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My wife has finally come to the realization that she will have to bury me in my Coupe. The plot will have to be oversized but think how much I'll save on the coffin
I would have loved a Roadster but, with winter travels from Ohio to Wisconsin, I thought a hardtop the better choice.
Love the looks of both but, there is something about a great summer day on a cruise in a convertible. My Brother visited Ohio from DC last weekend. He had a gorgeous day last Sunday to drive back home in his '83 Porsche 911 convertible.
I recently just bought an R58 a few weeks ago after my R56 was rear ended. I am not new to minis but this is my first R58 and am extremely excited about it. I got an absolute deal on it as well as I picked it up from an online insurance auction in St.Louis, IL. The auction had it listed as “non running, engine damage”. My thoughts were to pull the motor out of my R56 and swap it in. Found out a ground strap/wire was not connected so the starter wouldn’t engage. Connected the ground and wallah, started right up!!!
Paid just under $3k!!!
Over the last year, I started hoarding parts for my R56. Pretty much bought the entire ECS catalog of parts lol. All parts are currently being installed on the R58 and hope to be on the road in a few short weeks.
I have been spending a lot of time here on NAM and figured it’s time I create an account. (Looking forward to my T-shirt!)
Tigger2011, your posts have been extremely helpful and full of knowledge. It is also one of the reasons I decided to create an account finally. I’m hoping to reach out to you soon for a tune!
Crappy pictures of my R56/R58
Day I picked it up from the Auction lot Sitting outside my friends shop before going under the knife Red 2011 R56 that was rear ended. Poor car. Also picked this one up early this year for $2k!! ☹️
Ouch, that hurts seeing the R56 like that but man what a smoking deal on the Coupe. Congratulations!
Lol on the ECS catalog. It's certainly not hard to find something irresistible in there. Then you get into the whole "While I'm in here I might as well....". So what started as a leisurely walk down a snowy hill turns into a careening bobsled ride on the ragged edge of flying of the side of a mountain. Interestingly enough, you end up with the same stupendous grin plastered all over your face either way.
I have been watching online auctions, I saw that one but because of the mechanical damage, I didn't consider it. I don't remember if they had the mileage listed or not. I did think it would make a great flip car if you could find another wrecked with a donor motor cheap.
I have been watching for a low mileage wreck for a spare engine to keep on hand. No hurry, mine only has 55,XXX on her now. Having a second engine around would help ensure the life long keep. Having a few exterior/interior parts wouldn't be all that bad either. About every vehicle I have owned, the drivers seat shows how much I was in it but, they all had between 250,000 and 465,000 miles on them.
That's my picture, they had the package on the New 2011 R56 MINI Cooper S, it had a green interior. That's the old reginal manager for MINIUSA holding his thumbs up and Peter from MINI UK Corp.
Ouch, that hurts seeing the R56 like that but man what a smoking deal on the Coupe. Congratulations!
Lol on the ECS catalog. It's certainly not hard to find something irresistible in there. Then you get into the whole "While I'm in here I might as well....". So what started as a leisurely walk down a snowy hill turns into a careening bobsled ride on the ragged edge of flying of the side of a mountain. Interestingly enough, you end up with the same stupendous grin plastered all over your face either way.
I have been watching online auctions, I saw that one but because of the mechanical damage, I didn't consider it. I don't remember if they had the mileage listed or not. I did think it would make a great flip car if you could find another wrecked with a donor motor cheap.
I have been watching for a low mileage wreck for a spare engine to keep on hand. No hurry, mine only has 55,XXX on her now. Having a second engine around would help ensure the life long keep. Having a few exterior/interior parts wouldn't be all that bad either. About every vehicle I have owned, the drivers seat shows how much I was in it but, they all had between 250,000 and 465,000 miles on them.
I still browse the auction site here and there. I got lucky! I was definitely thinking I was going to have to remove the engine out of the R56 and swap it into the R58. Now I have a spare engine/drivetrain that I'll hang onto until I'm confident the R58 is healthy with all the mods I'm throwing at it.
That's my picture, they had the package on the New 2011 R56 MINI Cooper S, it had a green interior. That's the old reginal manager for MINIUSA holding his thumbs up and Peter from MINI UK Corp.
Wow! I had no idea the graphics were part of an actual Mini package. Was there anything else included in the tattoo package besides the graphic?
If you drive both occasionally, you are really gonna have people messed up. R58 owners always get asked if it is a convertible or "take the top off". I wish it had a detachable hardtop like some of the Corvettes. Love a top down drive in the summer, love my hardtop in the winter.
BTW I know that there were < 8k coupes and <7500 Roadsters sold in the US - but does anyone have a breakdown of how many were JCW vs S vs standard? Or maybe a breakout on the colors?
" My guess is it maybe 1,000 of the sales total, I have seen a lot of the JCW models for R58/R59. Seems like in 2012 people bought up on the model. I heard back in the day from MINIUSA that only 500 JCW models across the board only come into the USA a year."
That was from MINIUSA sales director at the time. Before Patrick Mckenna
I parted with my 2005 R53 a week or so ago. I bought it new,
gave it good service and put 230,000 miles on it. I've always
remembered the Coupes since they came out... I saw a low
mileage one a couple of states away on the carmax web page and paid
them $200 to send it local so I could try it out... forever? I hope
it lasts a long time!
Looks good in the picture. Someone blacked out the chrome, that is in my plans if I ever get time along with wrapping my silver top black and powder coating the rims black as well. The Xenon headlight change would be nice to have as well. $$$ aren't the issue, time is.
I think you will like it. Great handling car with some zip. I am at 79,000, it is also going to need some new struts and bushings. I am thinking Koni Red and powerflex bushings. I am hoping that reduces some of the torque steer. Again, time is the issue as I do all the work myself. I lose one weekend a month with Army Reserves and my Monday - Friday job swamped till it is too cold or too wet in November or December, it will be a bit yet.
As the years worn on and various emblems fell off I quit
worrying about looks on my R53... but the suspension
and brakes and steering components, that was always
a worthwhile place to spend Mini money...
I’d like to keep my 2015 R58 S forever, but concerned about future repair costs. Wondering if an extended warranty would be advisable. I’d appreciate some thoughts on this.
I am not a fan of them but, I do almost all my own repairs. The only thing with time is sometimes the parts are no longer available, that is the thing that will kill it.
I've only bought an extended warranty on my wife's MB because of all the electronics. The MB dealer is absolutely wonderful but not cheap. (They did end up replacing all of my Zebrano wood for free!)
But on a Mini, I'm not sure it would be worth it. The cars are fairly easy to fix for even a novice wrench turner and pretty cheap to replace if you do hit something major. You'd probably be better off just putting the cost of the warranty into an Ally bank account to save as a "rainy-day car expenses" bucket.
