Mini Cooper Sport SE

 

Welcome to my Mini Cooper Sport special limited edition web page.
My name is Stevan Patterson, and I live at Castlederg, Co. Tyrone, Northern Ireland.
This is my web page about my own Mini Cooper Sport SE. This page is updated at least once a month.

The Mini Cooper Sport SE, was built as a final special limited edition of the Mini. The last ever Mini is identical in colour and specification to my car.

The Mini was built in the Longbridge, factory of what is now the MG Rover group from 26th August 1959
until 4th October 2000. In the cars 41 year continuous production run over 5.3 million were built.

My car was ordered from my local Rover Dealer, T. P. Topping Enniskillen on the 3rd June, 2000.
I followed the production of the car closely from order until it's arrival in T. P. Topping on 23rd June, 2000.
On arrival the car was given pride of place in the showroom. I took delivery of the car on the 1st July 2000.

Receiving the keys to the Mini Cooper Sport SLE from Peter Little T.P. Topping Ltd. 1^st July 2000  

 

 

The Mini on the day it arrived home

My Mini Cooper Sport SE features, Solar red and Platinum silver paint scheme, 13" sports alloys, modified sports suspension,
body coloured wheel arch extensions, twin silver coach lines and decals, twin fog and driving lights,
A+ 1275cc two point fuel injected engine developing 63Ps, large bore sports exhaust system, special Cooper Sport SE badge,
full leather black and nickel silver coloured seats and steering wheel, alloy gear knob, alloy dash, alloy door furniture,
extra gauges in the dash for battery condition and oil temperature. The car is also fitted with an ICT stereo system.

Current Mileage and Routine Maintenance:

After purchasing the car, I painted all the running gear and sub frames with black Smoothright, any part of the under body of the car lacking in paint was then under sealed and the whole bottom of the car was treated with Waxoil.

1000 mile or 3 month service was carried out by T.P. Topping on 1/9/00 at 1070 miles. This included: checking the steering alignment, adjusting the valve clearances, tightening the cylinder head bolts and checking fluid levels.

Oil and filter change was carried out at 1200 miles, 9/9/00 and was I glad I did due to the amount of metal fragments picked up by the magnetic oil plug.

Every week I check oil and water levels. Once a month I check brake and clutch fluid levels.

Every month, suspension joints are greased.

6000 mile or 6 month service was carried out by T.P. Topping on 12/1/01 at 3943 miles. Work carried out included; Oil and filter change, checking valve clearances, checking steering alignment, lubricating locks and door hinges, checking seatbelts and airbag, checking lights and horn, checking brakes and wheel bearings, checking and lubricating handbrake linkages, checking exhaust system, checking fluid levels and greasing suspension joints.

 

 

 

 

 

Me and my Mini 23^rd January, 2001

 9/2/01 at 4900 miles. Oil and filter change was carried out as I was unsure of the grade of oil used in garage service. Wheels changed from front to back, left to right to ensure even wear.

29/6/01 at 8100 miles. The first year, main service was carried out by myself. Work included: oil and filter change, checking all bearings, pipes and hoses, replacing top engine steady bar rubber mounts, replacing air filter, plugs and oil filler cap, checking fluid levels, greasing suspension joints, oiling hand-brake, clutch linkages, greasing door hinges and oiling locks. Checking and adjusting engine valve clearances and clutch return stop. Wheels removed and brakes checked, rear brake drums removed and brake shoes and cylinders checked and then adjusted. The body of the car was also inspected for corrosion and damage, none found - the wax-oil seems to be doing a good job.

Mileage:
1st August 425
1st September 1070
1st October 1895
1st November 2685
1st December 3257
1st January 3628
1st February 4676
1st March 5368
1st April 5939
1st May 6502
1st June 7234
1st July 8100

 

The Mini at one year old, July 2001.

The Mini is now over one year old, has covered 8100 miles in it's first year and has given me no problems at all. As one of the last Minis, I think the build quality on my car is excellent, and the first year of trouble free motoring shows this. Most Minis have some kind of even minor problem in the first year. The car is easy to start is very quite and refined. The only thing to happen to the car was in the first week of ownership when the then local M.P., dropped a large speaker on the rear drivers side panel, the paint was so fresh it just rolled off the dented area. I pushed the small dent out from the back, primed and repainted it with touchup.

It has taken about 7000 or so miles to get the car run-in. The engine and gearbox is very smooth and quite.
The Mini has an amazing amount of torque and will quite easily pull away in top gear at 30mph.
Running costs of the car are low and the car is now returning an average of 46MPG, not bad for a design going back 42 years.
Tyre ware is not to bad and they will do a few thousand miles yet. The steering and braking is crisp and very responsive and the car is a pleasure to drive in the twisty B roads around Castlederg.
The car is becoming quite famous and as well as this web page, the Mini has appeared in several local newspapers and the July 2001 issue of MiniWorld.

