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Any Love for Bini's - Silver Project Car Moved Up the Job List


tommotech

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A well maintained, low miles one owner 2005 onwards R50 Cooper is okay. But most are in a horrible state, neglected, rusty as an old horseshoe underneath and so on. The body lasts well but everything else rusts like the Titanic, meaning every job's a bastard nightmare. They're just old cars now and can be money pits. There is a steel coolant tube on the Chrysler built engine that rusts and leaks coolant.

 

The R56 was not as good. The engine is a time bomb, some PSA designed junk that snaps timing chains and is now suffering from wear on No.1 cam journal, allowing oil to escape too fast and not give enough pressure to the Vanos unit. A truly awful engine.  Diesels are better but not as good as the Yaris engined R50 Mini D.

 

The current ones.....well, look at the fucking state of it. A gurning, gopping Focus sized pastiche of what was a really neat idea in 2001.

 

They all suffer from BMW build quality, sadly.

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The current ones.....well, look at the fucking state of it. A gurning, gopping Focus sized pastiche of what was a really neat idea in 2001.

 

Focus sized? On the motorway last Thursday a 5 door mini drove past me (in a civic) and a 1-series in front - both the same size class as a Focus. It was considerably taller than both! I wouldn't be surprised if it's not far off Nissan Qashqai dimensions.

 

Maybe that is intentional by BMW though...?

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LED side light bulbs (that were too bright) replaced and lower arm bush replaced. I managed to press a new bush into the bracket without having to drop the subframe. It was a battle to get the arm back into the new bush on reassembly though.

 

post-19581-0-61832100-1486892952_thumb.jpg

 

post-19581-0-94350300-1486893020_thumb.jpg

 

New pads fitted for good measure. Can I get the A/C working today?

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Happy to report that A/C works after a re-gas. Now to get the LH window working.

 

Water ingress into the boot, settling in the tool tray. Nothing obvious, any experience or ideas welcome please.

Do these suffer from leaking rear light seals? Like the Rover 75?.......Just a guess, i am not really up on Bini's. 

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The first Bini was alright, a smart move by BMW and a pleasant if a shade unreliable car.

Today (in Waitrose carpark) I saw a 2017 Mini countryman. I had to look twice at the size of the thing, the bloody wheelbase is 105", nearly the size of my Volvo 164 and I suspect it weighs more. The thing then propelled itself off down the road at well over the 30 mph speed limit with automatic box barely discernable. I meanwhile stood staring like a slack jawed hillbilly.

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The first Bini was alright, a smart move by BMW and a pleasant if a shade unreliable car.

Today (in Waitrose carpark) I saw a 2017 Mini countryman. I had to look twice at the size of the thing, the bloody wheelbase is 105", nearly the size of my Volvo 164 and I suspect it weighs more. The thing then propelled itself off down the road at well over the 30 mph speed limit with automatic box barely discernable. I meanwhile stood staring like a slack jawed hillbilly.

 

 

1540 kg. An E32 730i from 1987 weighs 1600 kg.

 

The MINI is one of the few cars I genuinely detest - as a 'brand' it's a snapshot of what UK society has become. They're overpriced junk bought new by the terminally stupid. (IMO) There were a few bright spots - the original R50 Cooper S was novel, and the R56 Mini Clubman ditto but only with the diesel engine and not that PSA junk in the petrols.

 

The current range with that gopping front end is just ridiculous.

 

A 1.0 Ecoshit Fiesta costs the same 15 grand as a base Mini One. Fifteen grand!!  :shock: 

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Do these suffer from leaking rear light seals? Like the Rover 75?.......Just a guess, i am not really up on Bini's.

 

I've had the lights out and seals are good.

 

I'm beginning to think it may be the boot release button surround gasket. Water is in there as the RH number plate lamp is corroded.

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Typically, I'm really warming to an original New Mini (sorry, I don't really get the R numbers - but basically the launch models)

I say typically, because I realise I like them just as they all hit the point of being rusty moneypits with all the known faults popping up at the same time.

