Long live the first gen 2002-2006 hardtop

You will be missed

Link:

http://motoringfile.com/2006/11/28/t...live-the-mini/

Our hardtop MINIs have become "Instant classics" beginning today

 

C4 -

Ditto! This is a very sad day indeed. Well at least I got my piece of the dream.

And I guess next year we have the added sorrow of saying adios to the first generation of MINI cabrios.

Chuck

 

The current R52 cabrios will be produced until the tail end of 2008, so we will have another 2 years of Supercharged engines available minus the hardtops that came with them

The life cycle is about 4 years. The Cabrios were introduced just 2 years ago (2004).

 

I'm glad I have mine! If my '06 serves me as well as the '03 did, I may double the time of ownership, which could be about the time the R56's are retiring from the line-up. By then, who knows, we may be looking at some really interesting forms of transport/fun...

 

I sat in a new MINI in Italy last week, they only had a showroom model and I doubt with my broken Italian I would have convinced them to let me test drive it... But overall my impressions was better interior room and good fit and finish. I still plan to hold onto my 05 MCSC for 4-5 years but at that time... Well we will see...

 

It seems the interior of the R56 is a major improvement over the current car in terms of comfort and fit/finish/materials.

 

cheers to the R53!

 

I will always love my R53.

Good luck, R56. You have some big, or should it be MINI, shoes to fill.

 

I like R56...but the passing of R50/53 still makes me a bit sad!!! It doesn't matter how good R56 is...R50/53 was/is something special!!

 

 

Damn, so when can we test drive the R56??

 

Early to mid February.

 

hats off to those that built the R53's.

 

I think I'll be needing an R53 badge from MotoringFile...

Cheers to Ollie and all the rest!

 

Thanks for the info! Since mine rolled off the production line on the 15th, it means mine was made 13 days before the end of production

 

i heard they ran out of steering wheels 14 days prior.

 

That's funny!

 

 

That's what I heard too, but I heard they were installing special, very limited edition carbon fiber and leather steering wheels due to the shortage.

 

That should be interesting

 

wow... sad. but i'm glad I was able to get into the first gen. I love the R53 badge (already added to my sig). must buy one for the MINI. It's obscure enough that everyone will ask about it!

 

Thanks for the heads-up on a historic event. I am a proud R53'er but having any MINI makes us all MORTORERS!!! Waaaa-hoooo!

 

Does the very last one produced get anything special? Free JCW upgrades?

 

3 cheers....

 

realllly...