I have a 1st Gen, 2004 MINI Cooper that I have owned since new and although it does not see the miles driven that it used to and is a scary and expensive endeavour whenever it has to go to the Dealer for repairs, its babied and still running well.

While looking this week on a prominent Canadian buy-sell website for another used vehicle for our household, I noticed that in recent months there are a lot less 1st Gen MINI's for sale than there used to be.

Is a MINI's lifespan typically just 10 - 14 years before dying and ready for the scrapheap?

 

No vehicle has a set lifespan. It's all in how well you maintain it. Take care of it and it will last forever.

 

If you care for it and treat it like you expect it to become a classic eventually, it will. Next time you're drooling over '25 Pierce Arrow at a car show....

 

I've owned my '05 S since December '09, second owner, about 160,000km on the clock. They aren't scarier than anything else really. Sure sometimes maintenance sucks, but it's not that bad and like anything else, wrenching on it yourself or having an indy shop who knows MINIs helps greatly. I'm a mechanic, so I never really considered it as an expensive car to fix since I do pretty much everything myself, so I'm a bit biased.

I visit my local junkyards a couple times every years and I only seen two in the last couple years, but they were wrecked. Some people (crazy?) like me plan on keeping them forever, so that removes a couple from the market.

 

Let them die, it will make the survivors worth more someday.

 

I tried to find one with a blown motor or flood damage for a track car, these things dont get down to 1000 $ like bmw's, at least not yet.

the automatics though, those things rot on craigslist

 

Doesn't take much damage to total one out insurance wise....so even just attrition will get rid of a decent % per year....then add rust, and major mechanical issues....I think the numbers are rapidly dropping.
Me....I sold mine at 10 years+....parts availability was never great, but when dealers stopped stocking simple basic parts like brake calipers, and non specialist make them a 3+ day item, it kinda kills gen1 cars as an only car as a daily driver.

 

I've never had an issue getting parts and now that they are older it's even easier due to pulloff's

I do not go to mini for parts

 

With pre-1980's cars, yes...
But with most cars since then, there a electrical and electronic parts that the car can't live without.
Sure....lots of used parts around, but those are not going to last forever .

And a modded car is usually not considered a survivor....so our cars are mostly dead to collectors. OEM and originality rules....

 

I call bs on that too, just look at the bmw forums, TONS of e28's e30's e39's still out there modded is fine they hold value

I personally own two E39's a 540i/6 and a 528i wagon

 

Modded is still survived, it's a new age, everyone mods their cars.

 

Well...SEMA might disagree...modding has been rapidly dying for 10-15 years on all makes as cars become more appliance like...
Not saying don't do it, or enjoy your car, actually the opposite...it great having a car that is different...and that is the draw of the MINI.

And yes...I usually avoided dealers on many parts... but for some parts, they are the only game in town, or perhaps for some the source of last resort...and when they say 3 days, or in Germany , that will be 7 days, don't fool yourself...even the "online" places like ECS get the parts the same way, just with a dealer discount, then they ship them too you...
But even then there are supply chain issues...how long did it take to get steering wheel shaft u-joints? Oh yeah...sea are not...we are using the remains supply of the English right hand drive parts cause BMW is not making more. How many cars needed them for months before that fix was developed?
Just saying that some model specific unique parts become limiting factors....at some point somebody might find a part from a different model, or sell parts...but till then, it gonna get harder, not easier to keep driving a car that is 2+ generations old that had limited parts availability from day 1.
I'm happy you are trying...but junk yards crush cars after 6 months or so...and even specialist with cars stacked up with weeds and trees growing up between then have the common parts stripped in a year or so...

 

what part are they the only game in town? You mentioned brakes, mini would be the last place I go for those

as for drop shipping, bmw's part network still had new parts for my 1972 bmw 2002 I'm not really worried about those few OEM only parts I cant get at a junkyard or ebay

there are lots of people that wont own an old car for whatever reason they want, I am not one of those people I love my old bmw's and I do not consider a r53 even grey haired

 