 

I did test drive a '07 example when I was looking for a newish car, it was OK really but a little too small for what I needed (I know - clue is in the name, but I wanted to just try one). I think the bigger problem then was the image, all estate agents and bimbos. 

Could definitely rock a scruffy one now.

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A 1.0 Ecoshit Fiesta costs the same 15 grand as a base Mini One. Fifteen grand!!  :shock: 

 

A friend was on the new MINI website where you spec the car, choose the colour etc.  After a very few minutes he was at £30k whereas a Jaguar F Pace is £34k.  I don't know if a MINI is actually bigger, but when it comes down to driveway cachet don't people think of a MINI as a small, cheap car?

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LED side light bulbs (that were too bright) replaced and lower arm bush replaced. I managed to press a new bush into the bracket without having to drop the subframe. It was a battle to get the arm back into the new bush on reassembly though.

attachicon.gif2017-02-11 14.09.31.jpg

attachicon.gif2017-02-11 16.30.25.jpg

New pads fitted for good measure. Can I get the A/C working today?

For the window 99% of the time it's just a bit of crud causing the problem the fix is just to hit the door card with the palm of your hand in a certain place at the front between the speakers and it fixes it.

Another problem with the mini is the plastic door check straps not holding the door back properly which isn't a hard job to do and the part is about £25 from memory but if your doing that then the door panel has to come off anyway and you can then clean the motor and connector properly but theres plenty of how to guides on the net on where exactly to hit the panel.

 

My freinds mini has had the window issue and I've fixed it by the bang on the panel approach much to her amusement and it lasts about a year to the next clout I just put it down to the car being retro so they've given it some BL electrics.

 

Her Cooper is a 2004 and it's a nice little motor to drive and even though it's only 115bhp and quite heavy it feels as nippy as my BMW 318ti E36 and the gear change has a very nice heavy solid feel to it.

 

But do change the gearbox oil as her car only had about 40 something thousand on the clock and when we changed the gearbox oil the plug looked like a hedgehog even with that mileage.

 

And bin the bloody horrid Runflats as it improves the ride no end we went for some cheap uniroyal rain sports and it sticks to the road like glue.

 

Mechanically though the engines on the R50 R53 seem bloody good and are quite simple all I've ever done to the car is basic servicing and a set of plugs and it never uses a drop of coolant or oil plus it's chain driven so as long as it's given regular oil changes it shouldn't be a problem.

 

The only other thing I can think of what's supposed to be a problem is the plastic coolant expansion tank is known to leak along a seam but her car has never had that problem.

 

The car she has is a fully loaded example and everything electric works in the car and the bum warmers are brilliant but apparently the steering is playing up very occasionally (about once every 3 months on full lock it will pack up for a second) so it might be needed an uprated steering motor sometime soon.

 

I think a lot of the problems on the mini is the clientele that buy the cars as young girls and spotty estate agents don't look under the bonnet.

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It won't have the midland gearbox being an S which is a bonus but obviously the normal mini stuff apply such as power steering motors and electric window problems etc.

A mate of mine had an S and it really was a lovely car but don't expect good fuel consumption as he rarely achieved 30mpg but it might of been because he had a lead foot.

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A friend was on the new MINI website where you spec the car, choose the colour etc. After a very few minutes he was at £30k whereas a Jaguar F Pace is £34k. I don't know if a MINI is actually bigger, but when it comes down to driveway cachet don't people think of a MINI as a small, cheap car?

If you want to use the £34k F-pace price tag (bobby basic, rwd diesel with no toys) then you really should compare it with the £15k base price of the MINI (actually £14,225).

Alternatively you could take the specced up £30k MINI and compare the price to a £52k F-pace (supercharged v6 4x4).

 

Or just write "all moderns are shit" over and over again...

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So a bog-standard MINI is £15k. When did they come out? 2001? I think a boggo one was £10k back then. Wish my wages kept up with new car price inflation. :(

Not just new car inflation, the Bank of England calculater say that of £10,300 of 2001 pounds should be worth £15,633 in 2016.

 

New car in "cheaper than old one" shock!!!!!

