R53 vs R56

[EmD20v]

So I am looking at gettng my wife a cooper S, I previously had a R53 Cooper S which was damn awesome to own. Only issue I had while owning that car was the serpentine belt snapping and clutch replacement. Other than that she ran damn strong and had awesome fun in it.

Anyways, I have read up about the R56 Cooper S and there are nothing but horror stories :-o and I am wanting to really get a R56 for the wifey but after all this I am thinking if we should rather then just get a R53 instead, seems like a more solid choice.

So my question is, is the R53 a better choice over the R56 in terms of reliability?

There is a R56 available that ticks all our boxes and it has 141k km on the clock.....surely its been through it all by now to reach those km's not?

 

[NtandoN]

If it's a pre 2012 R56, don't get it! The horror stories are all true. I bought my wife a '09 R56 and nothing but problems. Trying to sort all the problems out and getting rid of it. Apparently all the problems were sorted with release of the facelift from 2012 on wards.

List of problems;
Turbo boost pressure sensor replaced x2
Snapped cambelt
Limp mode over 4000revs
Over heating (and cambelt again)
Always some or other warning light on, almost constantly

That's over a 2.5yr period. This car has been in and out of Sandton Auto, Northcliff Auto and a few aftermarket mechanics. It's only got 92000km :smashScreen:

Rather get a 1 series.

 

[EmD20v]

Holy crap, the one we looked at was a 07 model.........everywhere I read about the R56 its just issues after issues :-|

Thanks for the advise bud, damn and I had awesome plans for the car. We have about 120k cash to spend on a hot hatch for her and this would of been so perfect :-(

 

[car_fanatic]

A lady colleague of mine has a '07 Cooper S. Car spent a lot of time in the garage since new. Eventually they replaced the whole engine under motorplan. Not sure if there was any issues since then.