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Well, I guess I should start a project thread for my R53 as its turned into a bit of a "project"... As you may know from my 1st gear post, I am a new to NAM member, bought this R53 to try and keep my E90 M3 garaged. I do a lot of home renovation/handyman work and as funny as it sounds, the Mini is a great car for it. So, my hunt was on to find a decent condition/running R53 to run around town in, yet still have fun driving...
I landed on a BRG/English leather '06 R53, slicktop, 6 spd. The car is pretty stripped of options so as far as I can tell. Manual HVAC, no Harmon Kardon, manual/non heated seats. The only option it has, which I really like is the Chrono pack. The car has 122K miles on it and seemed to run ok...
Those seats! Might be stripped of most options but are those Lounge Leather seats?
From what I was told, they're English Leather, an optional interior package. And honestly I like this thing being stripped of options, a more analog feel than other vehicles I've owned.
My 2006 is stripped down as well and I agree I like it as well. We have a Audi Q5 Prestige that has everything - the Cooper S is meant to be simple and fun. Slick top, Manual HVAC, no Harmon Kardon, manual/non heated seats but it does have the Chromo pack like your as well. I will do something with the stock radio - possibly try the double DIM switch for a Sony with Apple Carplay or at the very least upgrading to Bluetooth and adding an iPad Mini 4 with cellular connection so I can use it as a music server / stream Apple Music and as a GPS for those trips to the sticks for lightly traveled twisty roads. That said - I like the white piping on dark leather seats - might do that mod next year.
Last edited by Joemamasmini; Nov 17, 2018 at 05:12 PM.
My 2006 is stripped down as well and I agree I like it as well. We have a Audi Q5 Prestige that has everything - the Cooper S is meant to be simple and fun. Slick top, Manual HVAC, no Harmon Kardon, manual/non heated seats but it does have the Chromo pack like your as well. I will do something with the stock radio - possibly try the double DIM switch for a Sony with Apple Carplay or at the very least upgrading to Bluetooth and adding an iPad Mini 4 with cellular connection so I can use it as a music server / stream Apple Music and as a GPS for those trips to the sticks for lightly traveled twisty roads. That said - I like the white piping on dark leather seats - might do that mod next year.
Very nice... Yeah, I really like the car optioned the way it is. I do wish it didn't have the chrome (inside and out) but that's ok... I'll either color match or black it all out at some point... No rush though, when I'm caught up on all the other stuff in my life, then I'll start to play with it for more...
Going to work on uploading more pics of things I've done, the car has already had quite a few things done to make it better.
As with so many Minis, the headliner had gone to hell in this car, so it was time to pull it, recover it, and put it back. I decided that since the car was green/black roof on the outside, the interior would be black/green headliner. LOL.
Ok, pics seem to be working for me again! Awesome! Anyway, next update before I completely reinstalled the headliner was to install the OEM roof rack... The sole purpose for the Mini was for me to use as my runaround car, and assist with a lot of handyman jobs I do for people when I'm on vacation from my real job. Yes, I wanted the rack for ladders, wood, etc etc... I didn't know at the time, but my car wasn't pre-drilled, so I had to use the paper templates and make the holes myself. Holy hell this will mess with your nerves, even on a car such as mine with a pretty rough exterior.... Anyway, I used the OEM templates and measured everything no less than a thousand times before drilling. Luckily I started very small and very slowly went larger and larger until I could see the threads, and then I adjusted my holes to line up perfectly. Everything worked out perfectly and the install was a breeze.
With the headliner out, couldn't you have drilled small pilot holes from within the cabin, through the captive nuts?
Hah, I thought about that, trust me! That's why I waited to do both jobs together. However, those nuts are not accessible from the inside, the roof supports cover them from the inside. No other way but to measure and drill from the top.
