Ciao everyone, here it's Marchettino and today I wanna show you there's no need to spend a lot of money to have fun with a sports car!
I like to show on the channel supercars and hypercars we can only dream about
but I also like to show fun sports cars that are accessible to most petrolheads
and this, the Mini Cooper S R53 is one of those!
It's one of those cars that sometimes make me go to bed thinking " How come I don't sell my Abarth for one of these? "
Even better, it would be an R53 GP, the top of the R53 generation.
As I recently mentioned in a video shot with the Abarth,
The Cooper S is extremely fun and fast car available at very low prices, about 3000€ raising
of course if you go for the cheapest ones, probably defects and problems are behind the corner
but they can be a good thing if you're looking for a cheap base to create a pocket-monster for trackdays at a good price and this car is a proper example because
At a first sight you may think this is a JCW GP.. nope!
It's or well, it was a standard Cooper S
Whose owner decided over the time to play and make it spicier and faster.. especially faster!
My goodness!
The owner sent me a list of all the mods he did but the truth is this car has so many mods
both aestethics and mechanics that I struggle to remember 'em all!
Well, one I can remember is certainly the exhaust because here the owner did go for a full exhaust
with 200cells cat, new headers by making this tiny 1.6L rather loud!
The owner used the philisophy that Mini did to create the JCW GP,
there's no many compromises here because
as you can here, it's stupidly loud!
Stiff? Yup, enough to fly around these corners!
Here we have adjustable suspensions by KW
the ideal to all those love trackdays or to adjust the setup for the road they love to enjoy.
Just like on the GP, here the owner got rid of the rear seats to save weight.
And by the noise I feel inside, probably he got rid of the soundproofing material as well.
I'm not sure the exhaust is able to cover all these noises because in the cockpit, it's a costant vibration!
This is also given to the strut bars placed both in the front and back to make the chassis stiffer.
One thing I love about Minis, behind the wheel of a simple Mini One to a Cooper S or GP
is that on every model you can enjoy that amazing feel to be driving a gokart.
You immediately have the feel to be driving a car glued to the road,
a chassis perfectly balanced and built to enjoy around winding roads.
What I really like about the R35 is the tiny 1.6L 4cyl engine not with a turbo but with a supercharger,
originally, it developed 170hp and 220nm but here the owner tuned the engine also
by switching the pulley, fitting an increased intercooler and lots of other components that make it produce about 220hp
which ain't bad on about 1100kg
with a chassis that make you eat every corner with a big smile on the face!
It's powerful, yet progressive 'till the redline, here the owner has fit also a racelogic to help me find the right moment to change gears.
This car is able to enhance the qualities of the chassis
and thinking that with 3000€ raising you can buy such fun car,
this car reincarnate the concept " small expense, big fun "!
A proper track-toy also because this Cooper S has Yohokohama Advan, semislicks
now they're hot and once heated-up there's no way to keep this car off the road!
Semislicks plus this chassis, it's an insane mix.
They enhance even more this gokart feeling because the steering is simply magnificent, precise and direct!
With a slight touch of the steering, the car reacts does perfectly what you ask for.
Even with 220hp the chassis and front tires don't struggle to unleash all the power
especially when you go flatout in the corners, the car is planted to the ground without any hint of understeer.
Love this road, it's been asphalted recently
so much grip for this Cooper S, it's impossible to find the limit of the chassis and tires on such road.
The sound coming off this 1.6L is marvellous, so enraged and mixed with the noise of the supercharger!
Every heel-toe and gear change is a pleasure because here we have a 6-speed manual that allows
very precise and direct gear changes.
An important upgrade I appreciate very much is the improvement of the brakes
because the owner replaced the stock brakes with a full 330mm system
which you can tell in the sports driving because when you have proper brakes
you can stop in small spaces and you can rely on a brake pedal that doesn't suffer fading.
I've been desiring to test a Mini Cooper S and specifically an R53
because I like the idea to have a supercharged engine
well, it didn't disappoint me at all!
And now who's gonna tell the owner I don't wanna return it?!
Probably if we did not had expensive car taxes and insurances, I would have bought it and put next to the Abarth
but thinking to own another car to use a little and spend several thousands to run it even to keep parked,
let's say it's an incentive to make me change my mind which is the sad reality of our country!
I thank the owner for lending me the car
and thinking when he gave me the car he was like " You're used to drive supercars, you won't be impressed " but you're wrong
because with this test I've shown you there's no need to spend a lot of money to go fast and reach the fun factor.
Make sure to Like the video if you enjoy it, subscribe if you haven't yet and as always thanks for watching, ciao!