I have a GP 1, they took out the sound deadening to save weigt, I swear it sounds like a been hive under the bonnet with helium being pumped around it, totally insane.

Are all Mini Cooper s r53/

I just bought one.... full service, no mods.. pure JCW... Took it for a drive, my copilot: 'I didn't expect that' ... sure after I finish the B road... :)) .

How’s the engine maintenance with the carbon build up?

@@Esurient- Personally I don't care, I just do the oil, 99fuel, track the car to red line, the way it was built. I drive it at 4500rpm on a daily basis. I had a look inside the head it was black when I got it, now is clean, pulls, revs. What's the point putting a bigger pulley when its already installed, it's called rev counter. Either you rebuild the engine every 30k or you enjoy it as it is for 300k. It's not a drag car, is not a dump clutch car, it's a car that holds good speed in the corners. 😊. I also have a mini one 90hp... Proper fun if you drive it within the specs. Learn how to drive realible and fast (engine specs), wanna keep it clean? Push that engine. Hope it helps. Speed will desintegrate everything 😁

@@Esurient- they don't soot up, the later N14 turbo charged engine in the R56 did.

@@MrCooperman Ahhhh, tyty, good info for a future mini owner!

Have you joined the Mini groups on Facebook? X

I have had my R53 since new and I still feel the same way, I have owned a lot of cool cars and this is my favorite of them all

Depends what you want from it and preference. I wouldn't give my r56 jcw for anything other

@@jackh1457 I’m looking to buy my first car, Mini Cooper R53 is looking like my best option (price wise) I have a budget of £4.500 what are the positives about yours? Would it suit me as a 17 year old... looking to just drive to the shops, to my mates, possibly a few trips to my family in London (5hours)?

@@Eliza_daniel1 I would look at insurance first. Im 25 and it cost me about £500 for the year to insure. Let's say that's not an issue. The r53 engine is bullet proof, really reliable but it drinks fuel. Like 25mpg whilst the r56 you can get between 35-40 might driving around town due to having a turbo. R56 has better tuning potential. My dad used to own an r53 Cooper s and for the time it was nice but its showing its age now with electrical issues and rust. Personally, without being biast. I would go for the r56 just because its newer and the supercharger whine of the r53 would do my head in haha But for you. I would look at an r53 cooper s and see what you think, test drive a few

@@jackh1457 wow thanks so much for your fast reply. I think once we “eventually” get out of lockdown I’ve just gotta see what I like. Thanks for your opinion on the matter. It means a lot.

@@Eliza_daniel1 your insurance is gonna be through the roof, you’ll be lucky if it’s under 2k a year.

King Brilliant I’d also say the same for the mk4 golf

Mk4 golf gti 1.8t is the worst car I’ve ever owned

@King Brilliant That is still just your experience. Personally, I found the E46 a solid blast to drive. Sounds like you had a lemon. I wouldn't say they're overrated either as they have people that love the chassis and the way it drives.

@@rahulmandala4930 I agree e46 great cars when looked after. People pick up neglected shagged cars and expect a premium experience you need to spend the money looking after them.

Mk5 and mk6 (edition 30/35) is the best thing you can get for under 10k

craig spooner Welcome to the club - this review is my car and I am so glad you went for it - you will not regret it!

Always good to know when I have influenced people! Enjoy the car

Enjoy

Fee yrs down the line how was the mini, im going lookimg at a cooper s jcw with 65k and fsh. Has 15% pully reduction and bigger intercooler.... Is the mini as good as a car daily....

Isn’t the F56 quicker?

Fuel economy? But you need the most expensive fuel don't you?

@@jesushairstyle nah just 91 or higher

It's as much oil leakage as it is consumption. These cars stuffer from terrible oil leaks. There's 3 different places my R53 is hemorrhaging oil from right now. It's been a job I've been meaning to sort out but I just keep putting it off because it's a pain in the ass.

MrManBuzz that’s true, I changed the crank position sensor oil seal when doing the supercharger service recently as it was weeping badly from there, as well as the dipstick tube o ring. Occasional drop from the sump too 👍🏻

I have a r53 GP too. Oil consumption of mine is almost nothing. I'am the second owner. Bought it with 112000kms and now almost 8 years later it has 213000kms. It is not a perfect car, but it is great fun to drive. And it is the Generation that is giving the biggest go-kart feeling of the 3 Generations. My wife and I also own a R58 JCW and a F56 JCW so I can compare very well. People who want to drive a young Mini but can not afford it, don't be unlucky, you can have a lot of fun with the first Gen. New Mini. I would prefer a facelift r53 cooper s or jcw or a GP. This ones have a good gearbox too, better than the gearbox in a Cooper. But only buy one if you can reservate some money to pay repaircosts. Weak points are steeringpump, leaking engine mount, oil leaks at sensors(not expensive in parts because often only an old seal but a lot of work to get on it). More weak points you can find on internet. On KZfaq you can find a lot of videos to see how you can repair things yourself to save a lot of money. As with all used cars, you can have luck or not.

Same.

- I also disagree with him saying r56 interior is better built . R56 is full of plastic .

@@paulforrester4057 I can confirm, owned an r56 and the door panel somehow got loose and had to kick it back in place. The current F56 has a proper interior in terms of quality.

Me too bro lol 😂

Haha, well there's plenty more opinions to come

@@JayEmmOnCars Any plans for your opinions on electric cars/future of cars?

@@ConquerDriving I did a five part series last year on an electric car, and this year have plans to shoot two more full EVs

@@JayEmmOnCars I think must have missed them, I'll try and find them.

Hey man same with me... so what have you replaced or fixed thus far... love hate relationship with mine too

RAWKUS tv it’s super charged

Turbo whine? 🤔

The supercharger really is intoxicating. It’s like a devil on your shoulder begging you to put the foot down.

Ah but how fast did your flat go, and did it handle? 😁

Ride can be improved with light 16 x 7" wheels and 205/50 non-runflat tyres. My 2003 R53 has been the most reliable car I've owned in the last 32 years. My annual mileage is less than 5,000 though.

I also have an 05 lsd hyper blue with white roof/mirrors, wipac lights, single mass flywheel and hornet exhaust. Was low mileage but had 5 previous owners. Spent over 3 grand replacing parts to bring it back to mint condition but it's worth every penny. Drive it as a daily and fuel economy is shocking but there's no other car quite like it. Main parts replaced have been standard wear and tear parts as expected with a car this age. Bushes, brakes, clutch, exhaust, ball joints, drive shafts etc. Once you replace these things it should last a good while. Lemforder suspension parts are the only ones that seem to take a beating and last, don't bother with anything else. Also worth replacing the transmission fluid as its shared with the LSD. They say its lifetime fluid but its really not. Make sure it's the BMW Mtf2 fluid as it's got a friction modifier additive for the LSD. It's around £50 for two bottles but anything cheaper that's not BMW will cause a rubbing sound of the LSD.

@@andrewwharmby6834 spot on 👍 when I got mine I gave it an Inspection II service with OEM parts, but also changed the fuel filter (used a Vaico item as the BMW part was extortionate) and like you also had the gearbox oil replaced. I used Redline MTL on mine, but the GL4 spec one that's recommended for LSDs (basically to MTF94 spec). Totally agree made a big difference to the quality of the gear change and no rubbing sound on the diff. I believe some people make the mistake of using the wrong grade or worse GL5 oil which can destroy all the brass bits in the box which is no good. I think something that also gets overlooked is replacement of brake fluid and proper bleeding of the system......I found with mine that the clutch wasnt disengaging quite right and led to slightly crunchy gearshifts unless you purposefully changed gear very slowly.....I thought it was the clutch slave cylinder leaking but turns out the brake fluid could do with a change (past its best) and also hadnt been very well bled before......full change of fluid and properly bled it was then A1 again. These things need over maintaining to keep them in good working order I find.....I dont do many miles a year in mine but I plan to service it every year, maybe alternating inspection I and II schedules.

