU reset but would like to hear the thoughts/opinions from the Mini community before doing a reset. Again, if this has been covered and I missed this please just point me in the right direction since I am still learning to properly search here.

Thanks in advance!

 

It should adapt to your style of driving after a hundred miles or so whether you
start with the previous owner's granny-style driving as a baseline, or a fresh reset
as a baseline.
At first the two options may feel different, and that's probably why people write about
a perceived change after a fresh reset, but they should adapt and converge to the same
result before long.

 

so essentially it is a constant adjusting ECU that has a "short term memory" that doesn't use all previous information when making adjustments and my driving over the past couple hundred miles will overwrite all existing information saved from the previous owners driving style/preferences to keep it performing at optimum performance? Or does it adjust to keep it performing at a constant level? i only ask this because if it is the latter of the 2 then it would mean that an intake and catback would only change sound and not gain hp without a pulley kit or tune?

 

you are overthinking it....
then again, 90% of threads are here due to overthinking....
MANY times it has been stated that you need some pretty heavy duty stuff, dealer level or advanced pro level readers to reset the ECU....
the ECU threads where it is DIY are for a "cluster reset"...basically resets a few items, but NOT ADAPTATIONS.
It has been debunked many times.....but so many folks love a placebo, the thread never dies....

As for upgrades....a pulley is a quick 20 HP....
a cat back or intake is 1 or 2 Hp at most...both are for SOUNDS....until the more basic things like pulley and porting are done....the power you make, the more important they become...but on a 99% stock car, they will have changes so mild, especialy with lots of miles, consider an catback to be something to make the car FEEL more sporty and replace a worn part....

 

Well I reject your ageist sexist premise, or your friends. I know plenty of older folks of both sexes myself included who can drive the heck out of a car. As far as adaptations, they learn pretty fast and i think the whole concept is overrated in addition i wish my car would lose the computer bs.

Right on old farts! Lol

 

by no means was anything i wrote intended to be sexist...this theory was based off information provided by dealer. They said who owned the car before me (also confirmed by a second independent mini dealer) and the style of driving was assumed due to condition of the vehicle (i.e. the vehicles service record were almost all available and done through a certified Mini dealer making it very likely the maintenance done/needed was accurate, parts replaced, condition of oem parts not replaced, etc.). It wouldnt matter if the latter was true and glorified autox driver owned the car, it would still be assumed that the previous owner "babied" or "granny" drove the car. The person who conviced me to get my first car, SRT-4, was in fact an "old fart" female. As a special education teacher I personally have a problem with people who make unsupported assumptions about people which leads to unrealistic stereotypes about groups of people.

I am sorry for the unrelated/off topic reply but there is just too much negativity on forums like this and we are all here because of our love for cars. I want to make sure any and all threads I start are only filled with respectful discussions.

Now back to the topic at hand! I figured I was just over thinking this as I tend to do when I over research a new topic. I am just used to the SRT-4 which didnt have all these sophisticated electronic features like self learning ECUs, DSC, hell even auto wipers/lights, and rear fog lights (seriously why would I ever need a "rear fog light!?"). I will be the first to admit I still have a lot to learn which is why I am here.

Now if someone can point me in the right direction to where I can find/make a thread about people's opinions of how the R53 should have came with from factory so I can start planning my build of making a better than stock MCS that still looks like it could have came from the factory that would be great!

 

The dealer sounds like they don't know their business -the correct claim for a low-mileage car is that "it was only used by a little old lady to go to church on Sundays".

 

Rear fogs are not for the driver....lol...well, if they save your life they are!! In HEAVY FOG, it can be hard to see a slower moving cars tail lights....on many occasions, driving in HEAVY FOG ( 1/8 mile or less) I have come up on cars that are crawling at low speed say 15 mph and I'm doing closer to 50+ since I know the road....in many parts of the world, HEAVY FOG is common....so rear fogs are REQUIRED BY LAW....mini just chose to allow you to activate or install them on us spec cars...
Biggest issues are jerks who drive around with them on a nearly clear nights cause they have them...nearly blinding folks behind them with a light brighter than a brake light on one side....

As to how the car should have been made....lol...
Mini is about being an individualist...make it your own...go in your own direction...
The HP mods were dimple cheap and fun....got the car to about 210 HP to the wheels for 25% of the cost of the factory kit that got the car to 210 to the crank.....same basic mechanical parts...so was fairly safe reliability wise....
One tip....the mini will ALWAYS MORE about handling than pure speed....
It will almost NEVER win a drag race....but can win against cars costing 3x as much on a curvy course....
The HP mods are more popular cause more HP makes a simpler for a newbie driver to do well on a road course/auto-x.....reality is a r-50 driven by a skilled driver will beat a r53 driven by a less skilled driver on many courses....and everybody wants something quantifiable.... you can brag about more hp at the bar, but better handling in turns? The stock mini on GOOD tires can handle better than 75% of drivers can use....

 

One of the more intelligent Yurpeen auto standard is that the rear fog(s) must be wired through the ignition and fitted with a NVR (no volt release) type switch that will switch itself off any time the ignition is swithced off. This at least avoids the situation where someone is driving around with their rear fog on, wondering what that odd warning light on the dash means, just because they turned the switch on a couple of weeks ago on a foggy night and never though to turn it off.

So jerks have to decide each time they drive that they want to blind other road users.