What do you buy when you want to have fun behind the wheel but only have the budget for one daily driver? For less than 5 grand, we bought an early 2000s Mini Cooper S: a fun little sportster during the week that’s just as capable of hitting the track or the campground when the weekend starts.
But like …
Assume Service Position One?
Nice car, I've had my eye on one for some time...
I bought a 2003 same British Racing Green, black top , no stripes for $1000 off Ebay. Owner listed a few minor issues, & the major issue is won't stay in 5th gear. "I use it as a 4 speed" she said. Went and picked it up and drove it the 2.5 hours home. No issues other than 5th, & I really liked it. My wife swore she would never want a manual car again, even though I taught her to drive one when we were 1st dating. She took the Mini for a test drive when I got it home. I was thinking it broke down on her and was getting ready to go looking when she called and said the test drive had been "extended", everything was ok. She arrived back at the house with a huge smile and said "I want it". I was shocked. her wanting a manual gearbox. It has the midlands 5 speed, research shows they are terribly unreliable & expensive, and a 6 speed swap isn't just a transmission, axles, & linkage. That means I need to pull it apart and see if its fixable. Dont wish you guys any bad luck, but hope you do some transmission articles
I'm running Federal ST1's on my R53, and I love them. Cheap, quiet, good looking, great in the rain, and handle track duty no problem.
In reply to WheelPowerracing :
The S uses a completely different 6 speed manual transmission; the 05/06 cars use a Getrag. I'm unsure who makes the tranny for the pre-facelift R53s. Best of luck with the 5 speed.
I have been eyeing these for a while.
350z247 said:In reply to WheelPowerracing :
The S uses a completely different 6 speed manual transmission; the 05/06 cars use a Getrag. I'm unsure who makes the tranny for the pre-facelift R53s. Best of luck with the 5 speed.
The '02-'04 5-speed transmission was a Midlands. Originally a PSA (Peugoet-Citroen) design according to https://new.minimania.com/MINI_Cooper_5-SPEED_Midland_TRANSMISSION_BACKGROUND
We own 2 '03s and 1 '04 non-S MINIs.
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