Hi:
I'm new to this forum and so far I've been very impressed with the community and your knowledge and passion for this vehicle.

I'd been looking for a fun used car and settled on a Mini Cooper as my choice. I needed an automatic as my wife hates manually shifting and I have a 16 year old who is just starting to drive. So I bit the bullet and started looking for a nice used basic Mini. Well, I found one at my local used car dealership where I know the owner (he lives in my neighborhood and they have an excellent reputation for great service and great used cars).

Our car is a 2004 Mini Cooper with leather, gps, fully loaded. The mileage is high 60K but it was owned by an 80 year old gentleman (I know him) who loved the car but needed something larger. He baby this car and drove it all over the place. He purchased it in the fall of 03.

The car is in terrific shape, just got it 2 days ago and it is awesome. By the way, I also own a 2006 Charger SRT8 that is cranked up to 450 HP.

I find driving the Mini more fun that the darn muscle car. But the Charger SRT8 is an awesome car.

Anyhow, she is going into the detail shop for a great cleaning and a few scratches removed (nothing serious).

I paid $12,000 for the car and feel I got a great deal even with 60K miles on the car. I'm not afraid of high mileage when the previous one owner really took car of it with all the service records and no problem. I sense this car will last me a long time, it won't be a daily driver so eventually the mile gains will slow down substantially, I might only put 5K on it this year.

Anyhow, just sharing my first experience as a new member of the forum and looking forward to learning more about this vehicle via this great community. I will probably have a bunch dumb questions along the way but will use search a great deal to avoid the duplicate answers. Again thanks and be safe.

 

WELCOME! I am confident that youy will love the MINI. Hook up with your local community and soon the Charger will be gathering dust....!

 

welcome! sounds like you got a great deal.

did you mention the color? we love details like that (and pictures).

happy motoring!

 

It is British Green and I will load up some pictures after detailing is done :-)

 

Welcome to NAM and MINI the obsession!!!!!

No use denying it. We know you are already obsessed since you are going to detail it before posting pics.

 

Welcome! GREAT deal on your car!!

 

Welcome and Congrats!!!!

 

Welcome to MINI land my friend! You've found a great place here. Congrats on your car - sounds like a good deal...

Donna

 

Welcome ! Nice first post, btw ! Hurry up and detail your MINI so we can get a good look at her.

Geez, seems like just yesterday that my post count sat at "2". Soon you'll be in fifth gear, too, and you'll have spent thousands of dollars in mods.

 

That brings back memories :p My first MINI was an 03 BRG MC with the CVT.

 

Wow, what a great initial response from my first thread. I'm totally impressed with the welcome and I thank you very much. My mini is now at the detailer for a few days, get it back on Saturday and hopefully the rain or snow won't fall since I'm in the Boston metro area. Next will be deciding what initial mods I might do. It is not an S, but a plain Mini with lots of options. Any initial mod suggestions would be great. Again, thanks very much for such a warm welcome and I hope to give back to this forum as much as possible in the future. Good day.

 

Some top mods might be:

roof graphic (even if you have the sunroof)
armrest
euro parcel shelf (very handy)
driving lights
rear sway bar
brake light mod (activates the rear fogs as brake lights) -easy
rear sway bar
suspension lowering
tint
CAI
underbonnet eye decals
Dragon attendance (that's a driver mod )

there's more...

 

devicespy, welcome to NAM! Deffinately check out a local club and get some runs in her with the family.

 

Would it be possible to provide guidance on where to find these products and some recommendations? Thanks a bunch for the suggestions.

 

Welcome to NAM

 

Sounds like you got a great deal = more fun for the buck.

Recommendations on where and what mods , you could spend the next month just reading this forum.

Welcome

 

Thanks, great to be here.

 

Welcome to the club. And welcome to the "Justacooper" clan.

There is a place on NAM for non s folks like you, me and many others. Check out the Non s mods threads for lots of great info on what's available for your MINI.

 

A Mymini touring exhaust...deep tone with no highway resonance. Besy mod I've done to my 03 MC.

 

Welcome to this great group of enthusiasts! We'll wave!

 

Is the mini wave a popular thing among mini owners. I have a Jeep Wrangler also and I get lots of waves as the Wrangler has a lift kit, nice american racing wheels and its a sharp looking 98.

 

Congrats on the new MINI!

 

You can use search on here. Also, www.motoringfile.com ( Gabe Bridger's site ) has a slew of how-tos ( including my favorite, the fog light/double brake lights mod ).

Welcome to NAM, and you will enjoy your car way more than you expect, it's inevitable

And you did get a very good price for that car btw, look it up on edmunds.com, you'll likely find a recommended price upwards of $15,000 even with that mileage. Coopers are enjoying a ridiculous trade-in price right now.

 

Just like Jeep Wrangler owners and Harley riders, we MINI folks wave. The ones that are even aware they're driving a MINI that is. ;-)
Ex Jeeper here.

 

Man, I went to the Motoringfile web site and couldn't locate the the fog light/double brake lights mod

Can nyone help me in out in finding a link with instructions? I also remember stumbling across a web site selling ready-made connectors for this mod, but can't seem to find it anymore

Any help would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks