I recently replaced my 2003 Cooper with a 2005 Cooper S. The 2003 was the lovely BRG and the only car I've owned for longer than a year. When the transmission started to make an odd sound and I decided I was done for good trying to fix it, I started to look for a suitable replacement. With in a few hours of signing a lease for a car I really knew I wasn't going to enjoy, an email came back from someone who I contacted on Craigslist selling the Cooper S I now own. Shot over there and over paid by a few bucks but all in all, I think it worked out nicely.

The car needed some attention but at 15 years old, anything is going to need something or other. New clutch, driveshafts, front strut mounts and fitted the VIP strut tower defenders off the "old" Mini. I've put just about 2000 miles on the car now, swapping out the exhaust for a stainless cat back system off ebay and replacing the fuel pump that failed spontaneously in those miles and am pretty happy.

The first thing you notice between the two cars after driving them is the very obvious increase in power with the S, regardless that it falls off at the top end. The S is fully optioned, which is definitely a plus. The suspension is interesting to me. It's completely factory and coming from a very similar car that I've driven with 3 entirely different suspension set ups, is more than adequate for the street. I made many, many, many mistakes with the suspension in the previous car and if I decide to keep this new one, I will not be making those same mistakes. The car as a whole is pretty tight and running like a top - next on the list is to replace the headliner.

At any rate, I am content and wanted to share. This forum has been invaluable over the past years.

-Davide