Anyone ever seen one of these with a blue body and yellow roof before? Going to go look at one tomorrow and the guy is saying it's oem, but in my search I'm not seeing any "special edition" like that.

 

I've never heard of this "special edition" either. I was under the impression that roof colors were only, black, white, matched the rest of the body, or decal (e.g. Union Jack, etc.).
If you can find out more from the seller, please share.

 

Is he the original owner or could that have been something the owner before him told him?

 

Unless he is the original owner and custom asked for the roof to be yellow and the rest blue, there is no mini with that color combo. He could have also just painted the car.

 

OK that's what we kinda figured. He bought it (he claims) from the original owner. But the fact he's telling us it's a "special edition" doesn't sit will with us.

I've attached some pictures. Inside the back hatch is yellow too.

 

Interesting... Based on the rear hatch area, looks well done. Maybe the original dealer had it custom painted? I know there was a LOT of that going on when these thing started hitting the show rooms.

Being a nice R53, if the price is right, the mechanical bits are decent, and you like the car, I wouldn't worry too much about it being factory or not.

 

That roof color might be "Liquid Yellow" as shown from the 2005-2006 sales brochure. If so, perhaps repainted by the MINI dealer when new, since not a listed option.

 

How would you feel about the lack of rear seats? All in the name of a "special edition?"

It's a 7 hr round trip drive for us. Car looks very nice. Has 130k miles and the price is reasonable.

 

Interesting! Thanks for that. Unfortunately I can't pull up the original window sticker via Monroney to see what this car had stock because it's too old. The seller said he had the original window sticker but when we asked he said the previous owner had it in a box somewhere 😒

***Oh and also, everything I pull up says it's a 2004. Not a 2005 as advertised.

 

I see from the image above that this R53 has an aftermarket exhaust from the shape and protrusion of the tips on center. I'd want to know specifically what that is, noting rear seats help attenuate exhaust dBA heard inside the cab while driving.

 

Good catch!! Thanks!

 

Couple more shots of the car. Whoever had it did a few things to it. I don't think the current owner has had it long. Asking price is $5900

 

Use a VIN decoder to determine build date and factory color(s) and options.

https://www.mdecoder.com/ or https://bimmer.work/

 

Tried ths first one already ...said VIN couldn't be found. Tried again and it said my daily limit was reached. And I've never been able to make bimmer work, work. Lol. Just keeps counting down into infinity.

 

Engine bay showing unusual style aftermarket strut tower brace and "cold air" intake illustrate other modifications from stock. Better to know those aspects too before a long drive to inspect and evaluate...

Also noticed JCW-style intercooler cover but not JCW serial number plate, thus inconclusive whether has JCW Tuning Kit installed...

 

Really appreciate your insight!! Thank you!

This is all I could pull up on Bimmer.work

 

Just to add...we realize this car is cheap and we're probably over thinking a lot of this.. But you know what they say about cheap cars being expensive 🤣

We also do our own wrenching, so that's not even a huge deal, but the main thing here is that we're being told this is a special edition when it clearly isn't. You buy the seller, right? Not a lot of confidence yet...

 

OK then, not a facelift 2005 but instead pre-facelift 2004 model...

OTOH, steering wheel is facelift style, so perhaps 2004 with some transition features.
Also, passenger side dash airbag panel is the pre-facelift style.

 

Yup...advertised as a 2005

 

Presence of strut tower braces suggests possibly lowered which might or not appeal, depending. Side view of wheels/tires appears as if "whitewall tires" (perhaps just sheen reflection) and wheels with 5 vs 4-lug pattern. Odd - I'd want to know what those are.

In any case, I'd pay for a CarFax report to confirm ownership history before driving that far...

 

Good grief you're an eagle eye! Never even noticed thr 5 lugs! I tried to.get a carfax first thing this morning but because I wasn't logged in, I paid for 3 and it didn't credit it to my account so now I'm waiting for Carfax.to fix that for me.

***I think what you may be seeing is just the lip of the wheel maybe?

 

Likely not 5-lug - just looks like that from the low resolution image when zoomed-in. Might request more pics plus details on modifications and type and size of wheels/tires.

 

Looks like 5 lug when I zoom in too.

 

Looks like one of those weird transition cars. Pre-facelift interior but I think I see an updated motor mount.

Does it have JCW door sills? There are more than a few cars floating around that have had various JCW bits added at some point. It’s pretty common for people to call them works cars when they really aren’t.

The wheels could be drilled for multiple lug patterns.

 

Ya I'm not sure what exactly the deal is. A window sticker would have been nice. At this point we've decided to save ourselves a drive and hold off. We don't NEED this car. We have several. But we miss having a Mini and wanted to add a manual to the lot.

The search continues...couple good ones here in the marketplace but then there's shipping to contend with.