Rear brake calipers....the rebuilds tend to seize up after about a year...
About a year ago many gen1 MINI cars were parked due to lack of a steering wheel shaft...the plastic u-joints would wear, and it needed replacing....BMW kept pushing back availability date...after 6+ months of new "ship" dates, the fix was not parts coming out of a factory to meet the need, but the remains supply of British right hand drive units with a new install method to allow a part previously said to be incompatible to be used....yes, it worked ...but the issue is MINI 's were low production volume cars....to justify turning on a factory for a car that total production accounted for a few days of volume compared to a BMW of the same era is much harder....yes, you BMW will have parts availability for years.....
With mini...not so much....
Even the PS pumps had issues... aftermarket rebuilds could do 75% of it, but not the electrical parts...rebuilds were crap...new units dried up...then mini FINELY did a recall, and suddenly the parts were available to properly rebuild them.
Hopefully there are no more show stoppers, but on such a young car, many cars have already been parked for MONTHS due to parts availability issues. That is not a good sign of things to come.
Sure...some parts can be had from "gray market" sources, or even the OEM makers....but many parts are NLA....and cannot be rebuilt. Need a r53 hot-side t-map?
It a mini SPECFIC r53 SPECFIC part....the r50 part (shared with the r53 cold side) is used on many Rover cars...so is available from 3rd parties.
R53 cars are great... but imo in a bit of a transitional stage....going from dailr driver's cars to weekend cars....the $$ means many "end of life cars" are getting beat to hell as high-school folks first cars, and college folks fast cars... attrition, and lack of $$ to fix them are mKing many disappear....then add rust...
It makes me sad, yes, but they were never sold as $$$ cars...but as relatively inexpensive fast cars...so looking back, I can see many cars sold a few years older as rare cars...
Anybody remember the Mitsubishi Starion?

 

Parts availability for the BMW 2002 has a lot to do with its "icon" status.

Aside ... I sold my 1973 2002tii in September 2002 after almost 30 years of ownership. A month or so ago I got a call from a guy in San Diego who had just bought the car wanting to know about it's history. I kicked myself when he told me what he had paid $20K for it

 

naw it's just bmw, e12, e28, e30, e36, e39 all easy to get parts for bmw has a great parts network

and wear items, like the brake calipers there's typically a few alternatives, with r53's theres a bunch I would never buy new oem rears when you can get used ones and put new seals in them for 50 $

 

2 companies sell them on rockauto, 70 $

only parts I know of that are NLA are stuff like the "navigation retrofit kit" you can even still get aero kits

 

It's not the seals that fail....the ratcheting mechanism in them fail...
You can kinda force unstick them...that's what rebuilds seem too do, but they stick again...
Fix is new internals.the ratcheting system is what is needed to allow the parking brake to work right, so it is an EXTRA part not on many units.
I wanted a new one...but had to go with a rebuilt unit....but 4 other folks I know that got rebuilt units had them fail REPEATEDLY, and finely went to new OEM units...
It was just one nail in the coffin...mini saying a simple brake caliper (new or rebuilt) was a 3 day item from the warehouse in NJ...my local mini guy started stocking rebuilt units even though he knows their reputation,....just cause the OEM units are getting harder to get....and who wants a car down for 4 days to do brakes?!

 

I've had no issues with rebuilt

also maybe your parts issue was when bmw switched to SAP, they had months of backlogs on parts due to the software sucking, they had the parts on the shelf but SAP was not issuing them for shipment

it was all over the news at the time, people waiting for months with cars at body shops waiting for parts bmw had in a warehouse

 

That's where it came from...my local guy bought a bunch....got it same day, no shipping from him...but they only last a year or less...we all know that going in...the ratcheting mechanism is corroded....even on the rebuilds....life is a year.
When you start adding overnight shipping to parts, the $$$$ goes way up...
I have 2 local mini dealers that price parts at -15-25% if you order online..(they ship too)but I can pickup ....only 5 miles...makes the $$ competitive since no overnight shipping.

 

https://www.northamericanmotoring.co...ng-column.html
https://www.northamericanmotoring.co...ing-shaft.html
Used units were getting $$, and hard to find, but just s stop gap ....
Mini did find a way to make the English right hand drive shafts work with new install directions...
But used parts are not a good option on failure prone wear items....

 

A little work with a grinder and you can use R56 rear calipers on an R53. The ebrake cable could use a washer, but works fine without it.

 

r56 parking brakes drag worse than r53 imo

 

Interesting thread. Just picked up another car for highway commute so will put less miles on 03 R53, indi blue😉. Have 183,000 on it, all stock except K&N filter, including rear fogs and tail light rust. Am slowly stockpiling parts, steering unit is fine but would like to have new one on hand. PS pump looked at by dealer on recall today and it is fine. Zippy knows quite a bit, any other parts suggestions for the future?

 

My point was that you could can use a new R56 caliper if new R53 calipers become hard to find.