We decided early on that when the mx5 went, we wanted another convertible, something fun and with character to replace her. After looking at BMW's (not really my taste) then Audis (could fall asleep looking at those) we harked back to when we had Carly, our 2nd gen Cooper. Loved that wee car! So the hunt was on for a 1st gen as I prefer the interior/exterior of them and also think the engines are better than the gen2.After travelling down to Durham to see a Cooper (that was a One!) with approx 57K on the clock (more like 157K the state it was in and the way it drove), we finally found "the one" (only it's not a one! lol) So that 1st one in Durham was an absolute shed, with a boot full of water, every panel marked, wrong interior and "Cooper S" badges all over its rear. It drove like a pile of spanners, brakes rattling/rumbling/knocking, suspension knocks and generally felt horrible. It was also only 90bhp due to being the One model. So that was abandoned and we were going to continue hunting for Coopers....then though stuff it, if we're gonna get one, might as well do it right! So the hunt was on for a cooper S!Called about 3, which all turned out to be apparently damaged/repaired but not logged and all had no history. then Gayle found one up in Aberdeen. It was one I'd initially dismissed as somebody had sprayed the dash inserts red and that looked tacky to me. Gayle then suggested "you're good at vinyl wrapping, could you not wrap them"? What a bloody good idea! So we went up to see it .........it has been sitting for a while as the chap bought it for his wife but she decided the convertible wasn't for her so he bought her Cooper S gen 2 hatchback. Even though its been sitting about (only done 200 miles since its MOT in April) he'd had the advisories from the mot fixed and she has all her service history etc. She's on a 06 plate with only 72K on the clock, lowest miles one we'd seen in our price range. First Cooper S I've driven and she drives spot on. No knocks from suspension or anything, engine runs sweet! We bought her for 200 quid less than asking price, so well chuffed. Pulled away from the guys house, half a mile down road engine management light came on!! Swear to god you couldn't make it up! We had her on a very long test drive, drove spot on! Funny thing is, even though we had a 3 and a half hour drive ahead of us, she drove it all faultlessly (apart from the wee engine light being on) Read the owners book and looks like it might be something to do with emissions? Thinking egr valve or poss lamba? Not sure but going to get her on the diagnostics to see. The other EML light goes off no probs so bit of a strange one. Anyways, she's not our daily driver so plenty time to fix, as she's only our weekend/good weather car.Sooo.......here she is, Dave and Gayle's 1st gen MCS R52 (also now known as "Poppy" lol) (these are just the photos from the ad)
Well happy with her, hope you like!