@@allseeing357 I haven't done the fuel filter on mine yet but defo on the list. Tried redline MTL on mine but had the rubbing sound after a few weeks, maybe the diff is a bit more worn. The Getrag 6sp gearboxes are a lot better than the midland in standard coopers. With the brake fluid, I didn't change it when I got it and that's why I needed a new clutch after a few years because it wasn't disengaging properly. Also did the slave and master when I was troubleshooting (hoping it wouldn't need a new clutch!) Not too fussed as I wanted a single mass fly but most people don't realise (like myself) that the brake fluid is important to change every year like mini recommends and I guess it's because of the clutch. Best car I've ever owned but people don't realise that they need to be maintained like performance vehicles and then slate them. Previous owners tend to just leave them.

But those engines are made of chocolate, r53 is far stronger.

bign3ck really ? I never knew that 😂

Engines are good for 280bhp mate, however the timing chains tensioners and hpfp are a bit dog shiteon them, poor maintenance of them will create these problems, much better on the n18 models as most of these problems were rectified.

JM productions My auntie had one on a 52 plate, grey GB flag on the roof. A friend has bought one recently on a 53, charger wound up and sounds ace ....but it's started to give him electrical problems

Probably the best sounding engine with a aftermarket or probably even stock exhaust

How else will you power your fridge?

You in the UK? It could be arranged

@@JayEmmOnCars yes mate lincolnshire!

Juke Nismo. Juke Nismo. Not the garden variety.

@@JayEmmOnCars Still a Juke, though. I think you allowed family loyalty to sway you.

I've had 2 R53s and a 182 and from my experience the mini is by far better. The clio looks like every other and inside was boring. The drive was ok but not as much fun as the mini. I still have my R53 :)

I have not experienced any of the problems you have stated and had my car 4 years. Supercharger service is a must. Apart from coil pack and o2 sensor I've had no issues. Not all minis are knackers 🤣

Bollocks

Really?

No. Engines are built like brick houses and the engine itself is very reliable if looked after and not hooned. It's just cosmetics that will eventually give out. All the cheap plastics mainly. The plastics have never given out for me but from what I have read just outside cosmetic bits, pieces like plastic trim are the parts that decide to fall off if your lucky.

@@junkyardgemsofficial Head gasket problems, cracked heads, superchargers that need a rebuild by 100k, clutches that dont lask all that long. electrical issues and a power steering pump that gives out at about 90k. Rear brake calipers frm a rver25 that were super low quality. List is endless.

Paying about £1000 for black box around same age as you.

Works GP maybe?

@@JayEmmOnCars I know it's a standard car, they like their cars as my bro has a supercharged XKR

I didn't realise reliability was an issue as I'm my time working with this generation their tenure in our workshops was doen to nothing but a few gearbox failures and the electric windows not dropping when opening the doors (duff microswitch.)

- maybe it was earlier models but I didn't research into them properly

Rear wiper delete,, cleaner aesthetic

This

Thanks 👍

Astro Black

MiniBull1903 - the GTE 16v’s we’re quick. That motor was the first hot hatch multi valve motor to have decent torque. My R19 16v was a slug In comparison and the MK2 Golf valvers weren’t much better.

Dave Spooney - fair points fella. The Astra was also very light

Absolute bullshit. I have a 2006 jcw and has never gone wrong ONCE. Has 140k miles.

Oh yes very

The engines are built like brick houses and the engine itself is very reliable if looked after and not hooned. It's just cosmetics that will eventually give out. All the cheap plastics mainly. The plastics have never given out for me but from what I have read just outside and maybe inside cosmetic bits, pieces like plastic trim are the parts that decide to fall apart if your lucky.