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@Nahguavkire
A build thread for my 2006 Mini Cooper S R53:
Standard specification:
1598cc
Inline-4cyl
Eaton M45 supercharger
Horsepower - 168bhp
Torque - 210Nm
Weight - 1140kg
Power to weight - 143bhp/ton
Acceleration 0-100kmph - 7.2s
Figured I'd do a build thread on this one then...
So as some of you know I begrudgingly parted company with my beloved Alfa Romeo 159 Sportwagon 2.4 JTDM at the beginning of the year.
I set myself a very small budget for replacement with upcoming home buying and wedding in the next year or so and as such my choices were rather limited.
I knew I didn't want a diesel car again for environmental reasons and I also knew I wasn't in a position to look into any hybrids or electric vehicles.
I eventually narrowed the shortlist down to the greatest hits of mid-2000s hot hatches
I furiously trawled the local classifieds in search of the perfect motor for me and found myself gravitating to the R53 as I have had 2no. Mini One Ds as my first cars and really did enjoy them. I was also conscious that if this was supposedly a cheap foray into motoring that I would benefit from the smaller engine size compared to the other two and the cherry atop the proverbial icing was of course the supercharger...
So after finding that the first half dozen or so R53s I'd set my sights on were all clocked/ written off/ crazy high mileage/ no service history I turned to the Irish Mini Owners page on Facebook for some advice on a car I had spotted when the owner of the car I bought messaged me and told me that he was planning to sell his R53 as he needed to buy a learner suitable car for his daughter but hadn't advertised it yet.
He was a former BMW dealer service manager which gave me good hopes of the car having been taken care of and although the service history was slightly patchy it did have a lot of receipts for the important things and even the original sales receipt which is kind of cool.
So...
We arranged to meet and I took it for a quick spin and had a look about it and I became the happy owner of an R53.
Pics below are the photos sent to me by the seller so it looked just like this the day I collected it.
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