15/9/01 at 9561 miles. Wheels changed from front to back, while the front wheels were off, I cleaned and re- waxoiled under the front valance and front mudguards. To make greasing easier I also changed the grease nipple on the top of the inner suspension joint to the angled type on each side.
27th October, 10582 miles, middle of underside of car cleaned and waxoiled.
3rd November, 10810 miles, rear of car cleaned and waxoiled.
9th November, 10998 miles, two new Bridgestone RE720 tyres fitted to the front. Steering alignment checked and adjusted on 10th November, each side required a slight increase in the toe in.

Oil and filter change at 11225 miles on 17^th November.

1^st January, 2002, fluid levels checked and water level topped up.

13^th April, 2002, Oil and filter change at 14250 miles car cleaned and underbody checked for damage wax-oil touched up and stone chips repaired.

Mileage continued
1st August 8721
1st September 9271
1st October 10024
1st November 10750
1st December 11505

1st January 12105

1^st February 12798

1^st March 13505

1^st April 14061

1^st May 14680

1^st June 15554
1st July 2002 16208.

 

The Mini is now two years old and I believe performance is still continuing to increase. As you can seen the car has now given two years trouble free motoring and the 2nd year's main service was carried out on 7th July, 2002 at 16389 miles.

1^st Work carried out included checking the brakes by removing front wheels and inspecting and at the rear removing rear brake drums and inspecting. Checking all brake pipes, cleaning and greasing all brake cables and linkages, checking the battery, and all fluid levels, checking and adjusting valve clearances and clutch return stop. replacing spark plugs and air filter. lubrication of doors and locks. check all rubber mounts and drive boots and rubbers. Grease suspension joints.

mileage continued:

1st August 16828 - oil and filter changed at 17236 miles on 23rd August, oil filler top also replaced

1st September 17428

1st October 18107, 30^th October, underbody washed and wax-oiled at 19068 miles.

1st November 19084

1st December 19797 miles - oil and filter changed at 20122 miles on 12th December 2002,

1st January 2003 20295 miles

1st February 2003 21081 miles

1st March 2003 21750 miles

1st April 2003 22476 miles, two new Bridgestone Re720 tyres fitted on front

On return from garage while stopped at traffic lights, a car bumped into the Mini's rear, damaging rear bumper and boot lid below the GB badge - estimate to repair damage £179.19 by Ken Irwin, Castlederg.

11th April, rear passenger side brake adjusted, Joints greased at 22589 miles

1st May 2003 23107 miles

Friday 2nd May, rear bumper replaced, rear panel wax oiled, thursay 8th May at 23250 miles, oil and filter changed, joints greased

1st June 2003 23853 miles

1st July 2003 24600 miles

Monday 7th July at 24850 miles - main service - valve clearance adjusted, spark plugs replaced, oil filler replaced, brakes checked and adjusted, air filter cleaned, tyres checked, brakes bled and refilled, locks and hinges oiled, clutch return stop adjusted

The Mini has now celebrated it's third birthday, it drives and runs as good as the day I got it- if not better as it is now fully run in. Miles per gallon is very good, on average the car returns 48 MPG.

 

 

 

 

The Mini at 3 years old.

 

1^st August 2003 25530 miles

1^st September 2003 25820 miles.  Tuesday 23^rd September 2003, engine oil and filter changed at 26505 miles.

1^st October 2003 26702 miles

Saturday 4^th October 2003, underbody washed and wax-oiled. Tuesday 7^th October 26799 miles, new battery fitted as original one was getting slow at starting in the morning.

1^st December, 2003, 28,332 miles, Wednesday 3rd December, 2003, 28394 miles two new Bridgestone re720s tyres fitted to the rear wheels. Friday 19th December - tyres changed from front to back, suspension joints greased and brakes checked at 28831 miles.

1^st January, 2004 28831 miles

1^st February 2004 29485 miles

1^st March 2004 30201 miles

27^th March 2004 30734 miles.  The 27^th March was sadly the last day my Mini was used for daily transport, as I had decided to retire it and just keep it for shows etc. because of the poor condition of the roads.  I did a lot of searching for a replacement to my Mini Cooper Sport for daily use; sadly I ruled out the BMW MINI because it was not really in the same size class as the original Mini being larger on the outside and not that practical on the inside. It was just too expensive and sadly I had to pass the BMW MINI by, I undertook test drives in every other car in the Mini's class and spent several months deciding what to purchase.  In the end I decided on a new Suzuki Alto, because it embodies the spirit and thinking of the original Mini, it's large amount of space on the inside and small over all outside measurements. I also like the fact that the MPG (extra urban is over 70).

 

 

Me with my Mini Cooper Sport and the new Suzuki Alto 1.1GL

 

With the purchase of the Alto this sadly brought to an end 20 years of happy Mini motoring.  Since I started to drive back in 1984 I have only ever driven Minis  The Suzuki Alto 1.1GL is a little bit special as well because it features an increased specification to mark the 25^th anniversary of the Alto which was first introduced in 1979 and the total number produced today stands at over 7.5 million cars.