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The leak of water into the boot was indeed the boot release / number plate lamp moulding, the neoprene gasket had shrunk, allowing water through.

 

Hopefully it's now water tight, time will tell.

 

Thumping the door card failed to startle the passenger window into submission, further analysis is required there. A job for another day.

 

Car has cleaned up nicely, too dark for photos unfortunately.

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If you want to use the £34k F-pace price tag (bobby basic, rwd diesel with no toys) then you really should compare it with the £15k base price of the MINI (actually £14,225).

Alternatively you could take the specced up £30k MINI and compare the price to a £52k F-pace (supercharged v6 4x4).

 

Or just write "all moderns are shit" over and over again...

 

It's not my intention to write that all moderns are shit, far from it.  Just that you can spec a seemingly small car to be priced way over a much bigger and more impressive one.

 

I'm sure you could do it before, loading up a Cortina with all the options until it cost more than a Granada.  More difficult to spec up a Mini 1275GT until it cost more than an XJ6, even if it's the poverty 2.8 model.

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and just to clarify for those that care:-

1st Generation  2002-2006
R50 for the Mini Cooper
R53 for the Mini Cooper S

2nd Generation  2007-2013
R56 for both the Mini Cooper and Cooper S

3rd Generation  2014-2020  
F56
for both the Mini Cooper and Cooper S


4-Door  Hatch   3rd Generation  2015-2020  
F55
for both the Mini Cooper and Cooper S

CONVERTIBLE

1st Generation  2005-2008
R52 for both the Mini Cooper and Cooper S

2nd Generation  2009-2015  
R57 for both the Mini Cooper and Cooper S

3rd Generation  2016-2021  
F57 for both the Mini Cooper and Cooper S  

CLUBMAN   
3-Door  Split Doors 2nd Generation  2008-2014  
R55
for both the Mini Cooper and Cooper S

4-Door  3rd Generation  2016-2020  
F54
for both the Mini Cooper and Cooper S   

COUPE  2-Door  2nd Generation  2012-2015  
R58 for both the Mini Cooper and Cooper S 

ROADSTER  2-Door  2nd Generation  2012-2015  
R59 for both the Mini Cooper and Cooper S

COUNTRYMAN  4-Door  2nd Generation  2011-2016  
R60 for both the Mini Cooper and Cooper S and ALL4

PACEMAN  2-Door  Hatch  Front & Rear  2nd Generation  2013-2016  
R61 for both the Mini Cooper and Cooper S and ALL4 
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I see we're now using the XJ from the top of Jaguar's range rather the F-pace at the bottom, I'll bow out of this now as your mind has clearly been made up.

 

Have this stick, no - the other end.

 

I was trying to make a light hearted comment and wondering about positioning of cars in the marketplace.  Not saying any of them are wrong.

 

Anyway, back at the thread.  Now that MINIs are at an acceptably low price range, especially compared to Minis, I would quite like one.

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Further Mini fettling shows an ABS sensor fault on left hand front. This would explain why the tyre pressure monitoring won't reset and no ASC lamps illuminate.

 

Before I go too deep does anyone have any experience of this type of fault on these? A quick search suggests sensors can be problematic but I've also been told that the reluctor within the wheel bearing can cause errors.

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I'd have an R53 Cooper S.

 

I've said that for years though, used to get grief on the old car forums for defending the 'Bini', but I owned four original Minis and frankly they were a bit shit as actual daily cars.

 

ABS sensor will cause TPS warning to go on. Jack car up, disconnect sensor plug, connect ohm meter to sensor end, spin wheel. If there's no reading the sensor is probably dead. If the reading fluctuates at one point in the wheel's rotation it'll be the reluctor ring broken.

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We have a 60 plate R56 Cooper auto. It's good - hasn't set a foot wrong. The Aisin auto box is a decent thing, too. We've not been using it as much since I got the R8 though!

In the R50 the auto boxes were all grenade-prone CVTs, but the automatic R53 S (rare for obvious reasons) is also an Aisin box with no reported issues.

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