Bad time to try and buy a new car. No options available. Looked at the Mustang Mach E but 7-8month delivery or buy it used with 2k miles for $10k above msrp. Now looking at a used Volkswagon ID.4 or Mini Countryman. But not many used options either. Wished the Countryman came as an EV with a 250min range
6th Gear
If you decide to buy another car, you can help other Minis live by posting a part-out listing in the Marketplace.
Picked up a Countryman SE last night. Will pick up my Cooper S from the shop tomorrow and bring it home. WiIll decide what to do with it after I get it back home. Thanks everyone for the discussion on this. Sad to let my Coop go but anxious to develop a relationship with my new Mini.
6th Gear
Congratulations, I hope you enjoy it. You might consider parting-out your R53. They seems to generate a lot of interest in the Marketplace.
2nd Gear
Exact same thing happened to my R53 two years ago (the exact same noise too). I was living in an apartment at the time so I couldn't fix it myself. I sold the car on Craigslist in a day for $1000CAD ($700USD)*. Mine was making the exact same sound. I had tried to rebuild the super charger two months before that with a new set of gears, and new oil in both ends of the SC gearboxes. Obviously I didn't do a good enough job as my rebuild only lasted two months. It really is a shame that the SCs on these cars have such a short life. 130,000mi seems to be a pretty average lifespan. The big problem is that the labour cost to replace the SC is SO HIGH! I think this is going to be what sends a majority of R53s to the junkyard. Eventually R53s will be really rare and then at that point the value of the cars will be high enough that replacing a SC (at a mechanic's shop) is economically feasible.
*I was amazed how fast the car sold AFTER the SC blew up. I had it listed at $3500CAD for months and there was NO interest, but as soon as the list price went to under $1500 people were all over it. The car had 310,000km (185,000mi), and this was the second SC it had killed. No idea if the new owner ever did put the car back on the road. I bought an R50 a few months ago because I wanted another Mini, but didn't want to deal with the SC failing again. The car without the SC is just not nearly as fun without the SC though, so now I've put a ton of work into another Mini and I really don't want to keep the R50- I need to get another R53 instead haha.
*I was amazed how fast the car sold AFTER the SC blew up. I had it listed at $3500CAD for months and there was NO interest, but as soon as the list price went to under $1500 people were all over it. The car had 310,000km (185,000mi), and this was the second SC it had killed. No idea if the new owner ever did put the car back on the road. I bought an R50 a few months ago because I wanted another Mini, but didn't want to deal with the SC failing again. The car without the SC is just not nearly as fun without the SC though, so now I've put a ton of work into another Mini and I really don't want to keep the R50- I need to get another R53 instead haha.