Just purchased this 2007 MINI Cooper S John Cooper Works. Only 15,345 miles. Premium, Sport, Cold and Convenience packages. Car is currently in Orlando and I'm in the Boston area so it'll be transported up hopefully tomorrow, though the wire transfers are taking longer so possibly on Monday. I'm very excited about this car! I had a near identical R52 that I purchased a few years ago (and since sold), minus the JCW, so I'm pysched to be getting back being the wheel of a MINI!

More photos to come....

 

Looks like a nice R52.

 

Nice find. Hopefully it was at least driven enough to keep things from dry rotting. Sometimes not driving a car can be worse. I found that out the hard way with a car I own. If you don't mind me asking what did you pay. I just picked up this 08 R52 JCW with 63k from texas and brought it up to NJ. I paid 5k for it. But had it at WMW and put 3500 into it with some normal upgrades and a few performance ones. It's a fast little car.

 

Car arrived safely last Wednesday. Overall a pleasant experience with Orlando MINI and the trucking company. Title is en route via USPS Priority so I'll get it registered probably sometime later this week or early next week.

 

Nice! The car has no dry rot and it was thoroughly checked over before I purchased it from Orlando MINI. According to the CarFax, it was regularly driven, but obviously just not that much. It has brand new tires and that's a bonus. I paid $11,700 which I feel is fair considering the extremely low mileage and absolutely stunning condition of the car. I installed some 25mm H&R wheel spacers (from ECS Tuning) and just got the title this week so will get this beast on the road hopefully next week.

 

So, a bit of an update! As I mentioned, I picked up this 2007 MINI Cooper S Convertible (R52) John Cooper Works (JCW) in May of 2020 from Orlando MINI and had it shipped up here to Massachusetts. It only had 15,345 miles when I purchased it. It has the Premium, Sport, Cold, Convenience and JCW packages, along with Cordoba Beige Soft Leather. The driving lights were dealer installed. The car came with the original window sticker as well as the John Cooper Works MINI Cooper S Tuning Kit Certificate of Authenticity which is kind of cool I suppose.

First owner looks to have purchased it and stored it (just 21 miles) and then it went to owner #2 in 2012 where I assume it was a not a primary vehicle. This is my second R52, I had a 2008 R52 a few years ago (almost identical), though this one has the JCW package which is what drew me to the car. I've also had an R50, R53 and R56 but honestly really dig the R52. The car is in excellent condition overall.

That being said, all wasn't sunshine, lollipops and rainbows. Ended up replacing the passenger side motor mount (slight leak), thermostat (leaking), belt tensioner (piston leaking), strut tops (mushroomed), left and right lower control arm bushings (both were fine but the right showed some play so replaced both) and both front axles (passenger side slightly bent and driver side inner was damaged and causing a vibration under acceleration). I think the car had been sitting for quite some time and I gather that's why some of the items needed to be replaced. It was a 13 year old car when I purchased it so age could certainly factor in. All this being said, the car is super solid and an absolute blast to drive. Even when taking into consideration the cost of replacing the aforementioned parts, the car was an absolute bargain.

I also installed a trailer hitch as well as some 25mm spacers. I actually like the wheels, all four are NOS OEM, but might swap them out for something else. The tires were almost new when I purchased them (Pirelli P Zero Nero GT) so I might wait until they wear out until getting some new wheels. Maybe.

 

Nice find!

 

Same color interior in mine. But with the matching blue accents on the dash and door panels.

 

Looks like you have given it a good home and done a lot of the normal maintenance.

You should check out our 2% ATI damper as a maint item as the stock crank pulleys are so prone to failure it will be a future failure.

 

Rare interior combo, the center console matching beige boots and ***** are all NLA now. Got some rare parts.

 

Thanks! I purchased the license wheel spacers and cup holder from you folks.

Thanks for the tip! I bookmarked it and will keep it in mind for the next round of updates.

 

So, I've had this car for 3 years and just over 20K miles. Debated selling it a couple times as I really would love a low mileage R50 and found a couple but was unsuccessful in acquiring one. Anyway, I'm still enjoying this lovely R52 JCW and haven't had any issues since the work I did when I purchased it. I recently installed some Compomotive MO6 wheels (17x8, ET35) with Continental ExtremeContact DWS06 Plus (205/45/17):




The tires were actually a tad too small for my liking. I debated getting 225/45/17, which I've run previous on other MINIs. Anyway, if the car was lowered, which I'm not going to do at any point in the near future, it would look boss. Also, I actually like the OEM wheels so slapped those back on for the interim.




This setup has some Michelin CrossClimate 2 tires in a 215/45/17 fitment, which I feel is the best tire size for this car. Will probably get the Continental ExtremeContact DWS06 Plus tires to replace these in the next month. MIght use the Compomotives for a winter tire setup as there are more options for 225/45 than 205/45.

 

Hopefully you're not driving this beautiful car in the winter?! Salt destroys cars.

Trailer hitch - I read in an earlier post that you installed a hitch. How is that working? I assume the receiver is behind the rear center light? Is it easy enough to remove? I've debated getting a hitch for my R52 also.

 

Indeed I drive it all year round! Most of my driving is up north to Vermont or New Hampshire to visit friends and to the outer Cape for family gatherings. I telecommute mostly and have a Super73 ZX e-bike I use more often around town. My wife's car also gets used for bigger trips as it can accomodate a rocket box.

I really like the trailer hitch. I also had one on my previous R52 (non-JCW). I actually also had one of those MINI FINI systems on my 2006 R53 when I purchased it new. I'm an avid cyclist, lots of gravel biking these days, so the trailer hitch is a must (I've also had a few Miatas and those all had trailer hitches). There is no center fog light on my car so that wasn't an issue. I had it professionally installed both times for the R52 as the entire bumper needs to come off and I was just too lazy. Currently using a Yakima bike rack where the bikes hang from the top tube but want to get a 1UP USA rack as it's far easier to get bikes on/off.

Regarding putting the rack on & off, you have to get on the ground and pull back the exhaust shield to put in/take out the lock pin. Also, when the rack is installed and backing up, the reverse sensor doesn't work as it thinks your very close to an object and beeps solid whenever it's in. Not a biggie and I'm used to it when transporting the bike.